What I am talking about are explanations of what every agency and department is, why it is, and what it does. This will end up taking about well over 100 agencies and department and that's just the executive brance. Add in Congress and the courts and we are talking, I suspect of thousands of these things. Who are they, what do they do? Why are they doing that, who is in charge? (the list of questions to be answered is huge).

I am not even convinced anybody really knows what they all do and why. Its kinda like our tax system which has so many good deals, bad deals, social controls, special deals, etc. That the country has literally millions of accountants that work, very hard, trying to figure out the tax code.

What I would love to see is a series of programs. The programs will talk about and try to explain just what government is doing in all of its agencies, groups, departments, armies, navies, marines, space forces, etc.

I refer you to this link the the incredible morass which is our government:
https://www.usa.gov/branches-of-government

I don't know if its possible to make this part sexy but I betcha it could be interesting as well as educational. I also think it would be interesting to have groups watching and polled after each show as to what they thought about what they had seen.

One of the basic sins of politics is that the politicians tend to only talk with one another. I suspect its even tighter than that and that they may only talk to others that they agree with. Few actually talk to normal people just trying to eat or feed their family. I also don't think that anybody really understands the monster we call government. I do know that government hires over 9 million people! What are they all doing?
https://www.brookings.edu/policy2020/votervital/public-service-and-the-federal-government/

My own thought is that its time that government explains just what the hell they are doing to/for those who pay the bills (us). They can, as originally proposed, use PBS to do this. Hopefully they would also have a site on the net so conversations can be had, etc.

Take the bureau of the fiscal service
Their job (cursory) seems to be to buy, and redeem government securities. Think on it. A show that is going to explain how, why, when, they do this magic. Who would have guessed such a thing even existed.

How about the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives as to why they are not allowed to have any computers and everything gets done by hand just as they did in 1850 (if they were there) You know, things of possible interest!

Anyway, I think its of interest - our government and how it thinks it does and, then, how others think it does. This would be, I think, interesting and useful if they do it right and I also suspect that this nation has a LOT of people expert in providing entertainment (on just about anything/everything) that can be hired to do the job. My own thought is that if they can come up with a weekly (daily is probably preferable) show featuring government agencies/departments/and government groups which are not agencies or departments but paid for by taxes that might be of interest. Especially if each show then is reviewed by a neutral group of citizens.

Anyway..............

Oh, Q will roll with it. It has managed to claim that ALL conspiracies are connected for just starters. Dealing with the Trump think will be too - with the same torturous lack of real logic and no facts at all. I have faith!! (kinda)

I think copious information on every single government program and agency is available on the internet already, except for those that need to be kept secret. If you seek it, it is there. If you do have the motivation and time, you too could become an expert on whatever you want. The internet makes "shows" on broadcast TV pretty much obsolete, with so much information available on demand. You never have to "miss a show" because it's all there at any speed you want.

Of course, even if you gave cheap chrome books or whatever to everyone who doesn't have a computer, many of those folks would just use them to look at porn, wrestling, or NASCAR races. You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him watch C-SPAN.

I think that you are defining the real problem. That would be expecting any voter to actually learn all about what their tax dollars are paying for. They have never done that and they never will. It must be clothed in simplistic entertainment to get attention. My example, for instance. This is an agency that buys and redeems United States Securities! I can't even imagine how they would actually explain the whys, wherefores and whimsys involved in that one. I just picked it out of the hundreds of agencies and departments of one branch of the government and they ALL have piles of such going on!

My point is that citizens are losing faith in the government they are paying for and, as far as I can tell, gov has to sell itself because they REALLY need all the support they can get! In addition to that I firmly also believe that our elected really need to hear, and understand, how them they would govern think and also how they act. Instead, I believe they spend most of their time speaking to each other. This is, obviously, not working as well as it should.

