{"id":465,"date":"2009-09-24T13:09:45","date_gmt":"2009-09-24T18:09:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/faithlens\/?p=465"},"modified":"2009-10-20T15:08:54","modified_gmt":"2009-10-20T20:08:54","slug":"september-23-30-2009-new-poll-claims-two-thirds-of-americans-angry-at-government","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/faithlens\/september-23-30-2009-new-poll-claims-two-thirds-of-americans-angry-at-government\/","title":{"rendered":"September 23-30, 2009 – New poll claims two-thirds of Americans angry at government"},"content":{"rendered":"

Contributed by Jennifer Krausz
\n<\/em><\/strong>Bethlehem, PA<\/p>\n

Warm-up Question:<\/strong>\u00a0 Is our current government doing a good job running the country? Why or why not?<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"disagreeing-hands200\"A recent national poll\u00a0found that Americans are largely angry at their government and disappointed by the lack of ideas from both political parties.<\/p>\n

Although Republicans, who are currently out of power, were angriest at 90 percent, 44% of Democrats identified themselves as somewhat or very angry. 78% of independents were also somewhat or very angry with their government.<\/p>\n

59% of respondents across all political parties said that they were more angry now than they had been during the previous administration. And 60% say that neither Democrats nor Republicans have the answers to the problems the country currently faces.<\/p>\n

30% of respondents said they were not really angry, including 10% who were not angry at all.<\/p>\n

The poll did not seem to answer the question of why respondents were angry. Many Americans seem preoccupied with economic conditions, which have been slow to improve. Health care reform has also been a deeply divisive issue.<\/p>\n

Discussion Questions<\/span><\/h2>\n
    \n
  1. Why do you think people are so angry with the government right now?<\/li>\n
  2. Do you think their anger is reasonable, even if you are not angry yourself? Why?<\/li>\n
  3. Given what you know of the two major political parties (and trying to be objective and respectful in your response), what do you think most Republicans are angriest about? What do you think most Democrats are angriest about?<\/li>\n
  4. Do you think it\u2019s easier to get angry, or to be satisfied with the way things are? Is it easier to\u00a0be against\u00a0something or someone\u00a0who you don’t agree with completely or who is different than yourself, or to find a way of trusting and working together?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Scripture Texts (NRSV) for Sunday, September 27, 2009.<\/span><\/h2>\n

    (Text links are to oremus Bible Browser<\/a>. Oremus Bible Browser is not affiliated with or supported by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. You can find the calendar of readings for Year B at Lectionary Readings<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

    For lectionary humor and insight, check the weekly comic <\/span><\/strong>Agnus Day<\/span><\/strong><\/a>.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n