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04/02/2008: "Why Americans Never Vote for What They Really Want"
American voters are a contradictory bunch: They say they want social welfare, but don't want to pay for it. They claim they are left-leaning, but vote for center-right candidates. Only candidates who can appeal to both sides stand a chance.
The overwhelming majority of Americans are troubled by the social injustices in their country. They dream of a nation in which bridges do not collapse and with a school system in which drug dealers are not the main authority figures. No one doubts that, politically at least, they want to see these shortcomings corrected.
[ It all comes down to selfishness. They want everyone else to behave in the way that makes society easiest to live in, but they don't want to make self-sacrifices, like voting for tax increases, to pay for that. Democracy fails. ]
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,544870,00.html