The People are Losing Confidence in Their Government…...Really !

Commentary by
Patrick McCormick

I was reading some commentary in the Washington Post about Democrats losing confidence in their government..I had to laugh. Of course the people are losing confidence in the Democrats, the Republicans too. For all of the money taxpayers pay them to handle the affairs of state...very little has been done.

A leader must earn the confidence of his, or her, people. It is extremely difficult to have confidence in a government that has spent the last two years arguing politics and trading insults while those people are suffering. Many citizens have lost jobs or are earning less and waiting for leaders to keep their campaign promises. Promised chicken in their pots, they have no reason to remain loyal while their pots are still empty.

"Why our leaders have not come to the bargaining table to do something constructive", is a question that most of US are asking. It is apparent they all care more about their own reelections than they care about the citizens of this Republic.

The people understand that they would not lose much if they voted all incumbents out of office. After all, what good is an experienced Senator or member of the House of Representatives if they do not put that knowledge and experience to work for the people?

Read the Post article. If you still have a job, you might get a little laugh yourself.


Even Dems are fast losing confidence in gov't

A Gallup poll out today sheds some new light on all the talk about the "enthusiasm gap": It finds that confidence in the legislative branch has dropped most precipitiously among Democrats.
The poll's toplines are worrisome enough for Dems: Confidence in the legislative branch is at a record low of 36 percent. That's yet another sign of all the anti-incumbent sentiment we keep hearing about. But, even more ominously for Dems, this drop is driven almost entirely by Democratic voters:

As you can see, confidence in the legislative branch has dropped an astonishing 14 points among Dems since last year, to a bare majority of 51 percent.. By contrast the drop in confidence among Republicans and independents is minimal, since it was much lower to begin with.

There are a whole bunch of possible causes for this. Maybe the strategy of GOP obstructionism is working brilliantly: The inability of Dem leaders to prevail, and the resulting sense of government dysfunction, is deflating Dem confidence. Maybe it's the economy -- though it's unclear why that would disproportionately impact Dems.

Or maybe this is more evidence of a much-remarked-upon phenomenon: Dem euphoria upon taking control of the whole government was so high that a steep fall was inevitable. Whatever the cause, this really drives home, again, the folly of the Dem decision to punt on the middle class tax cuts vote. Simply put, rank and file Dems need to have their confidence restored -- and fast.

Yes, I know, it isn't fair that Dems have lost confidence. The Dem Congress has already passed a whole bunch of wonderful things, and every time they fail it's the fault of mean and nasty Republicans. Still: repeating that argument again and again just isn't going to cut it.

Needless to say, taking a stand on something difficult, laying down a marker and fighting for it, even if it results in a loss, is certainly more likely to restore confidence than dithering, equivocating, handwringing about procedure, and basically throwing up your hands and saying, "No we can't." After all, time is hardly on Dems' side here. They can hardly afford to squander any opportunities.
By Greg Sargent | September 24, 2010; 2:20 PM ET