There have been a rash of outrageous breaches of the public trust relating to national and international security including:
Failure of the US Secret Service to protect the President and the First Family.
Failure of the Dallas Hospital and federal, state and local officials to initially detect the first person in the US infected with ebola.
Failure of our government to protect our young children who are sick and dying from the enterovirus.
Failure to identify ISIL as a real threat.
Failure to identify Khorasan as a real threat.
Failure to realize the Iraqi Army when challenged would simply fall apart.
Failure to understand Putin would annex Crimea.
Failure to understand the Putin would invade Ukraine.
Failure of the department of veterans affairs to serve and support our returning Veterans health care concerns.
Failure to properly test the Obamacare Website before its launch.
Failure to protect the privacy of US citizens in the NSA "Spying Program" designed to get terrorist.
Failure of our federal, state and local governments to protect our borders from illegal immigrants who have criminal records.
Failure of our immigration services to keep track of individuals who enter the country legally, overstay their visas and evade the authorities with the intent to cause harm.
Failure to identify mentally deranged individuals who cause mass killings in our schools, on our military bases and in our communities.
Failure to identify and discipline members of our local police forces who are prone to use extreme measures including the beatings and killings of individuals being apprehended or in custody.
Failure of our local law enforcement and health care services to coordinate efforts to identify and arrest individuals who abduct and murder our young and vulnerable women and girls.
Failure of our media organizations to delve more deeply into these question and serve the public interest.
Failure of all the administrations past and present to tell us all that they know and not just what they want us to hear.
Failure of the public and those individuals who actually vote to hold the media and the government's "Feet to the Fire" each and every day.
At the moment the world appears to be spinning out of control with seemingly no one who can be trusted to "Be In Charge."
It is now less than one month to Election Day for the 2014 Mid-Terms, where control of Congress is up for grabs and except for the politicians themselves and the so-called pundits who actually make their living off this stuff...no one really seems to care.
The public is scared, disappointed and simply fed up with their government's inability to Do Its Job!
Maybe they believe it does not matter who wins.
Whether they are Republicans, Democrats or independents, the public thinks they are all running for their own self interests and not to do a job for the people they represent.
The US Congress has its lowest rating ever - locked in never-ending gridlock and dysfunction!!!
This is by no means a partisan issue. Although Republicans, Democrats and Independents do view these failures differently.
Republicans generally believe that government should be very limited - supporting a strong military, protecting the borders, etc. while standing for little or no regulations, allowing unfettered access for business to flourish in the "free market". They think everything else should be left up to the states and the local governments to work out.
There is a flaw with this reasoning since many problems of public heath and safety require collective attention, action and cooperation.
These emergencies cannot be contained within the borders of a state.
The Republicans in Congress have stripped the government of much of the funding for what they see as "non-essential services".
It would be hard to imagine how individual states could effectively handle a challenge like Ebola and keep it from spreading nationally.
Democrats on the other hand, believe that the government can and should be a force for good to make people's lives better. They believe it can level the playing field and provide opportunities for all to succeed.
As a result they see harsh budget cuts as the real reason the government can no longer function properly and do its job.
For example, take the way some in Congress view the Ebola epidemic.
At this moment the US does not have a Surgeon General - the Republicans have not approved Obama's choice for this position, and the Democrats are making "political hay" out of this.
The top Republicans contenders for the 2016 Presidential Race think the Obama Administration is not doing enough to prevent the Ebola Virus for becoming a national emergency....Some even want all flights stopped from the hardest hit countries immediately.
The Democrats, on the other hand, seem to be focusing on the US and international response to the disease at its source. They think that banning flights will make it harder to do this and will cause further hardship including economic damage to those poor countries already struggling to control the disease.
Both groups raise good points, but once again seem more interested in gaining a political advantage from this terrible disease than actually addressing the problems it poses.
Clearly the proper role that government should take in these difficult situations is a debate worth having... No one is having it.
Instead the politicians are home campaigning, raising oodles of cash - focused on keeping their own jobs.
Perhaps the voting public is simply overwhelmed with too many crises of their own at home like holding down their job, paying their bills including college loans, keeping their kids safe and educated, looking after their ageing parents, etc., to keep track of all these other issues.
Or maybe they have just lost total confidence in the ability of those they elected to represent them to actually get the job done!