The people who like the government to spend like drunken sailors without any thought for how to pay for it and only think of the now are the people who complain the most. These people are the ones who get heard and quite often get what they want as the government gives in to their loud voices. So complaining is still an effective tool if enough people do it. Back in the early 90's we had a rare blitz of people who didn't want the country to be sent to the IMF and enough voices were heard and the media chimed in and we put ourselves onto the right path.