The Federal Government Sucks

[Chris]

Some surprising results.

Young, Old, Democrat and Republican Agree: The Federal Government Sucks (http://reason.com/blog/2013/08/23/young-old-democrat-and-republican-agree)


The Gallup organization polled Americans across the partisan divide, and ranging in age from pimply and arrogant to wrinkly and bitter, about their opinions of various sectors of American society. When it comes to the federal government, it's probably no surprise that starry-eyed youth and White House-haunting Democrats had the most affectionate sentiments. What is surprising is that the sort of affection they show is less akin to a passionate embrace and more like, "it's not you, really, it's me. We're just not working out." That's right, even among the young and the Democratic, warm feelings for the federal government are hard to find.

...

Here's the data from Gallup (my highlight):


http://i.snag.gy/TV0O8.jpg


http://i.snag.gy/ghdoY.jpg

[Adelaide]

I don't think this is really surprising information. The whole system is a fucked up mess in the US.

[Chris]

Not from Republicans, but from Democrats? Didn't they win?

[KC]

I'm surprised about the positive ratings for the legal field.

[Chris]

That's true, there's a lot of other data there. Lawyer's used to be the butt of many a joke and put down. I think politicians have bent over and taken on that role.

[Chris]

If for nothing more than the Twain witticisms:

Why Americans Hate Congress (http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2013/08/19/why_americans_hate_congress_119626.html#ixzz2cwFfS Cc3)


Abhorrence of Congress is not new. "To my mind," Mark Twain wrote in a long-ago letter to the editor of a New York newspaper, "Judas Iscariot was nothing but a low, mean, premature Congressman." That was in 1873. Twenty-four years later, Twain's opinion of the denizens of Capitol Hill hadn't modulated. Congress, he quipped, was the only “distinctly native American criminal class.”

It was Twain's friend and biographer, Albert B. Paine, who documented another famous Twain witticism: “Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself.”

So there's nothing novel about ridiculing the honesty and intelligence of the representatives we send to Washington -- and the record shows that Americans were always predisposed to get the gag.

Today, however, it's no joke. Barring a miracle, the 113th Congress will go down as the least-popular in history. This past week, the venerable Gallup polling organization reminds us that we are living in a time of unprecedented contempt for the elected officials that we, the people, send to Washington. The Gallup survey released Tuesday showed that 81 percent of Americans disapprove of the way Congress is handling its job, with 14 percent approving.

...

[KC]

That's true, there's a lot of other data there. Lawyer's used to be the butt of many a joke and put down. I think politicians have bent over and taken on that role.

Ironically though law is still the most common degree for politicians, last I checked. I tend to see as the BAR Association and vested interest the legal profession has in government as a huge cause for the problems of government.

[Chris]

Well, that is true...

http://i.snag.gy/UNWA0.jpg

@ There was a lawyer, an engineer and a politician... (http://www.economist.com/node/13496638).

[Captain Obvious]

I was scrolling down the list - the GOP thinks the computer industry sucks?

I wonder how much these results are influenced, positively or negatively by the lobby. Probably a lot I'm guessing.