Pick any day. Grab any disparate group of domestic and international political headlines. Most are of a disturbing piece: The failure of the world’s elected political establishments to heed their voters’ simple, elemental requirements of representative responsibility.

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“German anger at the 750 billion Euro Greek bailout is swelling as world markets slid after initial excitement at the bailout fizzled.

“The headline on the front page of Germany’s biggest newspaper, Bild, summed up the national mood, declaring:  ‘We are once again the schmucks of Europe!’

“Meanwhile world stocks and the Euro dropped sharply today as the massive relief rally triggered by the plan to contain Europe’s debt crisis fizzled out.” --  UK Daily Mail

 “We cannot push through our culture of stability in Europe.  The euro zone is dominated by countries for whom currency stability is not so important.” -- Germany’s Die Welt

 “The US exposure to the European debt bailout could be at least $50 billion, but the chance of taxpayers actually being on the hook for that appears remote.

“Determining the exact amount of exposure is nearly impossible until governments start stepping up to the window created by the European Union and the International Monetary Fund to stem the crisis in Greece and elsewhere on the continent.

“But one rule-of-thumb formula puts potential US exposure at $54 billion should the entire IMF loan fund be tapped.” -- CNBC.com

“Greek workers on Wednesday called a 24-hour general strike for May 20, the latest in a series of protests against planned pension cuts linked to an international 110-billion-euro ($139.7 billion) bailout for Greece....

“Unionists have vowed to stop the pension reform, a key condition in a financial rescue plan for Greece agreed last week with the euro zone and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).” -- Reuters

“California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger will seek ‘terrible cuts’ to eliminate an $18.6 billion budget deficit facing the most-populous U.S. state through June 2011, his spokesman said.

“Schwarzenegger, 62, who will introduce his revised budget plans on May 14, has said he won’t seek tax increases to bolster California’s finances.  The Republican’s forecast for the budget gap may rise after revenue fell short of his targets last month....

“Democrats this week introduced a package of bills that would raise as much as $2.9 billion annually by imposing a 10 percent severance tax on oil production in the state, repealing corporate-tax breaks approved last year to spur job growth and assessing commercial property taxes differently.”  -- Bloomberg.com

“Governor Paterson has granted stunning pay raises of up to 29 percent to several key aides – even as he slaps furloughs on 100,000 state workers, and his lieutenant governor threatens layoffs.  The shocking move by the lame duck governor involves five members of his embattled press office, whose two top-ranking members abruptly resigned earlier this year amid what they privately called misleading statements made by the governor.” -- New York Post

“A West Virginia congressional seat that’s been held by a Democrat for generations is now up for grabs after 14-term incumbent Rep. Alan Mollohan was swept out of office on a wave of voter unrest that an opponent called a referendum on President Barack Obama.

“The congressman is the first U.S. House incumbent to be ousted this spring primary season amid widespread anti-incumbent sentiment.  The same unrest helped end the 17-year career of Utah Republican Sen. Bob Bennett, who lost a GOP convention on Saturday.

“State Sen. Michael Oliverio carried 56 percent of the vote to Mollohan’s 44 percent Tuesday night after an aggressive campaign that questioned the incumbent’s ethics and support for issues including federal health care reform.” -- Associated Press

“It’s too complicated?  You think taxpayers that go to work to pay the money you are subsidizing, it will end up a half a trillion, do you think they think complicated is an excuse?” -- CNBC’s Rick Santelli to Rep. Paul Kanjorski (D-PA), regarding failure to include Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in proposed financial regulation because the challenge is “too complicated.”

Pick any day.  Grab any disparate group of domestic and international political headlines.  Most are of a disturbing piece:  The failure of the world’s elected political establishments to heed their voters’ simple, elemental requirements of representative responsibility.  A worldwide wave of anti-incumbency in an attempt to restore accountability, voting bulls in the establishment china shops?  We just hope that’s all it takes, because we are rapidly approaching a rending of the global village to the point that will severely test the viability of representative governments.