The latest Rasmussen poll shows only a minuscule 6% approval rating of Congress by the American public, the worst approval rating on record.  Skepticism runs wide and deep that Congress is able to improve the life of the average American.  Only 9% of voters think Congress can make a positive difference and the latest outrageous example of Solyndra  solar company should change the minds of this misguided 9% of the public.

The poll numbers indicate that what most Americans already know - the U.S. political system rules without the consent of the governed, and even worse, has consistently taken actions that work against the average American.  Rasmussen polling shows that 43% of voters think that members of Congress are corrupt and an astounding 81% believe that members of Congress put their own interests ahead of the public.

Record levels of poverty and unemployment along with plunging income levels for those who still have jobs does nothing to deter Congress from continuing to funnel money to groups represented by corrupt lobbyists and special interest groups. The  $535 million loss for taxpayers on loans given to solar company Solyndra was due to incompetence and insider dealing.   Consider Obama Team Backed $535 Million solyndra Aid As Auditor Warned On Finances.

Solyndra LLC’s workers making solar-power panels in a California factory subsidized by U.S. taxpayers showed “the promise of clean energy isn’t just an article of faith,” President Barack Obama said on a visit to the company in May 2010.

Two months before Obama’s visit, accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP warned that Solyndra, the recipient of $535 million in federal loan guarantees, had financial troubles deep enough to “raise substantial doubt about its ability to continue as a going concern.”

The Obama administration stood by Solyndra through the auditor’s warning, the abandonment of a planned initial public offering and a last-ditch refinancing where taxpayers took a back seat to new investors.

“People including our government put blinders on and did not want to believe in the obvious,” Jonathan Dorsheimer, an analyst in Boston for Canaccord Genuity Inc. of Vancouver, said in an interview with Bloomberg Government. “The fact that the government chose Solyndra as their white horse is mind- boggling.”

Days before filing for bankruptcy, Solyndra executives had the audacity to request additional money from the Energy Department but was turned down due to revelations by the media regarding questions of corruption and public waste.  In addition, it was revealed that billionaire George Kaiser’s family trust controls 37% of Solyndra.  Kaiser visited the President 16 times over the course of two years and has raised millions for the Obama campaign.  Solyndra also spent $480,000 of taxpayer money lobbying Congress for more loans.

Kaiser risked nothing but if Solyndra had ever gone public, he would have made huge profits.   Meanwhile, executives at Solyndra have an armful of excuses for their failure and have blamed everyone in sight, including Chinese solar companies.

Now that the Solyndra loans have become a public scandal, investigations and hearings were announced by the same villains in Congress who made the dubious loans to Solyndra to begin with.   Given the circumstances, the only ones who might believe that justice will be done in this case are the 9% of misguided voters who still believe that Congress acts in the public’s best interests.

Howard Schultz, President and CEO of Starbucks, joins the tidal wave of Americans fed up with the destructive and self dealing behavior in Washington.

Reportedly, Schultz sent an email to Starbucks employees asking them to refrain from sending campaign contributions to politicians as a way of sending a message that we want responsible government.  Schultz’s email deplored the “lack of cooperation and irresponsibility among elected officials as they have put partisan agendas before the people’s agenda.”

The fact that Schultz would use such strongly worded language reflects the deep concerns of Americans about our country’s rulers and our future.  The large majority of Americans no longer believe that “Congress rules with the consent of the governed“, the very reason why we had a war of independence.

Schultz’s characterization of Congress is right on target but what he should have called for is the elimination of lobbying by special interest groups.  The endless money bribes from lobbyists to politicians have corrupted the American government beyond the point of redemption.  The small $5 and $10 contributions to politicians from individual Americans is more show than substance - the real campaign contributions to politicians come from special interest money groups looking to advance their own agendas.

Even worse, it doesn’t seem to matter who gets elected or what they promise.  The politicians we believe will make a “real change” wind up becoming a part of the system that has put our nation half way down the path of self destruction.

