Human Nature

[Belacqua]

Yes, we all wish that voters were better informed. It would be nice if they could do the math themselves, and see through the lies. 

But they're up against about the most effective propaganda methods ever employed. And we're given very little choice. Bernie would have won, probably, but the Dems wouldn't let him get near the nomination.

They still have access to internet or libraries, it's not ancient Rome where smartest man alive knew less than today elementary school pupils. Also even in US there are other parties that main two. It is voters willingly casting their vote on "lesser evil" that conserve status quo and fuck themselves in doing so.

If people can stand to oppressive regimes and see them fail they can stand against lying politicians. It however require more effort than nodding to first bullshit artist that comes along.

There's blame enough to go around. I think that leaders should be held accountable, too, but how does that work in practice, when we're given a choice of two lying (and much lied-about) miscreants? People only know what they're told, and neither the politicians nor the corporate media have any loyalty to the truth.

It won't ever work in practice if people will not put necessary effort into it. I don't see much sense in absolving citizens of responsibility by pointing at multitude of lies in politics. Yes, politicians lie, media lie and ordinary people lie too but it is enough to use one brain to see through bullshit. It's not like for example right wing bullshit about almost everything being communism requires much brainpower to see through. Politicians lies are threadbare often enough, it's just that people like and agree with them as they want their representatives to be into their own likeness and into their own image.

There can't be democracy without democrats, without people holding politicians accountable. As long as people will vote on "lesser evil" politicians will continue to lie and break promises as their behaviour incur no costs to them when they can merely point on others and say (rightly or wrongly) they are worse. In the end responsibility falls onto a citizen, because if said citizen will not look for his own interests then why anyone else should.

Here you're talking about what SHOULD be true, and I certainly agree with you. 

People should put in the necessary effort, and they should be too smart to get fooled quite so easily. 

I also think that people with power and media clout should make it easier for people to achieve those things. 

But I guess we're kind of back at the OP now -- do we think that those things will ever be possible in the real world? Or are we justified in being gloomy, and thinking there's no hope?

I sort of tend toward the latter, I guess.