Low Information or Wrong Information Voters?

“I’d Rather Not Know”

When an overweight salon worker was informed that her preferred bean and cheese burrito lunch meal was nearly 1700 calories, she looked puzzled, exhaled a puff from her cigarette and said, “I’d rather not know.”

Sounds a little disengaged wouldn’t you say?

I thought what a perfect example of what our country is doing right now. As we argue about who’s to blame for shutting down the government, and ignoring the fact that we are way overweight with debt, most people are saying ‘I’d rather not know.’

The amount of money our generation has recklessly spent above and beyond our means; the debt load we have handed our children and their children is criminal!

But the national conversation is not about that, it continues to frame the issue that if we don’t increase our debt limit (a legally binding device to save us from ourselves), we will be starving children, elderly won’t get their medicine, and schools and the military will have to be put out to pasture.

So, most politicians would have you believe, the best way to avoid that is to print more money, sell more bonds to whoever is still willing to take the risk of default (the Chinese have told us they won’t keep buying our debt, since they already own more than 80% of it).

By putting huge amounts of that ‘new’ money into our economy through government stimulus, we will magically reinvent our manufacturing, energy and engineering industries, and our President’s health care program will bring the American economy back. This generation of politician’s solution is to buy our way out of bankruptcy using the next generations credit card.

Instead of facing the music and making the difficult but necessary cuts in federal spending, all we hear is talk about ‘low information’ voters blaming the wrong party for the government’s inability to control itself.

But isn’t the problem really ‘wrong information’ voters? Voters who would “rather not know” the truth, or could care less if the next generation is stuck with a national debt collar around their neck they will never be able to repay? Voters who are too complacent and would rather enjoy their 1700 calorie lunch than chose a low calorie salad?

All that Tea Party talk about cutting government spending is just hateful policy speak coming from disenfranchised old white men from the past. They don’t really mean what they say, Liberals tell us. They just want to keep all the wealth for themselves. And those talking points are what the mainstream media keep telling people, over and over.

People like me….and you. We have to listen to that crap, and because we do care, it makes us crazy!

Conservatives watch O’Reilly and Hannity and we read, attend townhall meetings, fundraise and write letters to the editor. Progressives watch Jon Stewart and Bill Maher to get the ‘news’ delivered by standup comics.

Some people would rather not know….