While Democratic and Republican politicians are spending the holidays arguing over the federal budget, the American people show little sign of caring about it.
As of this writing, Google Trends reports, what Americans are most concerned about are Kim Kardashian’s pregnancy, Adrian Peterson, Tony Romo, Hillary Clinton’s blood clot, the Seahawks, the Chicago Bears, the NFL playoff schedule, Andy Reid and the UFC heavyweight title.
Politicians and political wonks care about political maneuvering, but people in the real world don’t think much about it.
Far from a decision to be ignorant, Americans probably realize that whatever is decided in Washington, D.C. will be nothing much more than a mess future Congresses will pretend to work on.
One outcome is almost certain: No matter who “wins” the debates over the budgets this year, next year and future decades, the political class will always decide to spend more money.
Over the past 100 years, the annual federal government budget has gone down from the previous year only 15 times, according to White House statistics.
While polls frequently report that government should be smaller, it is probably not a deep-seated conviction considering most incumbents are re-elected every election year.
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