"Suppose you were an idiot, and suppose you were a member of Congress; but I repeat myself. ''

--- Mark Twain

This famous quote should be extended to people who could have voted but did not in the 2016 primaries -- about 70 percent of eligible citizens didn't take the few minutes  needed to exercise their central democratic right.

Their sloth  paved the way for what we got as the major-party putative nominees: An ethically compromised Democrat who shamelessly panders to whatever group is in front of her and, worse, a demagogic, pathologically narcissistic con man Republican who admires murderous dictators.

Americans should stop whining about the presidential choices and what Congress does and look in the mirror. If they don't like  -- especially today --  that it's easy to go to Walmart and buy a military-style rifle designed to kill as many people as possible in the shortest period of time they could bestir themselves to go vote for a congressional candidate not in thrall to the National Rifle Association and the gun makers and who might vote for the sort of gun controls in force during the Eisenhower administration.

But many, perhaps most, of the complainers won't because America's civic culture is in full decadence mode.

--- Robert Whitcomb