And yet, without fail, we elect one of two sides of the same coin every 2 years locally, and every 4 years federally, despite people like me telling everyone who will listen that it's a terrible idea, and that doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results is moronic.
A smart sheep is still a sheep. That term doesn't imply stupidity, or lack of intelligence, only ease of manipulating.
You assume people are easily manipulated because you fail to appreciate what they actually want. You might, say, criticize a republican for wanting smaller government but voting for republicans instead of libertarians. But when arepublican says "smaller government" they mean "a little smaller." They don't want some breathtaking departure from the status quo. They want to cut back on teachers' pensions, not get rid of the Department of Education. Similarly, you might criticize a liberal for wanting less of a security state, but again fail to appreciate that what they mean by that is a "little less."
In my experience, people are quite broadly happy with the status quo. The complain incessantly about it, but very few would change it in a really fundamental way. It's hard to look at the American government and see it as anything other than an expression of the composite of American voters: financially irresponsible baby boomers who carry with them some of the liberal leanings of being teenagers in the 1960's along with the paranoia of being young adults in the Cold War.
This drives people who actually oppose the status quo in a fundamental way absolutely crazy.
A smart sheep is still a sheep. That term doesn't imply stupidity, or lack of intelligence, only ease of manipulating.