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I'll focus on the consent of the governed in my reply, but happy to elaborate my argument about the other points if you want. In a country with advanced propag

I'll focus on the consent of the governed in my reply, but happy to elaborate my argument about the other points if you want. In a country with advanced propaganda techniques and several extremely well-funded intelligence organizations (foreign ops and domestic secret police), consent is an interesting word. I think the more relevant thing to measure is dissent. It's missing. There is a constant fray on cable news on which actors make ideological pronouncements about everything from moral issues to the dresses worn by the first lady. They stay strongly in character and gather followings of people who find such content entertaining. Then there is the serious news in which the overriding theme is the legitimacy of government institutions and the subtle bashing of other nations and foreign institutions and foreign ways of life. Barely half of Americans vote, and nearly half pay no income tax whatsoever. Such apathy and lack of dissent is a remarkable accomplishment. Many Americans think it doesn't matter which of the two parties they vote for, and they are right.

cbd1984 11y ago
Your comment completely ignores reality and instead pushes a weird propaganda which equates liberal democracy with totalitarianism. I wonder what agenda you're really pushing.
wfo 11y ago
I think your general critique of American political culture and the state of affairs is pretty spot on. As it turns out of course as in every case consent is a slippery concept to grasp but the point we are getting at here is that it simply isn't that bad yet. The government is functional and generally it does what it's supposed to do. People have normal lives. Egypt had well-funded intelligence organizations and domestic secret police. The egyptians were perfectly capable of expressing the fact that they did not consent to be governed. They rioted. People generally care about their daily lives. As long as their daily lives aren't interrupted and they can live happily and get most of the things they need they might complain about stuff but they won't REALLY refuse to be governed. But they could, of course. Americans just choose not to. Partially that's I think a change in the American character: we are economically driven now, not driven by principles. We don't riot and kill people because of a tax. We're pretty far away from Bastille day. We care about buying a TV and getting a job to get out of debt and putting food on the table. Until those things are threatened we will consent to be governed; all of the threats are abstract and for all intents and purposes don't really exist in a tangible way for most people. I'm not sure if it's sad or not but it's the state of things; we consent to be governed by not rioting and burning down government buildings.

cbd1984 11y ago

Your comment completely ignores reality and instead pushes a weird propaganda which equates liberal democracy with totalitarianism. I wonder what agenda you're really pushing.

wfo 11y ago

I think your general critique of American political culture and the state of affairs is pretty spot on. As it turns out of course as in every case consent is a slippery concept to grasp but the point we are getting at here is that it simply isn't that bad yet. The government is functional and generally it does what it's supposed to do. People have normal lives. Egypt had well-funded intelligence organizations and domestic secret police. The egyptians were perfectly capable of expressing the fact that they did not consent to be governed. They rioted. People generally care about their daily lives. As long as their daily lives aren't interrupted and they can live happily and get most of the things they need they might complain about stuff but they won't REALLY refuse to be governed. But they could, of course. Americans just choose not to. Partially that's I think a change in the American character: we are economically driven now, not driven by principles. We don't riot and kill people because of a tax. We're pretty far away from Bastille day. We care about buying a TV and getting a job to get out of debt and putting food on the table. Until those things are threatened we will consent to be governed; all of the threats are abstract and for all intents and purposes don't really exist in a tangible way for most people. I'm not sure if it's sad or not but it's the state of things; we consent to be governed by not rioting and burning down government buildings.