Now I put it to you: how is someone like this supposed to have an educated opinion of a 906 page healthcare law? They can't.
That's the point (which I assume is also your point?).
Bills are deliberately written in such a way that both the electorate and the representatives don't have time to properly analyze them. They're also written in such a way that huge controversial issues are piggybacked on top of measures that
must pass. Like the military bill which ultimately undid the 6th amendment. It was written into a much larger military bill that, if it had not passed, would have cut funding for numerous essential programs.
People are good at building systems - including political systems. But you can never underestimate the ability of
other people to find ways to exploit those systems for their own benefit. Complex safeguards aren't typically invented to prevent future exploitation - they're invented to close loopholes that have already been attacked and brought to light. The American people could stand to take more initiative and stay informed, but no matter how saavy the electorate becomes, the people at the top will always have more knowledge at their disposal. That's their job.
Unfortunately, the people who most exploit our political system are the politicians and their financial backers. They're not going to fix a system that's broken in their favor. It's only been getting worse over time, no matter how many people protest. The largest of our issues could be easily fixed with a few simple measures:
1) Stop or strictly limit the private funding of our representatives. This will prevent politicians from having ulterior motives and will free them from worrying about pleasing big lobby groups in the next election cycle by supporting measures they probably don't even believe in to begin with.
2) Regulate new bills so that they are uncomplicated proposals -- not complex 'packages' that pass a million new measures at once. This will prevent lawmakers from hiding controversial issues in a deliberately confusing tome of a document.
But that's not going to happen unless there's a monumental grassroots movement to force those changes out. Which is doubtful for numerous reasons. Partisan voters are naturally drawn to their own party above all else, including above the health of the greater political system, and are easily manipulated by party leaders who continually make them
afraid of something. Usually the loss of whatever pet civil rights issues dominate the party in question. Centrist voters, the ones who now more or less decide which way the votes go, are typically so dejected by the whole affair that they assume any fight against the system is in vain.
If I'm being perfectly honest, I don't think the system is even fixable anymore, and I expect another civil war within 50-100 years.
At the end of the day, it doesn't matter which party you elect into office - the system remains just as corrupt, and things like this happen on either watch. People just coincidentally let things slide if it was "their" party in charge at the time. Liberals are much too kind to Obama's administration, and conservatives were way too lenient about Bush. And it wouldn't matter if people had elected McCain instead. Or even an obscure third party candidate. Once you get into that office, you're limited by external factors and have to act in a certain fashion. I don't think there's been one president, perhaps ever, that actually came through on all their grandiose campaign promises. You have to play the game.
Obama likely knew about the IRS fiasco, and they're looking for a mook to take the fall. Same with the whole Benghazi incident. But that's not exclusive to him.
A "Benghazi" happens on every watch.
There are cover ups on every watch.
There are damaging bills passed on every watch.
Civil rights can be easily eroded on either watch.
Groups are targets on every watch - the targets in question just change depending on who is in charge.
I don't say all that meaning to sound like an anti-government conspiracy theorist. I actually like systems and system-building. I mostly say that because that's how empires and nations have been run since the dawn of time. At this point, I'm only surprised that people find these sort of things surprising anymore.
There's always going to be a system in place. Despite what anarchists might want to believe, humans are wired by their very nature to operate within some kind of social system. Be it tribal confederation or global empire. The trick is to maintain and update the system as you go along. Fail to do that, as is likely the case with all battered empires of the past and future, and you eventually reach a point where things can't be fixed anymore.
/doom
