{"id":326793,"date":"2017-09-19T21:36:43","date_gmt":"2017-09-19T20:36:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/?p=326793"},"modified":"2017-09-19T21:36:43","modified_gmt":"2017-09-19T20:36:43","slug":"gallup-71-americans-dissatisfied-way-nation-governed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/newswire\/gallup-71-americans-dissatisfied-way-nation-governed\/","title":{"rendered":"Gallup: 71% of Americans are “Dissatisfied with the way the nation is governed”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Eric Zuesse, originally posted at strategic-culture.org<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

A Gallup poll headlined on September 17th, “Seven in 10 Dissatisfied With Way U.S. Is Being Governed\u201d<\/span><\/a>, and reported that 71% said they were \u201cDissatisfied” and that 28% said they were \u201cSatisfied,\u201d with the U.S. Government. The question, as it had been posed, was \u201cOn the whole, would you say you are satisfied or dissatisfied with the way the nation is being governed?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

At the height of Richard Nixon\u2019s Watergate scandal, when this question was asked during 21-24 September 1973<\/span><\/a>, the until-then all-time-lowest level of satisfaction with the Government was recorded, 26% (compared with 28% who are \u201cSatisfied\u201d today); but, at that time, only 66% said they were outright \u201cDissatisfied\u201d; so, at that time, a larger percentage than now, were on the fence, about this question. (Thus, 71% are \u201cDissatisfied\u201d today, whereas only 66% were, back in 1973.) Subsequently, the figure of only 26% who were \u201cSatisfied,\u201d wasn\u2019t reached again until the very end of George W. Bush\u2019s Presidency<\/span><\/a> and the peak of the 2008 economic crash, when, yet again, 26% were \u201cSatisfied\u201d; but, in that instance, an until-then all-time-record high 72% declared themselves \u201cDissatisfied\u201d with their Government. So, that was the all-time-worst<\/i> finding, up to that moment in time. But, then, things got even worse: <\/span><\/p>\n

After a few months of hope, immediately following Barack Obama\u2019s election as President to replace the by-then-widely-despised Bush, even lower levels of satisfaction were soon reached: late in 2011, it was 19% \u201cSatisfied\u201d and a full 81% who were \u201cDissatisfied\u201d; and, late in 2013, it was, yet again, 81% \u201cDissatisfied,\u201d but an all-time-record-low of 18%, who were \u201cSatisfied.\u201d<\/span><\/a> So: that\u2019s the worst finding, up to and including, the current one. <\/span><\/p>\n

The period from 1985-2002 experienced a remarkably stable<\/span><\/a> 55% to 59% of Americans who were \u201cSatisfied,\u201d and 37% to 39% who were \u201cDissatisfied.\u201d But, then, the big plunge came. After exposure of the big lie, that Saddam Hussein had WMD which George W. Bush constantly repeated and consciously lied about and said necessitated invading Iraq<\/span><\/a>, seeped out to have been<\/i> a lie, gradually entering into the public\u2019s consciousness from a press that was extremely reluctant to report the fact (and with assisting cover-up from a see-no-evil Congress), the lie became silently known, but only in retrospect, by Americans, to have been a lie<\/span><\/a>, after all. And that 2002 level of 59% \u201cSatisfied\u201d thus\u00a0 <\/span>sank year-by-year down to reach the 26% figure in the Bush-Presidency\u2019s final months. Americans\u2019 extreme disappointment with the U.S. Government during Obama\u2019s Presidency has produced a new normal, of extreme dissatisfaction<\/span><\/a>, with the U.S. Government \u2014 exceptionally poor ratings that continue (though not quite as bad as Obama\u2019s) till the present time.<\/span><\/p>\n

Gallup\u2019s latest report, on September 17th, attributes the current high disapproval, to Congress, mainly: \u201cAmericans’ assessments of the job Congress is doing is significantly related to changes in their views of how the nation is being governed, as would be expected. As views of Congress have gone up or (mostly) down, so have views of the way the nation is being governed.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

However, that view could be a misrepresentation of the reality, if Americans have been becoming increasingly disillusioned with the condition of American \u2018democracy\u2019<\/span><\/a> and been starting to doubt the truthfulness of the entire American Establishment \u2014 President, Congress, newsmedia, etc. Gallup\u2019s own data have consistently been showing this disenchantment with America\u2019s Establishment, to have been actually occurring. <\/span><\/p>\n

