"Let's shut down the politicians"

Just yesterday I wrote about the idea that ending political polarization was a big part of the change we can believe in that Obama promised when running for President. He knows that when both parties go to war over their lines drawn in the sand, the public simply says "a pox on both your houses" to the politicians who are responsible for the deadlock that ensues.

We're now seeing that play out in Minnesota. While I support Governor Dayton in his insistence that our 7,700 millionaires need to pay part of the sacrifice for the $5 billion debt left to us by former Governor Pawlenty (yeah, I'm not going to let up on that one), I worry not only about the way all of this will affect our economy, but also about how severely damaged our political process becomes by this kind of thing.

Take a look at how some people in the state are reacting with this headline: Let's shut down the politicians, angry citizens cry. Here are a few quotes from those angry citizens:

The politicians are screwing up everybody's lives...

The politicians are morons...

The Legislature is behaving like a bunch of kids...

I think everyone that needs to use the restroom this weekend should go to the governor's house [on the shut-down of the highway rest stops]...

This is just dumb...Everybody else compromises. Why can't the politicians?

Do you think these folks have read up on the details of the difference between Governor Dayton's proposals vs the Republican legislature? No. We can all lament the fact that we have an uninformed citizenry. But its a fact. They're pissed because their everyday lives have been affected and have concluded that our elected leaders are morons who are behaving like kids instead of getting the job done.

Once again, I'll remind you of what Barack Obama said 6 years ago.

A polarized electorate that is turned off of politics, and easily dismisses both parties because of the nasty, dishonest tone of the debate, works perfectly well for those who seek to chip away at the very idea of government because, in the end, a cynical electorate is a selfish electorate.