Interesting PEW poll finds 4 of 5 don't trust DC.
Is anyone really surprised?
The poll says that "results point to 'a perfect storm' of public unrest, Pew reports, "a dismal economy (check), an unhappy public (check), bitter, partisan-based backlash (check) and epic discontent with Congress (check) and elected officials (and check)."
So, check, check, check, check, and check.
-Beware I'm about to wax philosophical here-
When you think about it, its interesting how much people are targeting their elected officials. I think that most of the trouble actually lies in the institutions themselves and elected officials happen to be the face of those institutions.
Our nation's institutions as intentionally created by the Founders were designed to be cumbersome and slow. Take Congress for example; Name a successful company that goes through TWO huge decision making bodies with complicated subsystems (committees, hearings, floor debate, ect) then goes to the CEO for final approval? Not too many of those around.
Changing anything in Washington is really like making sausage. It's ugly. I think herein lies the real frustration of most Americans. We feel powerless to really make a difference - to "change" anything. Every two/six years we (often) send new people back with promises of change to the same bodies with little capability to effectively change anything.
Take a look at this list of Presidential Slogans dating back to 1840. It's interesting to see how many of those really focused on change. So I'm not sure changing the people really changes anything in what really are unchangeable institutions unless those people are changing what it is we are asking those institutions to do.
Whew! I just wrote that last sentence and I'm not sure I even follow it.
