Do we own the government - or does the government own us?

In Cheryl Hall's column, "Do we own AIG - or does AIG own us", in today's Dallas Morning News, at the end she writes:

Let's face it. We are experiencing the impotency that shareholder rights enthusiasts such as Monks have railed against for years.

Individual shareholders can't outmuscle management. And the vast majority of large institutional investors are too lazy, too uncaring and/or too financially conflicted to keep management in check.

"The result is a class of zombie owners who mostly have no idea what they own and largely don't care as long as the stock price continues its ascent," he says. "Active ownership serves as a counterweight to the natural tendency of CEOs and other high-ranking executives to collude in their own self-interests."

Now, he says, it's time for the federal government to come out of its stupor.

That sounds very much like the relationship of the average voter to the US government:

Individual voters can't outmuscle congress. The major campaign contributors care only about their own special interests and the mainstream media are either too lazy, uncaring or too ideologically conflicted to engage in the kind of objective journalism that both informs the public and helps keep the government in check.

The result is a class of zombie voters who mostly have no real idea who they are voting for and largely don't care as long as the pork rolls in. An active electorate serves as a counterweight to the natural tendency of congressmen, bureaucrats, and lobbyists to collude in their own self-interests.

Perhaps it's time for the American voter to come out of their stupor.

And no, voting for Obama was part of the problem, not part of the solution.