Americans are fed up and the polls prove it.  The latest Gallup poll shows that a massive 89% of Americans are dissatisfied with the way things are going in the United States.

How are things going - courtesy gallup.com

Americans have ample reason to be worried about the future as incomes stagnate, taxes increase and huge levels of debt threaten our financial system.  Let’s pray that in the next election for President, America will find the right man to restore confidence and regain the trust of the American people.

Rasmussen Reports, one of the most respected and accurate polling organizations in the country, now provides proof of what many of us have long known - the vast majority of Americans do not believe that the federal government has the consent of the governed.

The notion that governments derive their only just authority from the consent of the governed is a foundational principle of the American experiment.

However, a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that just 23% of voters nationwide believe the federal government today has the consent of the governed. Sixty-two percent (62%) say it does not, and 15% are not sure.

In his new book, In Search of Self-Governance, Scott Rasmussen observes that the American people are “united in the belief that our political system is broken, that politicians are corrupt and that neither major political party has the answers.” He adds that “the gap between Americans who want to govern themselves and the politicians who want to rule over them may be as big today as the gap between the colonies and England during the 18th century.”

The book earned positive reviews from Larry Sabato, Pat Caddell, Bill Kristol, Joe Trippi and others. In Search of Self-Governance is available from Rasmussen Reports and at Amazon.com.

The growing disconnect between mainstream America and the ruling political elite has been discussed on this site numerous times and now we have the polling numbers to prove it.  Despite the polls, Washington carries on with business as usual, apparently oblivious to the concerns, beliefs and values of their constituents.  Additional polls reinforce the basic disconnect between mainstream voters and the ruling elite.

Data released yesterday finds that 68% of voters believe the Political Class doesn’t care what most Americans think.

Over the past couple of years, most Americans have opposed many initiatives of the Political Class including the bailouts of the financial and auto industries. Additionally, most voters still favor repeal of the national health care plan and overwhelmingly disagree with the Justice Department’s decision to challenge Arizona’s new immigration law in court.

Fifty-five percent (55%) don’t even think most members of Congress pay all the taxes they owe.

Voters are evenly divided over the notion that a group of people randomly selected from the phone book could do a better job than the current Congress.

One reason for skepticism about the Political Class is that 70% believe Big Government and Big Business are on the same team working together against the rest of us.

In a recent Wall Street Journal article, Scott Rasmussen, founder of Rasmussen Reports further expounded on the serious rift between the governed and the ruling elite.

“Americans don’t want to be governed from the left or the right,” Scott Rasmussen tells the American Legislative Exchange Council, a conference of 1,500 conservative and moderate legislators. “They want, like the Founding Fathers, to largely govern themselves with Washington in a supporting—but not dominant—role. The tea party movement is today’s updated expression of that sentiment.”

A majority of Democrats, Republicans and independents all agree with the mainstream view on Mr. Rasmussen’s three questions. “The major division in this country is no longer between parties but between political elites and the people,” Mr. Rasmussen says. His recent polls show huge gaps between the two groups. While 67% of the political class believes the U.S. is moving in the right direction, a full 84% of mainstream voters believe the nation is moving in the wrong one.

The fact that 67% of the ruling political elite believe we are moving in the right direction despite the totally opposite belief by those they rule over should be a cause of great concern regarding the future political stability of the country.  The ruling elite will continue to enforce their “enlightened view” upon an unwilling populace until they are voted out of office.  Since Democrats and Republicans both seem to be largely woven out of the same cloth, the question of whether any fundamental change will occur remains open.

The President’s criticism of “fat-cat bankers” has been relentless.  Since taking office, Obama has seized every opportunity to flame the public hatred for bankers by portraying them as being greedy and insensitive.

Obama Criticizes Fat-Cat Bankers-Bloomberg - Dec 14, 2009 -  “I did not run for office to be helping out a bunch of fat-cat bankers on Wall Street,” Obama said in an interview with CBS’s “60 Minutes” program.

“The people on Wall Street still don’t get it,” Obama said. “They’re still puzzled why is it that people are mad at the banks”.

