ACHTUNG: This is not a “fair and balanced” article. It is an editorial by the editor.
“Let the will of the people be heard.” — Activist Albert Parsons’ last words before he was hanged at Haymarket Square in Chicago, 1886.
I’ve long held that politicians have ignored the wishes of the people and instead have legislated on behalf of those who have enough money to fund their campaigns. My contentions often have been dismissed by friends and foes alike, who insist we have a splendid electoral system reflecting popular opinion.
Some detractors admonish me by saying we don’t live in a democracy; we live in a republic. Here’s the difference, according the dictionary:
Republic — “a state in which supreme power is held by the people and their elected representatives, and which has an elected or nominated president rather than a monarch.”
Democracy — “a system of government by the whole population or all the eligible members of a state, typically through elected representatives.”
How different are they, really?
The much-despised film maker Michael Moore, at the end of one of his most recent movies, listed a number of issues in which he maintained a majority, even a super majority sometimes, has been polled consistently at odds with our toady, do-nothing lawmakers.
So, I decided to look it up myself, using the modern miracle of Google, to learn from polling from a variety of these services. Here is what I found:
- Medicare for All — Kaiser Family Foundation Poll says the public is in favor, 56 to 39 percent.
- Green New Deal — According to Grist, nationally it enjoys 63% support.
- Legalizing marijuana — Fox News poll says Americans nationwide favor it by 63% to 34%.
- Gun Control — A Pew Research Center survey reports 60 percent favor tougher controls on guns.
- Assisted suicide — Gallup poll indicates 72% of citizens believe requested physician aided dying should be legal.
- Abortion — Washington Post/Kaiser Family Foundation poll says 60% favor it legal in all or most cases, while 36% want it illegal in most or all cases.
- Climate change — Pew: “About two-thirds of U.S. adults (67%) say the federal government is doing too little to reduce the effects of climate change, and similar shares say the same about government efforts to protect air (67%) and water quality (68%).”
- Black Lives Matter — A Quinnipiac University poll found “67% of registered voters supported the protests as a response to “the death of George Floyd at the hands of police.”
- Coronavirus — Five Thirty Eight polling shows 64.8% of Americans are either very or somewhat concerned about the virus.
- COVID-19 response — Brookings Institute: “The American people are backing an increasingly robust response to the COVID-19 epidemic, even when it limits their customary liberties, they expect this restrictive regime to continue for at least another few months, and they seem prepared to tolerate it.”
- The economy — Brookings Institute showed Republicans and conservatives are united in suggesting the free market or keeping things just the way they are provide the best answers to economic crisis while Democrats and leftists are split and have only 41% support.
- Gov. Whitmer’s directives — The Detroit Free Press reported, “Michigan voters overall overwhelmingly agreed — by a margin of 69% to 22% — that protests at the state Capitol against Whitmer’s stay-at-home orderssent a wrong message.” Virtually all polls have indicated her aggressive response to the pandemic has been appropriate.
So in 11 of the 12 polls I surveyed, the state legislatures and congress are not in step with their constituents, which leads me once again to reassert that our political system has deteriorated so badly that it is neither a democracy, nor a republic. Journalist Bill Moyers refers to it as “legalized bribery.”
To paraphrase former President Jimmy Carter, the United States no long is a functioning democracy, it is an oligarchy, or the rule by a small cadre of rich people for their own enrichment.
Their response in private probably is, “Oh yeah? Whattaya gonna do about it?”
Quoting the least effective president ever until Barack Hussein Obama does not do much for your argument.
There is no economic system in the world has done the most for the majority of citizens than Capitalism. Socialism works for everyone until reality sets in and everyone is equal … equally poor and destitute. The only ones making out in socialism is the proletariat leaders stealing from the system, which they have all the control.
If you believe the “polls” you need to realize who is taking them and what group they are polling. I haven’t heard but one or two people who claim they agree with Whitmer but the east side of the state elected her. She is poorly advised and has no common sense. Her opening up northern Michigan was a farce – only because she had a graduation to attend!
She is a joke!
“The only ones making out in ___________ is the proletariat leaders stealing from the system, which they have all the control.” Substitute capitalism and you have the same situation as exists today. The rich get richer. Even in the pandemic when the government gave pittance hand-outs to the middle and lower class, the rich became obscenely richer. And they have the control by way of their PACs and large campaign donations and lobbies. I’ve said it over and over and over. Either system, socialism or capitalism, when run amok, is a damaging and dangerous thing.
DTOM
Speaking of wisdom and righteous opinions see the above. As I have said before “Often wrong, never in doubt “.
Mr Young
I think you will agree numbers taken in polls really depend on who, where, and how many are polled.
Taking our Governor as an example…unless everyone in the State replied to the poll are the numbers accurate?
Polls seem to be taken from select areas and groups of people . In my opinion taking a poll akins itself to walking into a bar and polling the patrons on their thoughts concerning the purchase of alcohol.
Numbers have/ will always be used incorrectly to support someone’s opinion.
Mr. Young,
Your aggregating of polling data from 12 polls show some interesting trends.
Medicare for All that has 56%-39% support with 5% unsure or no opinion. That means the 39% who oppose need to have politicians aligned with the healthcare insurance political donations to keep the status quo. It’s a shorter row to hoe than convincing 100% of the no opinion they need to oppose it and convince 7% of those who favor some form of Medicare for All to reverse their opinion.
I’m confused on the economy since the new status quo is financing corporations and the top 1% with near zero Federal Reserve money, low taxes and exploding Federal Deficts. Sec of Treasury Mnuchin needed to ask Congress to raise the Federal Debt ceiling in February 2018. Maybe Federal Deficits aren’t as frightening to the GOP and self-labeled “conservatives” as they for the 8 years leading to Tax Act of 2017.
The poll results on New Green Deal, Climate change, Coronavirus, COVID-19 response and Governor Whitmer’s executive orders indicate the science deniers are a vocal minority. I still suspect the vast majority of science deniers still will accept science when its used to treat them if they test positive for COVID-19, their symptoms indicate hospitalization and they find themselves in the ICU, possibly on a ventilator.
Some will challenge the validity of any poll if it doesn’t agree with their opinion. They will claim they didn’t poll the right population. Some will refuse to accept MI has10M citizens and unless the state legislature can get statewide elections to be decided by majority vote of State Senate or MI House districts, the voters who live in Macomb, Oakland, Washtenaw and Wayne Counties have their votes count the same as every other MI voter who live in other counties
And so it goes.