Overwhelmingly, the American people think the war in Afghanistan is not worth fighting, and 73 percent of the country wants us to withdraw substantial numbers of troops soon. Yet a majority of Americans, 53 percent, doubt President Obama and Congress will listen to the electorate about the war. From ABC News:

Indeed, with Gen. David Petraeus set to testify on Capitol Hill this week, a broad and bipartisan 73 percent of Americans say the United States should withdraw a substantial number of its combat forces from Afghanistan this summer. But just 39 percent think it will. (ABC News reported Monday that field commanders in fact are asking for more troops, and a senior official called a sizable reduction unlikely despite the administration’s July 11 date for a drawdown to begin.)

I don’t know what is a sadder commentary on on the state of our democracy:

  • The fact that a majority of the country no longer expects their elected “representatives” to follow their wishes on such an important issue.
  • The fact that our “representatives” will very likely take actions in such direct opposition to the electorate.
  • Or the fact that the media isn’t treating this unbelievable disconnect and total failure of democracy as a huge national scandal.

To add insult to injury, at the same time Congress is heading toward a possible government shutdown over cutting tens of billions of dollars from domestic programs, ending the wars that Americans overwhelming oppose would reducing spending by over $100 billion.

It is no wonder Americans are no longer optimistic about in our system of government when it is so clearly not working.