Recently, Obama’s “pay czar” again publicly excoriated bankers for their greed.

TARP Pay Czar Criticizes Big Bank Bonuses - LA Times - July 24, 2010 - The Obama administration’s pay czar on Friday came to the same conclusion about fat Wall Street bonuses that average Americans have already reached: There’s no logic behind them, except greed.

Still, the findings sparked outrage from some in Congress, renewed calls for reining in Wall Street compensation and raised the prospect of re-energized efforts to impose hefty taxes on such bonuses.

President Obama said the “lavish bonuses” highlighted the need for provisions in the recently enacted financial regulatory reform that address executive compensation…

Does Obama really care how much bankers get paid or is he simply seizing a political opportunity to increase his poll numbers?   As usual it’s not clear what Obama’s real values are, but flogging bankers hasn’t helped, as his poll ratings drop to all time lows (see Obama’s Approval Ratings Plunge).

Perhaps the cynicism is unwarranted - maybe bankers are indeed “greedy” and “just don’t get it” - maybe Obama truly feels that bankers are being unjustly enriched at the expense of the public.  I would like to believe Obama’s motives are pure, but if so, where is the moral outrage when it comes to public officials blatantly looting the public treasury?

Although disclosure of public officials giving themselves outrageous pay and benefits in Bell City, California has outraged the public, not a word of recrimination has come out of the White House.  The shameless looting of taxpayer monies  by public officials sworn to work for the interests of those who elected them is almost beyond comprehension, as reported by The Wall Street Journal:

For an illustration of everything wrong with the nation’s public pensions, look no further than the compensation in Bell, California.

Bell City Manager Robert Rizzo stepped down three weeks ago after news broke that he was making $800,000 a year to oversee the blue-collar town of 40,000. Now the Los Angeles Times reports that records show Mr. Rizzo’s compensation was double that amount—some $1.5 million a year. That number included the 28 weeks of vacation and sick time Mr. Rizzo was allowed annually—at a cost of $386,000. Good work, if you can get it.

Mr. Bell’s comp also spiraled up thanks to the city’s contributions to his pension and other retirement plans. Mr. Rizzo is in line to collect at least $600,000 annually in guaranteed pension payouts upon retirement, thanks to California’s generous formulas based on time served and compensation. Those payouts—which could add up to tens of millions of dollars over Mr. Rizzo’s lifetime—help explain why the Golden State is currently $6.2 billion in the hole for retiree pension and benefit payments.

These paydays are the inevitable result of the dominance of government unions in city and state politics. While most private workers have 401(k)-type plans that rise and fall in value with economic growth, unions negotiate guaranteed payouts that stay lucrative whether or not the cities can afford them.

Bankers are not elected by the public and do not directly work for the taxpayers.  Bankers may owe the public some accountability, but elected officials should certainly be held to a higher standard.  If Mr Obama is looking to improve his poll standings, how about some outrage over public officials who breach the public trust and enrich themselves at public expense?   Mr Obama should take a page out his banker’s book and propose taxing Mr. Rizzo’s ill gotten gains at 100%.

A new poll released by the Washington Post-ABC News shows that support for the president has plunged to a new all time low.   A staggering 60% of voters say that they “lack faith in the president to make the right decisions for the country, and a clear majority once again disapproves of how he is dealing with the economy”.

The poll results should not be a surprise to anyone based on recent state and local election results where voters have shown a resounding denunciation of Obama’s policies.   The country is clearing going in the wrong direction with living standards declining across virtually every income and social group.

The Financial Times assessed Obama’s problems regarding his recent plunge in the polls:

Astonishingly, 55 per cent of citizens think Mr Obama is a “socialist” against only 39 per cent who do not share that diagnosis.

“The bottom line here is that Americans don’t believe in President Obama’s leadership,” says Rob Shapiro, another former Clinton official and a supporter of Mr Obama. “He has to find some way between now and November of demonstrating that he is a leader who can command confidence and, short of a 9/11 event or an Oklahoma City bombing, I can’t think of how he could do that.”

