Polls, Politics and Pawns
This is a good time to talk about polls and their effect on the politics that shapes the lives of us poor pawns. It was about two months ago that I heard something on TV that made me wonder about the average person on the street. Remember, the average person is the one who votes and his or her vote will put people in office with similar traits.
People choose either friends or politicians who think as they do.
I have to paraphrase the incident because I wasn’t paying enough attention at the time to record the actual words. We tend not to take notice until we realize that something of interest is taking place.
Anyway, the interviewer was stopping people on the street and asking them if they were for or against repeal of the 1975 (or some date) Bill of Income Adjustment.
He stated that most were for the repeal. What’s interesting is that there was no such bill!
Where I am going with this is that if one were to take a poll as to what the most important task for the new president would be, it would be a very different answer depending on where the poll was taken.
In Arizona, it might be border security. In Detroit it would be jobs. In New England it might be the economy. In San Francisco it might be the legalization of marijuana.
If the pollster takes his poll regarding war at a college he will find a much greater percentage of people against war. Why? These young people would be the ones required to carry the rifle.
How the question is asked also alters the answer.
Certainly the restrictive nature of the question, whether a “yes or no” answer is expected, when there is no clear answer possible to the question.
For instance, “Sir, do you still kick your dog when you get home from work every day?”
Everyone wants to be associated with a winner and unfortunately the polls can create winners.
We are seeing this effect at the present time with funding for some of the Presidential candidates drying up.
If polls are taken in specific regions that favor one candidate over another, people will shift their allegiance to the perceived winner.
This has been going on since primitive cultures formed and will continue forever.
For years my skeptical nature has caused me to ask, “Who’s telling you what and why?”
Beware how the pollster asks his questions and where he asks them for they can significantly influence the outcome of an election.
The pawns pay the price.
Your insights gives all a reason to look further than is apparently visible. It also means that there are people who try to analyze the way we currently live and that there is a need for a change a drastic change to make this world more habitable and compassionate.
Love and best wishes form the Sparrow.
John:
“The pawns pay the price.”
Your comment really brings home what Thomas Paine once wrote:
“Our calamity is heightened by reflecting that we furnish the means by which we suffer.”
That coupled with one from Winston Churchill:
“The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.”
What the both are saying is that you damn well better be informed on what and whom your voting because you’ll have to live with the consequences for a least four years.
Considering that anything will be said, and anything will be done, including free money, to save General Bullmoose (for those not familiar with Al Capps’ Lil Abner comic strip he was the personification of big business) and to bring in the vote for the current party in the next election.
It’s really time to dump the tags we carry “Democrat” and “Republican” and really investigate what these people truly are. There is no “free” anything from government. Everything has a price and you pay it.
For those who watched the “Xfiles”, the main character, Fox Mulder, had a sign above his desk. “Trust No One”. When it comes to politics that some of the best advice that can be offered.
I thank you for your comments.
If action is based on reason and truth then there is hope for the world.
My question is, what percentage of the world’s population does it take before serious progress is made toward conserving our resources and a harmonious existence on the planet?