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    BobbySeriousHamilton Nolan
    11/23/15 2:20pm

    What else needs to be said about this stupid ass country?

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      FarmhandBobbySerious
      11/23/15 2:23pm

      Glorious!

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      nice_marmotBobbySerious
      11/23/15 2:29pm

      That pretty much covers it.

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    MiniatureamericanflagsforothersHamilton Nolan
    11/23/15 2:21pm

    They also love local government, despite all evidence that the most oppressive form of government in America is local government:

    http://nymag.com/daily/intellig…

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      APissedAntMiniatureamericanflagsforothers
      11/23/15 2:25pm

      I hate local government so much. It is a vast unchecked wasteland of idiots and crooks. The destruction of our print news media does not help this situation.

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      Cam/ronMiniatureamericanflagsforothers
      11/23/15 2:28pm

      The HOAs usually take the grand prize for Most Oppressive Government.

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    Jerry-NetherlandHamilton Nolan
    11/23/15 2:21pm

    The definition of low information voters.

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      1llamarampage will write againJerry-Netherland
      11/23/15 2:23pm

      What I’m surprised at is that someone else made this exact comment, with a picture of a completely different sign expressing the same exact ridiculous opinion.

      I mean, I get it, it’s a big country, there’s bound to be more than one of each kind of moron. But also - yeesh.

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      Jerry-Netherland1llamarampage will write again
      11/23/15 2:27pm

      I just caught that. What can I say? Like minds think a-great.

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    Dave Hamilton Nolan
    11/23/15 2:22pm

    Couldn’t this headline just read “Many Americans are Fucking Stupid”?

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      SpangarangDave
      11/23/15 2:26pm

      “Many Americans are Fucking Stupid Americans”

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      wheremyhotsauceSpangarang
      11/23/15 2:36pm

      But I’m fucking a Canadian!

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    flamingolingoHamilton Nolan
    11/23/15 2:38pm

    These results are the successful outcome of 30+ years of conservative propaganda about “big government”. It’s become a truism that government is awful even though Americans support most government interventions into the economy and society.

    It’s kind of like how many young women these days claim not to be feminists, despite supporting every aspect of feminism. Or how many moderate conservatives are still reluctant to vote for Democrats, despite the fact that their policy positions more closely align with establishment Democrats than establishment Republicans. It’s a tribal thing, I think. Many don’t want to identify in certain ways because of the negative connotations of those labels.

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      GeorgeGeoffersonLivesflamingolingo
      11/24/15 4:45am

      This. This is almost entirely the work of conservative talking points nailed into the brains of low-information voters for decades. It’s really not more complicated than that.

      1. Get elected to government.

      2. Starve the government and break all of its programs.

      3. ???

      4. Profit! (for the “job creators”)

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    Tgizzle4eva4evaHamilton Nolan
    11/23/15 2:18pm

    “So, you want a realistic, down-to-earth show... that’s completely off-the-wall and swarming with magic robots?”

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      ThenSAHamilton Nolan
      11/23/15 2:28pm

      Tell me about it.

      You people. I read your e-mails all day. None of you know what you want. You all want more job security and responsibility at work, but also long for a month on vacation.

      Also, Jimmy, if you don’t head to your in-laws for Thanksgiving, you are just being a jerk.

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        SoapBoxcarWillieHamilton Nolan
        11/23/15 5:03pm

        People are pretty bad at coming up with specific things the government could do or not do to make things better. I think many people have the impression that the government does too many things that cost way more than they should, which isn’t completely unfounded. Part of the problem is the way that government procurement works (and I’m not even going to get into Military/Defense procurement), which works via a RFP (request for proposal) system that was supposed to introduce fairness into who gets government contracts because anyone can submit a proposal. However, often the companies that actually get government projects are just companies that have invested a lot of resources in getting government business, and may be nowhere near qualified to actually complete the project they’ve won (healthcare.gov is a perfect example of this).

        Some of these problems stem from a lack of qualified technical people in government decision-making roles, who are therefore unable to manage the specification and buildout of large software projects. Some of these problems stem from the gutting of the Congressional Budget Office, which left the burden of explaining how things should work to the companies that were supposed to make them work (and have cost us untold sums in cost overruns). It’s understandable how these issues have undermined Americans’ trust in the government and its ability to get things done.

        Many of the other issues mentioned in the article are the casualties of political polarization, and the lack of common ground between 2 increasingly ideological party platforms. I just don’t see it getting better before it gets worse.

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          CleverUsernameHamilton Nolan
          11/23/15 2:38pm

          This is the end result of the Reagan Presidency; Cognitive Dissonance and a disdain for knowledge.

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            ReburnsABurningReturnsHamilton Nolan
            11/23/15 2:28pm

            Americans who would prefer a “smaller government” which offers fewer services: 53%

            Areas in which majorities of Americans believe that the government should have a “major role”: Keeping the country safe from terrorism; responding to natural disasters; ensuring safe food and medicine; managing immigration; maintaining infrastructure; protecting the environment; strengthening the economy; education; ensuring retirement income; setting workplace standards; health care; poverty alleviation.

            It’s worth pointing out that while majorities of Americans may believe these seemingly incongruent things, the groups of people who believe all of those things aren’t perfect venn overlaps. Roughly 60% of Americans think taxes should be more progressive, but at least some portion of that 60% care more about other political issues, so they don’t vote for candidates in favor of more progressive taxes.

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