Why do Americans sit on our hands as our chosen political champions continue to fund today's Viet Nam in the Middle East, to shred our Constitution, to gift our treasure on the one hand to the Wall Street millionaires gang, while refusing two-percent of that swag to the auto industry to avert multiple millions of jobs to be lost, etc, etc?
The diagnosis is uncertain, but there are some interesting cases to draw upon from elsewhere. Many other countries -- those of western Europe for example -- commonly enjoy upwards of 90 percent of eligible citizens turning out to vote, and they actually discuss issues rather than merely to display attitudes, discussions that are intellectually competitive beyond waving flags and "Supporting-the-Troops" and voting for personalities because "I just like him better," and such political moronity. Almost all of those nations have a respectable political party whose title includes the word Socialist, which in America is used as an insult or part of a scare scenario such as: "That would be SOCIALISM ! " which is apparently popularly considered here of worse morality than sex with senior family members.
Why do Americans accept our Bill of Rights to be trashed by something called – of all things -- the Patriot Act, and why do we allow our economy to be raped by the very people we voted for, sitting silently by during history's biggest heist (the 700 Billion job) while abiding a six-year war that chews up our young, beggars us and enriches the greed cabal, and then vote for a "nice" man who has promised to INCREASE the stakes in Afghanistan -- with what benefit to us? One can guess only that we're just abysmally stupid or are possessed of a death wish.
What happens now? We can trust in this: The greed merchants – munificently encouraged by OUR chosen leaders -- will keep squeezing. Our economy will continue its descent, as will the middle class, and perhaps to disappear.
After six years of the War of Lies and the burgling of our treasure, with no honest political opposition and little protest beyond the perpetual tokenism of the activist-junkies -- the smart money has to go with the serfdom option.