Democracy Ain’t Easy…

Originally published in the Ann Abor News, Bay City Times, Flint Journal, Grand Rapids Press, Jackson Citizen Patriot, Kalamazoo Gazette, Muskegon Chronicle, Saginaw News
May 6, 2012

It is easy to despair over “how things are in America these days” — how government is dysfunctional, change is slow, issues are muddled. It makes us feel like something has gone fundamentally wrong with the system. But while there is certainly room for improvement, I think our system is pretty much working the way it is designed to work, which is annoying and uncomfortable but no reason to despair.

And here’s something you can do — it’s an Election Day, go out and vote!

2 Comments »

  1. John Hoslett said,

    May 8, 2012 @ 7:57 am

    I don’t agree with you on this one, John. During the course of my lifetime, I think things have become much more dysfunctional. Some of the causes – the ridiculous amounts of money in campaigns, TV advertising, the short attention span of the electorate, the polarization of the Supreme Court, news casting that emphasizes the sound bite over substance, the interpretation of the filibuster that effectively means you need a super majority in the senate to pass anything of substance, and on and on.

    I honestly don’t think it’s working like it was intended to work.

    But that’s just me.

  2. auch6963 said,

    May 8, 2012 @ 11:56 am

    I think your standards are higher than mine. Vladimir Putin was just sworn in as president of Russia again. Things here could be much worse….

RSS feed for comments on this post · TrackBack URI

Leave a Comment