Big Brother directives flow out of Washington on a massive scale, attempting to micro manage and control every aspect of the economy and our personal lives.  Imbued with an arrogance beyond comprehension, the ruling elite believe they can solve any problem by simply legislating another 2,500 page bill.    The people are no longer being fooled by this nonsense and the recognition is slowly building that Congress could do more good by simply leaving town for an extended period.

Why Is This Man Smiling?

While the Obama administration has been spending trillions on unaffordable health care programs, global warming, financial reform and other matters mostly peripheral to most Americans, the issue of a floundering economy and sky high unemployment go unaddressed.  It’s always “jobs and the economy stupid”.  Without income growth, none of these other programs matter as reported by Bloomberg:

Seven of 10 Americans say reducing unemployment is the priority. At the same time, the public is skeptical of the Obama administration’s stimulus program and wary of more spending, with more than half saying the deficit is “dangerously out of control.”

The public mood is bleak, with 63 percent saying they believe the country is on the wrong track, the most negative reading of Obama’s presidency. After a year of economic growth, 71 percent say the economy is still in recession; another 13 percent say the economy is faltering and will dip back into recession.

Only 1 in 6 say they believe they are personally better off than they were 18 months ago, when President Barack Obama took office. They are more apt to see the economy today as deteriorating than improving.

Based on the direction the country is headed in, a logical mind would wonder why 40% of voters still apparently support Obama.  Here’s some rather dark thoughts on this matter by Wayne Allen Root, 2008 VP nominee for the Libertarian party, as reported by truthorfiction.

Barach Obama is no fool. He is not incompetent. To the contrary, he is brilliant. He knows exactly what he’s doing. He is purposely overwhelming the U.S. economy to create systemic failure, economic crisis and social chaos — thereby destroying capitalism and our country from within.

Barack Obama is my college classmate ( Columbia University , class of ‘83). As Glenn Beck correctly predicted from day one, Obama is following the plan of Cloward & Piven, two professors at Columbia University . They outlined a plan to socialize America by overwhelming the system with government spending and entitlement demands. Add up the clues below. Taken individually they’re alarming. Taken as a whole, it is a brilliant, Machiavellian game plan to turn the United States into a socialist/Marxist state with a permanent majority that desperately needs government for survival … and can be counted on to always vote for bigger government. Why not? They have no responsibility to pay for it.

Obama doesn’t care that giving free health care to 30 million Americans will add trillions to the national debt. What he does care about is that it cements the dependence of those 30 million voters to Democrats and big government. Who but a socialist revolutionary would pass this reckless spending bill in the middle of a depression?

– Cap and trade. Like health care legislation having nothing to do with health care, cap and trade has nothing to do with global warming. It has everything to do with redistribution of income, government control of the economy and a criminal payoff to Obama’s biggest contributors. Those powerful and wealthy unions and contributors (like GE, which owns NBC, MSNBC and CNBC) can then be counted on to support everything Obama wants. They will kick-back hundreds of millions of dollars in contributions to Obama and the Democratic Party to keep them in power. The bonus is that all the new taxes on Americans with bigger cars, bigger homes and businesses helps Obama “spread the wealth around.”

– Make Puerto Rico a state. Why? Who’s asking for a 51st state? Who’s asking for millions of new welfare recipients and government entitlement addicts in the middle of a depression? Certainly not American taxpayers. But this has been Obama’s plan all along. His goal is to add two new Democrat senators, five Democrat congressman and a million loyal Democratic voters who are dependent on big government.

– Legalize 12 million illegal immigrants. Just giving these 12 million potential new citizens free health care alone could overwhelm the system and bankrupt America . But it adds 12 million reliable new Democrat voters who can be counted on to support big government. Add another few trillion dollars in welfare, aid to dependent children, food stamps, free medical, education, tax credits for the poor, and eventually Social Security.

– Stimulus and bailouts. Where did all that money go? It went to Democrat contributors, organizations (ACORN), and unions — including billions of dollars to save or create jobs of government employees across the country.