Our Fault The Pigs Rule The Trough?

Call for Lobbying Changes Is A Fading Cry, Lawmakers Say:

Government watchdog groups had assumed that members of Congress would not risk the public's ire by opposing such basic changes. But they were wrong; voters rarely complained, lawmakers said.

'The reason why it didn't happen was that members didn't feel a sufficient amount of pressure to change the way they do business,' McCain said in reference to large-scale reform. 'There's a belief among my colleagues that our constituents are not concerned.'

[...]

Joan Claybrook, president of the liberal organization Public Citizen, said her group and others instigated thousands of e-mails to Congress and called it "totally ridiculous" that lawmakers place blame on her coalition for not producing more protests.

Nevertheless, the legislation remains in limbo and, so far at least, a shadow of its initial expectations. Several of the bill's earliest advocates, such as McCain and Obama, voted against it as a waste of congressional time. "We missed an opportunity," Obama said.

The bottom line is, the jerks in power feel they can get away with anything because they think we're not watching closely enough. Is this true? I suppose we will find out this November. I certainly hope it's not the case, but when democracy fails, who else but the citizens of that democracy are to blame?

BTW, if the left loses in November and beyond, my wife and I are packing up and moving to Canada (my mom was Canadian). In another few years, it should be warm enough that far north to be comfortable for both of us (she likes tropical, I like temperate).