Election turnout comparisons

Something has gotten my attention.  I noted on a comment to a blog post that Texas' turnout in the last election was rather low, so I checked it out.  Yes, it was rather low.  I looked at the country as a whole and I made some comparisons over the last several elections.  I was a little surprised by the findings.  In terms of turnout, the differences were not that much over previous elections.  I had expected more of a difference, but the patterns are pretty well-established.  So, in terms of turnout, not much changed in this last election.

One thing that did change is from 2004 to 2008, We went from Bush to Obama.  Turnout was higher for Obama in 2008, but not all that much higher.  What seemed to change the most is the attitude.  It wasn't turnout.

Has this country experienced that much of a change in just these past 8 years?

If so, this could be permanent.  Obama hasn't changed the country.  The country may have already changed by itself.

Update:

This led me to look at the list of the most popular movies and books.

Frankly, I don't know this stuff and it bores me.

Update:

If you read Zero Hedge, you will become absolutely convinced we are headed to the Dark Ages.  The American public is blissfully ignorant of the coming doom.

Update:

I guess the conclusion to all this is our policy makers and so-called leaders are shielding the truth from the public and since nobody knows that there's some serious problems here, nothing will be done.  Nothing will even be attempted.