海角大神

What do Seskak and Rand have in common? They remove all blame from Americans.

Americans love politicians that enable them to shun personal responsibility and remain in that state of denial.

In the Washington Post, 鈥�and then he responds 鈥淏eats me.鈥� But Matt reveals a lot more than he takes credit for, when he leads off with the following (emphasis added):

I know I could lose my pundit鈥檚 license for saying this, but I have no idea what mean. Yes, of course, they mean 鈥渋ncumbents beware鈥� 鈥� unless you鈥檙e an incumbent like Ron Wyden of Oregon, who skated easily to victory. Or maybe they mean voters want Washington to get serious about our out-of-control deficits 鈥� except that Tea Party poster boy Rand Paul opposes cuts in Medicare, the biggest source of our spending woes, and Pennsylvania victor Joe Sestak says we can fix the budget without raising taxes on anyone but the rich, which isn鈥檛 true. Which also cuts against the theory that voters want 鈥渁nswers鈥� from Washington.

What these candidates seem to have in common is their talent in perpetuating the delusion of many Americans that the budget deficit is the fault of 鈥渢he establishment鈥� in Washington鈥揳nd has nothing to do with what they themselves have demanded from that 鈥渆stablishment鈥� in terms of tax cuts or government programs, or their unwillingness to pay for those desires.

Matt concludes that whatever is going on right now, it鈥檚 a familiar pattern that we tend to see every two years or so, as voters repeat the familiar, 鈥渘ot my fault鈥� script:

What these trends portend is lasting voter frustration as it dawns on a widening swath of Americans that the perquisites of middle-class life, and the prospects of upward mobility for their children, may elude them. These strains won鈥檛 change in the two years before the next election, or in the two years after that, or the in two after that, unless policies are introduced that go radically beyond the boundaries of current debate. Instead we鈥檒l see a cycle in which voters take stock every two years and say: 鈥淢y insurance premiums are still going up 鈥� we still can鈥檛 save enough for college, let alone for retirement 鈥� and you people in charge haven鈥檛 fixed any of this!鈥�

Yep. Americans sure love those politicians that enable them to shun personal responsibility and remain in that state of dysfunctional denial where nothing is their fault and everyone else is to blame. I think that鈥檚 a big part of what these primaries tell us. That doesn鈥檛 bode well for getting a new crop of politicians who will actually improve the very situation the voters claim to be complaining about.

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