Shocking Disconnect Between public opinion and Govt policy

Paul Street -- who writes a blog on znet -- is one of the best leftist writers around. Here is a recent post from him about how liberal the electorate is when it comes to foriegn issues, and how conservative the government is when it comes to those same issues.

American Population surveyed: 1,195 randomly selected non-institutional US citizens interviewed in mid-July 2004:

http://www.ccfr/globalviews2004/sub/usa.htm


There’s a reason that United States policy masters have constructed and refined a system of “representative democracy” that keeps vast swaths of the homeland populace as focused on candidate personalities as on actual policy issues. If majority opinion on such issues was fully expressed and institutionally empowered in the political institutions of the “world’s greatest democracy,” there’d be a lot less US empire abroad and a lot more US equality at home.


1. Percentage who think the following should be a very important goal of US foreign policy:
protecting jobs of American workers: 78%
preventing spread of nuclear weapons: 73
maintaining superior military power worldwide: 50*
Help bring a democratic form of government to the others nations: 14*


2. Ranking of popular support for expansion of government spending on following programs:
health care: 79%
aid to education: 69
Social Security: 65*
Homeland Security: 51
Intelligence gathering on other nations: 43
defense spending: 29*
farm subsidies: 27*
economic aid to other countries*
military aid to other nations*

5. Percentage of Americans who think the US should remove its military presence from IRAQ if that’s what the majority of people there want: 72%*

6. Percentage of Americans who think has the repsonsibility to be the world’s policeman: 20%

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>..
much more here:
http://blog.zmag.org/index.php/weblog/entry/semi_invisible_american_internationalists_and_the_shocking_disconnect_betwe/

put up candidates who propose such policies? I have seen other surveys that mirror this one...

Instead we had a candidate for the Presidency totally focused on how he can "win" an illegitimate imperialist "war" and denying he was a "redistribution" Democrat.

My hope is that the coalition of progressives that came together for this election will not evaporate but will keep the grass roots active in demanding change.

... the candidate, in determining whether we win or lose. Our opponents pay professionals big money to work against us full time. We have the people, but to win we must forge them into a functional fulltime organization.

Even if we don't have as much money as the other side, and even if we must therefore run a largely volunteer effort, we must adopt an entirely professional attitude. If we don't work against the dark side with all the tireless energy we would apply to a business enterprise, we'll lose.

I don't doubt the premise- and you see it refelcted in poll after poll after poll.

The bottom line is that progressive issues are winning issues- and the corollary to that is that the mainstream Democratic party has sold us all out by pandering to the right and to the corporatists.

In a nutshell that's why the keep losing.

'BushSpeak' is text-book (1979 US Army Propaganda Field Manual 33-1) psychological manipulation and deception and it is working well on the large number of Americans who are suggestable through ignorance, disinformation, and emotional vulnerability.

Learn what works in language and persuasion technology and use these effective methods to shape people's opinions by countering the harm already done with good information and a clear concise explanation of the scam told in vocabulary the audience can and, most importantly, WANTS to hear.
http://www.fas.org/irp/doddir/army/fm33-1/