Excerpts from an article written by staffers of politicalaffairs.net
The US government has failed to live up to the expectations of its citizens regarding the provision of basic needs, a new international poll released this week showed.
According to the results of the survey conducted by World PublicOpinion.org this summer, American respondents to the poll by high margins stated they believe the US government has a large role to play in the provision of basic food needs, education, and health care.
Almost three in four Americans said the US government has a responsibility to help ensure that people are able to meet their food needs. Almost half, however, indicated that the US government failed to meet these needs “at all” or “very well.”
Even more Americans agreed that the US government is responsible to providing access to education. According to the survey, more than 80 percent of Americans believed the government should play a role in providing education. Only six in 10 Americans felt the government adequately accomplished the task.
On the issue of health care, Americans expressed the most concern about the government’s responsibility and its job performance. Almost eight in 10 Americans said the government is responsible for providing this basic need, but only three in 10 gave it good marks for its role in this.
Overall, American opinions on these three areas of concern reflect, more or less, typical opinions on the role of government globally. The poll showed, however, wide variations among people from different countries on how well their governments lived up to that responsibility.
Overall, respondents expressing the highest levels of satisfaction with their government’s performance in meeting such needs are found in China, Great Britain, Jordan, and the Palestinian Territories. The lowest levels are found in Russia, Ukraine, Argentina, and Nigeria.
American responses to the survey expressed the third largest amount of dissatisfaction with the government’s role in the provision of health care. While citizens of China, Palestine, and Indonesia expressed greater satisfaction on this issue than Americans by large margins, only Russians, Ukrainians, and Argentinians expressed more disapproval.
In Saner Thought 
The government is certainly not doing its part, and too many people in this country (namely Libertarians and Republicans in general) still refuse to believe that healthcare is a basic human need and that healthcare should be in the interest of society as a whole. Our public education system is sub-par; our healtcare system is a joke–and yet, where is the outrage?
Agreed and Good morning…damn it is early….I need caffeine…quickly….Many parts of our society are a koke…I was hoping the outrage would start with the bailout…but so far there has been little…I do not understand….it is getting more pathetic weekly.
Hi Chuq, yes, it really is getting more pathetic. And are we seriously thinking of bailout out General Motors now? I just don’t understand why most of my friends and associates aren’t completely pissed off about the state of this country…
We did the gay marriage rally yesterday here in San Francisco, as well as around the country. SF had a decent turnout–about 7,500. I was surprised that San Diego had an even larger turnout, and that places like Houston and Minneapolis saw large crowds as well for this protest. I hope all of this made some difference… at least it made Americans aware that it’s not just Sodom and Gomorrah (SF and Berkeley?) who gives a crap about gay rights…
I saw some of the protests in the tube and I think it was great to see so many people making their voices be heard–then I hope someone is listening.
Yes we have to draw a line some place…however there are 3 million people employed in the auto industry….that would be a hard nut to crack.