Do your collaborators account for the abject, utter failure of the federal (as opposed to local and state) government in it's responsibility for the welfare of it's citizens and it's not being held accountable for that failure? The willful blindness to not see that elephant in the room by so many is astounding to me. This is a problem that needs to be dealt with nationally, not in a piecemeal fashion by ill-funded and equiped localities. The federal government is the deep pockets, that can print money and carry massive deficits(unlike state and local) such that if this were a lawsuit the lawyers would be going after like flies on shit. I guess it's just so much easier( and in the end pointless and futile) to simply blame Eugene or the city of your choice.
That's interesting, last time I checked we still sent representatives to Washington via elections. Those representatives live to be re-elected. The reason they don't care (much) about the homeless issue is because their constituents aren't in their face about it. Oh, did I mention that's just as much the fault of a lapdog electorate as the government? Personally, I don't want my local government further turning this place into a 'homeless magnet' on my dime by producing (cheap/free) housing for all comers from across the land. There I've gone and done it now, fallen into the vacuous vortex of the homeless "debate"...must hit escape pod jettison button...bang!...I'm outta here!!!
And a big part of why they don't care is because the electorate, for a variety of reasons, has come to believe that political "participation" is simply voting every two(maybe) and four years and invariably returning the same clowns back for another term. Despite all the hoopla about the political divide, Americans have largely removed themselves from the political process. So it shouldn't be at all surprising that the elite pays them little heed.
There's no hard date one can point to, it's a process that has evolved over years, decades in fact. And it feeds on itself, as people come to believe their voice doesn't matter they become less likely to particpate. Events like Citizens United certainly play a significant part but I'd say they're more symptoms then anything. Americans have in essence decided that they have better things to do than engage fully in the "messiness" that is particpatory politics (aka democracy). Generally when people do engage it's on behalf of a particular cause(abortion,etc.) dear to them afterwhich they're likely to call it a day. It's sort of like they've become "specialists", when what is really needed are a lot more "generalists". So politicians can play to these "niche" causes to cement their base, which makes it appear that they "care". They're the "house" and we 're the rubes being played but it's our choice. My take anyway.
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u/[deleted] Aug 04 '22
Do your collaborators account for the abject, utter failure of the federal (as opposed to local and state) government in it's responsibility for the welfare of it's citizens and it's not being held accountable for that failure? The willful blindness to not see that elephant in the room by so many is astounding to me. This is a problem that needs to be dealt with nationally, not in a piecemeal fashion by ill-funded and equiped localities. The federal government is the deep pockets, that can print money and carry massive deficits(unlike state and local) such that if this were a lawsuit the lawyers would be going after like flies on shit. I guess it's just so much easier( and in the end pointless and futile) to simply blame Eugene or the city of your choice.