America votes: Complex thoughts, simple words
(Melina Mara/The Washington Post).
By Katie Rogers
What a long, strange trip the 2010 election season has been -- and if Melina Mara and Megan Rossman's "America Votes" video is any indication, voters are exhausted. (Voting tomorrow? Help us spot potential issues.)
The concept was simple and straightforward: Mara and Rossman asked voters three questions, recorded their answers and then took their pictures. The result proves that sometimes, the most earnest answers can come in just a handful of words:
If you had to use a single word to describe your feelings about the federal government, what would that one word be?
Misguided. (Steve Larson of Kent, Ohio)
When you think and talk of the government, do you tend to think of it as more as "the government" or as "our government"?
Anytime you need or want help from any government agency, even the employees act like you're taking it out of their own pocket instead of it being our pocket. (Matthew Erwin of Linesville, Pa.)
Do you think things in the nation are headed in the right direction, or do you feel that things are on the wrong track?
Our nation, in my neighborhood at least, seems to be unstable. (Bruce Richael of Farrell, Pa.)
How would you answer any of these questions? How would you sum up the federal government's performance in one word? Tweet using #votervoices or use the comments below. We'll re-post the best answers back in this blog. Again, you can catch the "America Votes" video here.
Update: View a Wordle of your one-word responses:
By
Katie Rogers
| November 1, 2010; 12:02 PM ET
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Pitiful !
Posted by: WESHS49 | November 1, 2010 2:43 PM | Report abuse
Corrupt!
Posted by: SeniorVet | November 1, 2010 2:45 PM | Report abuse
Corrupt!
Posted by: SeniorVet | November 1, 2010 2:46 PM | Report abuse
Overreaching.
Posted by: Skeptic1 | November 1, 2010 3:12 PM | Report abuse
Threatened!
Posted by: lufrank1 | November 1, 2010 3:19 PM | Report abuse
NAZI
Posted by: Capitalist-1 | November 1, 2010 3:50 PM | Report abuse
F-U-B-A-R
Posted by: sasquatchbigfoot | November 1, 2010 4:06 PM | Report abuse
SNAFU.
Posted by: nicarobrooke | November 1, 2010 4:33 PM | Report abuse
toobig! hehe
Posted by: theduke89 | November 1, 2010 5:24 PM | Report abuse
Cyclops
Posted by: jfv123 | November 1, 2010 5:24 PM | Report abuse
Fascist
Posted by: samsara15 | November 1, 2010 5:26 PM | Report abuse
Incompetent
Posted by: Ombudsman1 | November 1, 2010 6:08 PM | Report abuse
Parasitic...
Posted by: hared | November 1, 2010 6:33 PM | Report abuse
confused
Posted by: OBX104 | November 1, 2010 7:16 PM | Report abuse
SAFU
Posted by: linda_521 | November 1, 2010 7:20 PM | Report abuse
SNAFU
Posted by: linda_521 | November 1, 2010 7:20 PM | Report abuse
Corrupt
Posted by: Desertdiva1 | November 1, 2010 8:07 PM | Report abuse
Dysfunctional
Posted by: rjciardo | November 2, 2010 12:56 AM | Report abuse
Necessary.
Posted by: brwntrt | November 2, 2010 1:20 AM | Report abuse
thecitizens
what a crock of sh#t! Open it up to nothing but a bunch of negative conotations.
Screwed,
is the real word, because all of you chose to express something negative.
I hope your grandfathers ghosts drag you through Hell.
Posted by: JD76 | November 2, 2010 1:25 AM | Report abuse
Well-oiled.
Posted by: MadamDeb | November 2, 2010 2:16 AM | Report abuse
Abandoned
Foolish folk that we are we've let corrupt business elites gain control of that board.
Past time to take it away from them.
Posted by: Over-n-Out | November 2, 2010 8:03 AM | Report abuse
BLOATED
Posted by: woolfeeeee | November 2, 2010 8:04 AM | Report abuse
Disassociated (as in, out of touch with reality).
Posted by: kanawha | November 2, 2010 8:10 AM | Report abuse
broken
Posted by: JBCallanan | November 2, 2010 8:21 AM | Report abuse
broken
Posted by: JBCallanan | November 2, 2010 8:22 AM | Report abuse
leeches
Posted by: llrllr | November 2, 2010 8:24 AM | Report abuse
Necessary.
Posted by: HillRat | November 2, 2010 8:34 AM | Report abuse
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