We all know what needs to be done ,, some of us realize that it just won’t ever be implemented.
Exactly. My pessimism is based on some cold hard realities:
1) We're a welfare state. 60% of the federal budget is spent on social entitlement programs. Coincidentally, only 60% of the budget is paid for by revenues - we have to borrow the other 40%. This means that social entitlements eat up every penny of revenue the government takes in that isn't borrowed. This leads to...
2) It's now impossible to stop being the welfare state described above because we've crossed the threshold where there are more people riding in the wagon than there are pulling it. People won't vote to get rid of their free stuff, period.
3) The republicans have the power right now to put a stop to all of this simply by refusing to raise the debt ceiling again, but they won't do it because of #2 above.
So yeah, I see no solution. We will not and can not change it by voting. We're already bankrupt, and we're going to continue on this path until we completely collapse.
Then why waste any energy on it?