Who's to blame?

[Nemo]

"[W]e have met the enemy, and he is us."
-Walt Kelly

What went wrong with this country was us. The ideals of citizenship and service so eloquently espoused by former President Kennedy ("Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.") were all but discarded to embrace a culture of greed and selfishness; and in our self-complacency, we became lazy and stupid. In this, it won’t do to blame our elected representatives, for they are but a reflection of ourselves. It is we who are to blame; it is we who wanted to be pimped and pandered to by lies. Surely, we were fools of prejudice. What went wrong with America was that we allowed our "ship of state" to be turned into a "ship of fools."

[nathanbforrest45]

[Nemo]

The news if filled with the anger and frustration of the voting public. Are you angry and frustrated with your government? Well, you don’t have anyone to blame but yourself. Contrary to Ronald Reagan’s mantra that "government is the problem," the real problem is us. The intransigence of Congress, the bickering and backstabbing politics, the churlish behavior of politicians is just symptomatic of a more serious malady afflicting the American people for which we have failed to take responsibility. For those that live in a democracy, they should look first to themselves as responsible for their institutions of government. Ours is a constitutional republic - a representative form of government - and if you will not stand for elected office and serve, then give your support to one who will serve the public interest. The least one can do is cast an informed vote: for what value is the franchise but its exercise? Indeed, it is a fundamental failure of democratic principle when elections are determined by apathy and ignorance. Our elected representatives and officials are a reflection of our society, and, ultimately, ourselves. You want to change Congress? Then get off your ass and do something about it. It is fitting that, in a democracy, the people should have the government they deserve.

[carolina73]

Progressives are to blame. They created the oversized government and the liberal courts that expanded a centralized government.

[Chris]

We're fine, I believe, but out government no longer represents us.

[CaveDog]

We’ve lost our sense of civic involvement. It’s like when people try to interpret the 2nd amendment as applying only to military and police. That would have been a foreign concept to previous generations. The militias were involved in defense but also law enforcement. Every able bodied man was expected to serve. They largely were the military and police in their own communities. In that context the 2nd amendment made sense. Today we still have the guns but the sense of community that gave it more purpose is gone. Government was still overwhelmingly local, where participation in a town meeting was relatively easy. Today we delegate these things basically to strangers, often distant, and wonder why government seems so unconcerned about us.

[carolina73]

So how does a Socialist like Nemo reconcile "Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country." with Socialism that is exactly the opposite.

JFK cut taxes and pushed for volunteers not big government.