Who is the culprit - not I said the politician

Not so fast said the voter. From The Rasmussen Reports:

59% Still Believe Government Is the Problem
In early October, as the meltdown of the financial industry gained momentum following the collapse of Lehman Brothers, a Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that 59% of U.S. voters agreed with Ronald Reagan that �government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.�

Since then, the stock market has fallen roughly 3,000 points, millions of jobs have been lost, nearly a trillion dollars has been spent so far to bail out the financial industry, an additional $787-billion government stimulus package has been approved, and a new president has taken office who has proposed spending billions and billions more.

Despite all that, a new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey shows that the basic views of the American people have not change: 59% of voters still agree with Reagan�s inaugural address statement. Only 28% disagree, and 14% are not sure.

The report quotes some interesting demographics, talks about Regan's vision for a bit and then delivers this little gem:

In a corollary to Reagan�s assessment of government, most voters believe that no matter how bad things are, Congress could always make them worse.

To quote from the above (01/10/2009) link:

58% Say Most Congress Members Won�t Know Stimulus Plan When They Vote On It
The Senate is scheduled to vote today on an $838-billion economic stimulus plan, but 58% of U.S. voters say most members of Congress will not understand what is in the plan before they vote on it.

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that just 24% believe most of Congress will understand the contents of the 700-page-plus plan before they vote. Nineteen percent (19%) are not sure.

Two-thirds of the nation�s voters (69%) lack confidence that Congress knows what it is doing when it comes to addressing the country�s current economic problems. Just 29% are even somewhat confident in the legislators.

2010, 2012 - years to look forward to.