8 in 10 Americans
Apparently don’t entirely get how the Constitution works. World Public Opinion reports 8 in 10 Americans want more governance by poll. They’ll get their chance to vote on that in November.
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 9:54 am on Saturday, March 22, 2008
10 Responses to “8 in 10 Americans”
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March 22nd, 2008 at 11:33 am
Seems a little misleading to me. There’s a difference between saying that politicians should take into account the will of the people, and that the will of the people should rule directly.
March 22nd, 2008 at 2:36 pm
Apparently don’t entirely get how the Constitution works
Well, that is because the government schools have gone out of their way to not expose the captive audience to the fine points of the Constitution.
Or really much about the workings of government at all.
So a simplistic notion (such as American foreign policy being driven by opinion polls) might easily implant itself in the public mind.
March 22nd, 2008 at 5:22 pm
It might be interesting to make a list of public opinion currently being ignored by the government besides the War in Iraq. You know, like the fact that some 70+% favor some more restrictions on abortion, or 75% are in favor of the death penalty, or the more than 70% in favor of charter schools supported by taxes, or more than 70% favor “right-to-carry” laws and more than 80% think the 2nd Amendment protects an individual right to keep and bear arms. Or the majority that is in favor of some religion in schools, including prayers. Oh, yeah. I’m sure the MSM will be all over that, led by the folks at worldpublicopinion.org.
March 22nd, 2008 at 9:05 pm
535 Members of Both Houses of Congress
Apparently don’t entirely get how the Constitution works, or was to work.
Nowhere do I see:
‘The Congress Shall Have the Ability and Right To Steal Money From “We The People” For Their Own Enrichment and Poltical Gain’.
Must be in the “fine print”, huh?
March 22nd, 2008 at 9:16 pm
Well, senators used to be selected by the House, the 17th amendment changed that. And a certain amount of governance is direct, such as the infamous ballot initiatives or propositions in states like California. And I can’t really think of any evidence of the reverse.
But, all told, governance is pretty much as democratic or undemocratic as it was in the beginning. The main reason why, I think, is because generating legislation and analyzing it so as to vote meaningfully is a huge job requiring resources and talent.
Maybe computers will make a difference, if they could allow anyone in their pajamas to contribute interest and experience to the body of law, they could distribute the tasks of lawmaking and lawyering out to many. Speaking as a programmer, while systems for managing code allow lots of people to collaborate, the people who work on the core systems are still a talented few individuals.
March 23rd, 2008 at 12:57 am
It isn’t just that few know how the constitution works, too many have either forgotten, or have no fundamental understanding of the principles that governed its form and function. Our Founders understood tyranny, including the tyranny of the mob. That is why the constitution was based on individual rights, and the form a constitutionally limited Republic, NOT democracy, which they rightly despised as a tyranny of the whims of the mob.
March 23rd, 2008 at 2:56 am
No El Cid, the fine print is where they put the mechanism for the automatic pay raises.
” ‘The Congress Shall Have the Ability and Right To Steal Money From “We The People” For Their Own Enrichment and Poltical Gain’.” is in the mission statement.
March 23rd, 2008 at 3:41 am
Mio Cid,
That’s part of that “Living Constitution” the liberals are always yapping about. Since being unable to steal from the public didn’t suit them, they amended the Constitution by fiat so they could do that. That shows how compassionate they are.
March 23rd, 2008 at 7:44 am
Hell, 4 out of 10 of us will vote for raw socialism every time, so the fact that a majority doesn’t get the rest of it is no shocker.
March 23rd, 2008 at 11:45 am
The general public’s ignorance relative to government’s (more specifically, Congress’) limited power of taxation…
leads to a planet where the two principal Democrat contenders for the office of President want to institute the kind of all inclusive Jabba The Hutt government where their hand is in your pocket at every opportunity.
It is the complete antithesis of anything conceived at the outset of this experiment over 200 years ago, but the weaklings (to whom the notion of the “nanny state” appeals) have no clue as to how it’s all spozed to work.
Which suits the all inclusive government powers/socialists just fine.