The outrage shortage or outrage fatigue appears to be a looming national emergency. And therein lies the problem. The reason we don't Do Something about the various idiocies being committed in our names is because we don't think anything we do will do any good.
Cynicism leads to inaction, and inaction reinforces cynicism.
Of course, our government has been largely hijacked by big-money special interests. We live in a corporate oligopoly, and none of us is stupid enough to think that his or her mite of indignation is going to sway policy. But let's try a little exercise in constructive indignation and see if we can't find something that motivates you to sit on your backside and write a letter. Believe it or not, the combination of many mites of indignation still does move the political system. The only people ticked off enough to do anything these days are the Miami Cubans, who have decided that Janet Reno is a communist and President Clinton is a tool of Fidel.