On June 14th, I headlined \u201cGallup Finds Stunning Decline in Americans\u2019 Respect for U.S. Government\u201d<\/span><\/a>, and reported that \u201cThe federal government\u201d scored the very lowest of 15 named U.S. \u201cBusiness and Industry Sector Ratings,\u201d which covered not only \u201cBusiness and Industry Sector\u201d entities such as \u201cEducation,\u201d \u201cBanking,\u201d \u201cAccounting,\u201d and \u201cFarm and agriculture,\u201d but also \u201cThe federal government,\u201d which was scored at the very bottom, with a net approval-rating of around -30%. The entity at the far-opposite end, the very top, was the \u201cRestaurant industry,\u201d with a net +59% approval-rating. However, something was actually higher even than that: Gallup\u2019s listing of \u201cBusiness and Industry Sectors\u201d excluded<\/i> \u201cMilitary\u201d as being a category, even though it\u2019s one of the biggest business and industry sectors of all. But the military was, in fact, extremely popular. If Gallup was excluding that category under the presumption that Americans would think of that sector as being subsumed within \u201cThe federal government\u201d (the lowest-rated \u201csector\u201d of all) which paid the bills for that entire military sector<\/i>, then Gallup was woefully wrong, as even Gallup actually knew. On July 27th, Gallup reported<\/span><\/a>: \u201cAmericans have given the military the highest confidence rating of any institution in American society for nearly two decades.\u201d \u201cThe military\u201d scored actually higher than any other of the listed 17 \u201cinstitutions\u201d \u2014 and here all of them were, in the order that Gallup presents them<\/span><\/a>: <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cConfidence in Institutions\u201d:<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

The church or organized religion, 41%<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

The Supreme Court, 40%<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

Congress 12%<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

Organized labor, 28%<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

Big business, 21%<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

The public schools, 36%<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

Newspapers, 27%<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

The military, 72%<\/i><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

The presidency, 32%<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

The medical system, 37%<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

Banks, 32%<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

Television news, 24%<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

The police, 57%<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

The criminal justice system, 27%<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

Small business, 70%<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

News on the internet<\/i> [such as you\u2019re now reading], 16%<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

Health Maintenance Organizations or HMOs, 19%<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

Clearly, the 72% score for \u201cThe military\u201d dwarfs everything except the 70% score for \u201cSmall business.\u201d (Presumably, the American public considered \u201cRestaurant industry\u201d to be a part of that category.)<\/span><\/p>\n

A few months earlier, on April 26th, I had headlined \u201cPOLL: Americans Support Military-Industrial Complex Above All Else\u201d<\/span><\/a>, and reported that:<\/span><\/p>\n

A new Morning Consult\/POLITICO survey, published on 26 April, indicates that most American voters support the military-industrial complex more than they support any other recipient of U.S. federal government spending. The military-industrial complex includes almost all federal contractors, the top ten of which, in the ranking of the \u201cTop 100 Contractors of the U.S. federal government\u201d, are all military suppliers: 1: Lockheed Martin. 2: Boeing. 3: General Dynamics. 4: Raytheon. 5: Northrop Grumman. 6: McKesson. 7: United Technologies. 8: L-3. 9: Bechtel. 10: BAE. Those ten firms would be the likeliest main beneficiaries from today\u2019s America\u2019s extremely pro-military-industrial-complex public, which is clearly revealed in this poll.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

2,032 American voters were asked in the poll a list of objectives that might be so important as to justify \u201cthe government must shut down.\u201d Only one single objective was close to being supported by an absolute majority of the respondents, so that the government\u2019s going to shut-down would, in those respondents\u2019 view, be justified for Congress to do in order to achieve that given objective, which was stated as: \u201cIncrease funding for defense and homeland security.\u201d<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

So, Americans respect America\u2019s weapons-producers above any other \u201cSector\u201d or \u201cInstitution.\u201d Americans are, quite evidently, in love with all those recipients of federal money who are in the killing-and-being-killed \u201cSector\u201d or \u201cInstitution,\u201d but despise \u201cThe federal government\u201d itself (which pays for them). It\u2019s as if \u201cThe military\u201d were viewed as being not at all a part of \u201cThe federal government.\u201d Obviously, there\u2019s a whole lot of lying going on, and it\u2019s VERY effective. What should be at the very bottom<\/span><\/a>, is instead at the very top.<\/span><\/p>\n

