The Roots of Dysfunctional Government

There is an interesting blog posting by Matthew Yglesias that nails the paradox at the heart of dysfunctional American politics:

One of the oddities of the current political dynamic is that the largest slice of our government’s domestic spending goes to programs for old people, but old people have a marked tendency to vote for the party of tax cuts and benefit reductions. David Brooks thinks we can resolve this problem through a sudden outbreak of selflessness on the part of seniors.

Go read the whole post to find the depth of the insanity.

For example:

As you’ll recall from the health reform debate, somewhat paradoxically it’s the current beneficiaries of single-payer government-provided health insurance who evince the most opposition to universal health care. Basically, they’ve got theirs and don’t care about extending the benefits of universal health care to younger people.