It's true. Civic engagement in this country is in the crapper and has been for a while. Everyone was really excited about the turnout in 2008, but the final number was 57%...57%! I shouldn't be surprised that people are uninformed about issues that truly are important to them: they either don't have time to learn or don't care enough to. Those who are engaged seem to be protesting things that don't actually exist. Though we may all care about about issues that are important to us (or more directly impact people's lives), it's really ourselves we care about the most:
Now, there have been a lot of recent posts about depressed enthusiasm among Democratic voters combined with more passion on the Right potentially leading to Republicans recapturing the House next year. That would be a travesty. I'm pretty down on the current state of HCR, Climate Change legislation, Financial Services reform, etc., myself. Voters can get engaged: make phone calls, write letters, donate/withhold money, call Joe Lieberman a douche, etc. But if they really want a bill that makes sense...if they want real reform...then the President has to do something about it.
He may need the votes congress to get reform passed, but he still needs to reform something on the other end of it. Someone please move this to the top of Barack's Netflix queue.
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