Lets move on the congress. Congress is rated so low its hard to believe. I just check their approval rating and came across in politifact: "Here are some of the things that are more popular than Congress: hemorrhoids, Nickelback, traffic jams, cockroaches, root canals, colonoscopies, herpes. Even herpes, they couldn’t beat herpes in the polls." Really? They also, apparently, note that the popularity of congress has been in the dumps for over 30 years! I would love to see a show, based on facts, which can explain that in simple terms those in congress might understand. How in the HELL can we expect those that govern to even feed themselves? Do they really wear their underwear a month without changing? They can be accused of just about anything and people would believe it. How do they live with themselves. How does Moscow Mitch explain why he, basically, shut down the United States Congress Senate for four f*cking years!

Yep, we need a TV show that explains some of this stuff to us! REALLY! I think we forget that WE vote these people into office! Some are even proud of those that would govern! We are, basically, governed by people WE put into office and consider them to be WORSE than Herpes!! REALLY!

How about a show that presented, live, 5 different serving members of congress, every day that will entertain us by showing, and demonstrating, how they are better than Herpes, cockroaches, or Hemerroids. They could start by explaining all the nice things they had done during the day. Now, THERE would be some entertainment?

I guess my point would be that a large percentage of the citizens at any given time in history have lost faith in their governments.

This is nothing new. If a government leans one way, half the population leans the other.

Since we climbed down from the goddam trees.

Yeah, you can see exactly that in the link below.

"Americans' Trust in Government to Handle Problems at New Low"

https://news.gallup.com/poll/246371/amer...ign=syndication

Which ever party held the presidency, that party had roughly 70% trust in Government. Whichever party didn't hold the presidency, roughly 35% Trust which has gotten lower into the mid 20's during Obama. Independents seem to join the party out of power in their lack of trust regardless of party.

Pew Research gives it since 1958 where roughly 75% of all Americans trusted their government until Nixon and Watergate. Trust in government had never returned to the 50% mark for all Americans since with the exception of a few days after 9-11, then the bottom dropped out according to Pew with the average of only 19% for 2018.

https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2019/04/11/public-trust-in-government-1958-2019/

Here's another problem that I just received.

"Voters See Each Other as America’s Enemy"

https://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_...tm_medium=email

Pre-modern political era where polarization, divisiveness and mega, ultra partisanship is the norm it used to be both parties respected each other. Both recognized the goal of each party was a prosperous, secure and free America. Only the paths differed a bit to reach that goal. Not today, Each major party views the other as out to destroy this country.

This may be our biggest problem facing this nation. More than the pandemic, Russia, North Korea, China, Iran and anything else one might think of. We're destroying ourselves from within just as Khruschev predicted back in the early 60's.

There were a lot of us who were shocked when Trump bravely announced, out loud, that he was not responsible for, I think, Anything! I am now not so sure that he was not simply doing what all Americans seem to be doing - not being responsible. Trump is responsible for nothing, American voters are not responsible for anything, apparently responsibility seems to be dropping on the shoulders of them that work for government. That would mean that we have now been educated, by our dear leader, to blame 'our' employees! Nobody is responsible, nobody takes responsibility, and its all the fault of the civil service! Along with that one it also seems that NOBODY is in charge!

Now, to make things even better we have voted in a 78 year old man who actually seems to want to take responsibility and also be in charge. We have found our sacrificial goat and I don't envy him. I also suspect that we will, in the end, kill him. Oh, just to make sure his time will not be easy we have also made pretty sure that he is going to have a really rough time being in charge.

We live, I think, in very strange times............

Biden in my opinion is the best man for the job. How it all will work out, who knows? So much is beyond Biden's control.

A century long string of Bidens is pretty much what got us where we are today. In the short term, I'll take Biden over Trump. In the long game one is no better than the other. The big difference is that Biden will do whatever he will do because he thinks it is for the good of the nation. He's a place holder, a time out, a cypher. For what is expected of him, yes. He's the best man for the job.

I was born right after WWII so I have no personal memories of Truman. But from IKE through Obama, regardless of who the president was, I always felt we had sane, competent leadership. Trump was completely different.

But then I'm not an ideologue who wants to push a bunch of new programs or to end a bunch of programs. Actually, I'm satisfied as to where we are today. I've never been a political activist for a cause. Just one who watches the overall situation and once in awhile comes up with an idea of how to improve it.