"Why Our Political System's Screwed, in One Very Basic Chart"

Gawker's Adam Weinstein points to National Journal, which adds more charts to that one above:

That is all.

Comments

[TruthTeller]

OK, I give up. If most folks rate Congress lower than whale shit at ebb tide, then why are most members of Congress re-elected? I have a theory: As we as a people have become de-Christianized we have become a nation of idiots.

John Lofton, Recovering Republican
Dir., The God And Government Project
[e-mail]

http://christiannews.net/2013/.....-obey-god/

[Sevo]

..."I have a theory: As we as a people have become de-Christianized we have become a nation of idiots."...

I have a theory: People who bleeve in silly superstitions are idiots.

[plusafdotcom]

That made me wonder what a graph of "percentage of US population that's Christian versus years" would look like..

But hey, Christians (and many other religionists) believe that after they die, they're going to get a Heavenly Reward.... Maybe it's the same kind of belief in Congress that makes voters believe (despite history and evidence to the contrary) that THIS TIME, by re-electing my congressmonkey, things'll straighten out!

They may be hoping for 42 (or is it 47?) virgins as their Reward, too... who knows?

[DesigNate]

It's not that we've become de-Christianized. It's that so many people have shifted their faith from religion to the state.

[Sevo]

Or gaia, that, too. All of 'em.

[brobbs]

Bingo, DesigNate. I don't care if people are lifelong Bible thumpers or atheist as fuck -- I can respect either extreme or anywhere in between. But unconditional faith in government...that just makes no sense at all.

Many left wingers complain endlessly about the flaws in people's religious beliefs, and then turn right around and repeat those same flaws at the altar of the state. I can't decide whether that is hilarious or infuriating.

[REDPILLED]

PLEASE stop perpetuating the stereotype and canard that left wingers worship at the altar of the state. We have read Orwell and others who have taught us all the dangers of authoritarian states. Read Sheldon S. Wolin's Democracy Incorporated and see how the U.S. has devolved into a state of Inverted Totalitarianism in which corporations & Wall Street now run the government. We are as passionate about freedom and liberty as you are, but we also do not accept, based on bitter, brutal experience, that the "free market" exists, let alone that it can solve serious social/economic/political/environmental problems. Rigid ideology, like religion, is a detriment to human advancement. Labels close minds.

[brobbs]

You're right about one thing, and that is that the free market does not exist. Not right now at least. Currently the nation is enveloped in a complex web of crony capitalism, veiled by a facade of extensive regulation.

You and your fellow left wing d-bags absolutely do worship at the altar of the state. You bleat about corporations controlling everything, while patently ignoring the privileges they get from government. That is not free market capitalism...that is crony capitalism, and the government you want to empower is responsible. If businesses did not get privileges from government, they could not "control" anything or anyone, because competition would guarantee otherwise.

Whether you and your fellow left wing state worshippers are honestly misinformed or just liars is completely irrelevant. What matters is that just like any religious zealot, you believe things irrespective of evidence and actively ignore evidence that proves you wrong.

[politicsbyothermeans]

Stereotypes tend to exist for a reason. Don't like it? Start policing your own.

[Jorono]

But yet, you want to give the gov more power.

As someone else on here said:

Corporations control the government. Therefore, we should expand the power of the government that corporations control in order to make corporations weaker.

[craiginmass]

I'll bet you think that theory applies to everything. Same exact reason that the Germans had to kill tens of millions of Russkies - the Ruskies were Godless and the Germans were not.

Your org name scares me....and I'm a everyday regular liberal dude.

[Vulgar Madman]

Germany had a god, but he wasn't Jewish.

[politicsbyothermeans]

WWII happened because of religion?

That's a counterfactual I've rarely heard. At least you're creative, right?

[Robert]

test

[OneOut]

fail

[Mike Alissi]

test

[Mock-star]

Or it could be that they like their representative, but do not like that all of the other states/districts have just as much control over them as the ones that they vote for.

[craiginmass]

That's the ticket.

This chart means nothing.
The only question is whether they like their rep better than the alternative candidates.

Period.

[politicsbyothermeans]

So, because you can't think through the implications of the chart, it's meaningless?

By that reasoning, shouldn't you and all your leftoid buddies quit harping about the Hockey Stick chart?

[Sevo]

Mock-star|5.23.14 @ 7:33PM|#
"Or it could be that they like their representative, but do not like that all of the other states/districts have just as much control over them as the ones that they vote for."

Possible, but why would those voting for, oh, Boxer not think much of Pelosi?
They're both brain-dead lefties, pitching the "free shit" ticket to the idjit who bleeve it.
I could see a split along team lines, but not 89/11.

[PM]

Well, yeah. Of course the problem is *your* congressman, not *my* congressman.

[Jorono]

Exactly, too many people think of this as a game, and they don't want their side to lose.

Where as I just don't want to play the stupid game, just leave me alone.

[Spawn of Nyarlathotep]

Gawker? Nein, danke.

[Lou R]

Isn't performing the same actions over and over and expecting different results a sign of insanity? What am I missing?