A Thought About Polls

It seems you can't turn on the TV or read a newspaper without finding a news report critical of our current fearless leader. This, in and of itself, is nothing new. In many cases, it's well deserved. But what really struck me was the fact that many of these critiques are bolstered by some kind of poll / approval rating number.

As far as old GWB is concerned, I doubt he's really losing any sleep over this. He can't be re-elected, he's got a majority in the House and Senate, and as long as Howard Dean and the current Democratic leadership are in office, I don't think they're going to be taking control of the government any time soon.

But what really caught my attention was the underlying assertion: that somehow if the poll numbers dip, the person with the low poll number should do whatever the masses want to get those numbers up. I think it's attributable to that popular myth that this nation is supposed to be a democracy rather than a republic with democratically elected representation. Or maybe it's just that after 8 years of Bill Clinton, people now expect every President to govern by poll results.

The thing that really gets to me, however, is this implied faith in the judgement of the masses. Historically, the founders of this nation understood the danger of unchecked majority rule. I think John Adams (our 2nd President for those of you who attended government schools) said it well:

Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There was never a democracy yet that did not commit suicide.

I invite anyone who uses poll numbers (or any other form of popular expression of opinion) to prove the correctness of their position to consider the following:

• At least 90% of the people believe in "god"
• A large percentage of these people reject evolutionary theory, regardless (or in ignorance of) the overwhelming evidence for it
• Very few people can even name their elected representative, much less their senators, or members of the cabinet
• Huge numbers of Americans live in chronic consumer debt
• The new age / holistic / natural medicine movement rakes in billions each year, despite the fact that the majority of these alleged "remedies" either lack objective scientific testing or have been proven to be bogus
• Far too many people breed without planning for it (financially or otherwise), then expect the rest of us to foot the bill for their decisions
• It is not at all uncommon to find people who carp about wanting lower taxes, while simultaneously demanding more government programs
• Our inboxes are full of spam, which suggests that there are enough idiots responding to it to make it profitable
• People have come to depend upon technology (cars, computers, home entertainment systems, sex toys, etc.) yet they neither understand how it works nor do they particularly want to learn. But when it breaks, "somebody" needs to do "something".

In short, "the public" careens through life making stupid decision after stupid decision, embracing a strange combination of comfort, reassurance, hope and preceived security. If anything goes wrong, it's always someone else's fault, and the government should do something about it ... but their opinion should count??!!

Hence, I would point out that while poll numbers may tell you what (usually contradictory) opinions the sheeple have at any given point in time, suggesting that we should use them to govern, or using them to govern, is a really poor idea. Look how well it's served us so far.