Your word choice of "catered" in reference to meeting the needs of people is interesting. Do you feel that suffering is part of being a citizen?
Needs are not something to be "catered" to, but met with reasonable effort, and the US, so far as I can tell, is failing on that front, and has been for decades, regardless of red or blue leadership.
Nobody is asking for handouts, just the ability to afford a home and groceries with an appropriate wage. Sorry to be pedantic, and I certainly agree with your sentiment, but we need to watch our language in this discussion since I firmly believe that is part of why the subject matter is so divisive.
I re-read my post just now, and I may have worded it funny with the use of the word "catered", but I did mean it in a blanket sense as it applies to needs and worries.
So for their needs, they're not being met with reasonable effort. I'd even argue that some needs are not even being considered.
Likewise, for their worries, they're not being taken into consideration. E.g. If people are worried about immigration, address it. Or if people are worried about student debt, also do something. But don't let politicians ignore it entirely while talking incessantly that it needs to be fixed.
This is why I'm a huge proponent of direct-democracy, or any sort of more directed form of democracy other than representative. People recently have been correctly realizing that "democracy" is not as noble or actually as representative as they've been told since birth.
Side note, I think government/politicians/TPTB/etc are using "Democracy" as a way to have their cake and eat it. It's very difficult for peoples needs/worries to be address in government, they're always somehow mediated or ignored with the common excuse being party-lines, lack of bipartisan support, or just "hey it's those evil guys over there". But at the same time, we're told that it's "okay" because don't worry, this is democracy and it's just the will of the people.
I call BS. If it's the will of the people, we'd be 100% okay with doing referendums left right and centre on every contentious issue tomorrow.
/rant. Sorry that turned into a bit of a tangential rant.
Needs are not something to be "catered" to, but met with reasonable effort, and the US, so far as I can tell, is failing on that front, and has been for decades, regardless of red or blue leadership.
Nobody is asking for handouts, just the ability to afford a home and groceries with an appropriate wage. Sorry to be pedantic, and I certainly agree with your sentiment, but we need to watch our language in this discussion since I firmly believe that is part of why the subject matter is so divisive.