I headlined, 16 February 2016, \u201cHow Corruption Cripples America\u2019s Military\u201d<\/span><\/a>, and documented that the U.S. military is the world\u2019s most wasteful (corrupt \u2014 actually extremely corrupt<\/span><\/a>). But, of course, Americans clearly don\u2019t know this. They think the opposite<\/i>. The \u2018news\u2019media don\u2019t tell them nearly as much about the military\u2019s corruption as about the waving flags and military honors. However, William J. Astore, a non-staff contributing writer at the Democratic Party\u2019s The Nation,<\/i> headlined on 16 December 2016, \u201cTrump\u2019s Cabinet Is a Coup Waiting to Happen\u201d<\/span><\/a>, and he explained how, in the U.S. military, competency does not determine a general\u2019s rise to the top ranks, but corruption does, and Astore gave as examples, the Republican Trump\u2019s appointees such as James Mattis and John Kelly, and said:<\/span><\/p>\n

Americans, who strongly admire their military, like to think that its most senior leaders rise on merit. This is not, however, the way the military promotion system actually works. Officers who reach the rank of general have usually been identified and sponsored at a young age, often when they are still company-grade officers in their mid-twenties. They are, in a word, groomed. Their careers are carefully \u201ccurated.\u201d<\/i> <\/span><\/p>\n

And, then, they retire to become board members at firms such as Lockheed Martin, whose products they had so successfully marketed while they had been in uniform.<\/span><\/p>\n

So, this is what happens in a country where marketing has become more important than what\u2019s marketed. It\u2019s called soft fascism, and maybe is producing ultimately a soft coup<\/span><\/a> in America.<\/span><\/p>\n

This is a natural outcome for a country that has actually been a dictatorship since at least 1981<\/span><\/a>. It\u2019s simply becoming a bit more of that. But the American people aren\u2019t being informed of it \u2014 they know that something\u2019s wrong (as is clearly shown by those extremely low approval-ratings for \u201cThe federal government\u201d), but the only \u2018explanations\u2019 they know for it are \u2018illegal immigrants\u2019, or \u2018the Jews\u2019, or \u2018the Blacks\u2019, or \u2018the liberals\u2019, or \u2018the conservatives\u2019, or\u00a0 <\/span>\u2014 maybe (if the military-industrial complex will have its way to the very end) \u2014 \u2018the Russians\u2019, or \u2018Iran\u2019. What\u2019s most important for Americans to know (things such as this<\/span><\/a>) is unfortunately also what\u2019s most important for America\u2019s \u2018news\u2019media to hide. Thus, the American people are sleepwalking into catastrophe. And we\u2019ve been doing it for decades now. We\u2019re going farther and farther down, and wondering \u201cAre we going down to the top of an abyss?\u201d Is that<\/i> what\u2019s at the end of this? Or: will we (somehow) wake up in time to prevent<\/i> it from happening?<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014<\/span><\/p>\n

Investigative historian Eric Zuesse is the author, most recently, of\u00a0 They\u2019re Not Even Close: The Democratic vs. Republican Economic Records, 1910-2010<\/i><\/span><\/a>,<\/i> and of<\/span> \u00a0<\/i>CHRIST\u2019S VENTRILOQUISTS: The Event that Created Christianity<\/i><\/span><\/a><\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Eric Zuesse, originally posted at strategic-culture.org A Gallup poll headlined on September 17th, “Seven in 10 Dissatisfied With Way U.S. Is Being Governed\u201d, and reported that 71% said they were \u201cDissatisfied” and that 28% said they were \u201cSatisfied,\u201d with the U.S. Government. The question, as it had been posed, was \u201cOn the whole, would you […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1254,"featured_media":326747,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[519],"tags":[96,3604,535,753,804,524,754,92,523,49,1235,40],"class_list":{"0":"post-326793","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-newswire","8":"tag-cover-up","9":"tag-donald-trump","10":"tag-global-news","11":"tag-police-state","12":"tag-politics-2","13":"tag-russia","14":"tag-syria","15":"tag-terrorism","16":"tag-ukraine","17":"tag-usa-news","18":"tag-war","19":"tag-white-house"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326793","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1254"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=326793"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326793\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/326747"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=326793"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=326793"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=326793"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}