A new poll out indicates that the country is clearly, massively, overwhelmingly progressive. While they talk about cutting so-called entitlement programs in Washington, the American people have completely different priorities.
When asked what's the first thing they would do to balance the budget, Americans had an unmistakably clear answer -- raise taxes on the rich. It came in number one by a mile, with a whopping 61 percent.
If that wasn't progressive enough, cutting defense spending came in number two, with 20 percent.
And if all of that wasn't clear enough, when asked about cutting Medicare, only 4 percent were in favor of it. Only 3 percent wanted to cut Social Security as a way to balance the budget.
I thought the country was center-right? That's what all of the pundits tell us 24/7 on television. What happened now? Do those answers look center-right to you? They look decidedly center-left to anyone with a pulse.
Washington is going to hate this news because they were just getting ready to cut people's Social Security. That's what the president's Deficit Commission suggested. That's what all of the Republicans are massively in favor of. That's what a lot of the Democrats are already saying is "necessary." All the meanwhile, they just gave a $407 billion tax cut to the richest people in the country.
Well, apparently the American people disagree with Washington's priorities. If the Democrats, Republicans and the president persist in trying to cut Social Security in the face of these numbers, then we will know that we have lost our democracy altogether. That the people in power couldn't give a damn what we want. That the take over of the American government by the corporations, the rich and the powerful is complete.
Every time you hear any politician or pundit say we have to cut Social Security or what they derisively call entitlement programs (you paid into them your whole life, that is why you are "entitled" to them), send them this poll. And ask them why they don't care at all about the will of the American people.
Follow Cenk Uygur on Twitter: www.twitter.com/TheYoungTurks
NOT:
1)why am I too lazy to care
2)maybe they know something I don't
3)this poll is a lie "They All Lie Equally"
the Question to ask yourself is WHY and Hoow is it the Right wing without any tepedation KNOWS you are not going to so much as make a wimper about it.They lied about Jobs as a Priority...they Fabricate certain Topics into the Number one topic..like the Deficit.. i's only important when it serves thier interests,,
THINK!: How Did They know I will be silent?What is it that lets them be Clearly Aware of my Apathy and I raise no protest rather allow them to write checks in your name,give opinions in your name and Blame crimes in your name...Again And Again...???
The fallacy of argument from popularity is fallacious because it proposes that popularity is synonymous with validity... of the form that "More people accept the proposition that X is Y, therefore X is Y." The reason that it is fallacious, as a form of argument, is that the statement "X is Y" could easily be false, regardless of its popularity.
The difference between that and a poll to determine what voters' policy preferences are isn't even subtle. Nobody is talking about the validity of argument propositions; they are instead talking about measuring the relative political support expressed for various public policy preference options.
The Republicans claimed that the American people are Concerned about the DEFICIT....No offense to Americans but if you look at the Hot topics of the American voter..The Deficit is not anywhere near an issue and Economists around the world agree on 2 things. That as a bi-product of getting an economy back on its feet after a Massive Economic Downturn..SPENDING is Required..Kind of a No brainer..and Contrary to the GOP's Claim the Deficit has not gone up and it actually has hovered around the same level for 3 years..It dropped 20% in 2009....The observation made next was mentioned by senator Bernie Sanders "If you remove the ability to have the deficit rise it makes it impossible to take action regarding Job creation and stimulating the economy..the only remedy to that is to "raise Taxes" Thus Taxes and the Deficit are INJECTED into the debate intentionally..creating a brilliant yet decieving impression of a administration that is innefective.
The truth is that this is not the first poll that shows these results. Over the last few years, numerous polls have shown similar number of people choosing to tax the wealthy first. Just point your search engine in the right direction and you'll find them.
They want more and and want it at your expense. Duh !!!
The main reason for my comment is in regards to the poll that you cite. The glaring inconsistency between the poll data and the election results is not a mystery. The poll is supposed to be based on phone calls but it also solicits online votes. You get this message after answering a quetion, "NOTE: This is not a scientific poll. The results above are for information purposes only, and should not be confused with the results of the scientific polls conducted by CBS News". Vanity Fair, "To answer the questions yourself, visit the 60 Minutes homepage at CBSNews.com." Of course sending the readers of Vanity Fair, 60 minutues and the New York Times (cited poll as well) to answer will result in liberal/progressive responses!
My point is not to debate political ideology at all. It would be the same as if Fox News cited a poll proclaiming the whole country is conservative done by the Wall Street Journal, Weekly Standard and National Review.
http://www.vanityfair.com/magazine/2009/11/60-minutes-poll200911?currentPage=2
There's no reason to assume that the results of the telephone survey are necessarily skewed or derived from a non-representative sample.
But there is also a 60 minutes-Vanity Fair online poll which you'll find here:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/09/25/60minutes/main5339910.shtml
The New York Times did a piece on the poll which you can read here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/28/business/media/28vanity.html
I would assume the online poll necessarily over represents Vanity Fair, 60 min and NY Times readers.
Simple; you vote in a President who runs on a progressive platform based on sweeping change of our political system.
He then ignores his progressive base and proceeds to run a largely center right administration with center right policy.
The progressive voter base then either does not turn out to vote due to disillusionment, or do turn out and vote for Republicans to show how displeased they are with the Progressive President the voted in.
This Republican win doesn't show this country is Center-Right. It does show how angry and fed up this nation is with politicians who lie.
The argument is made even more absurd when you consider that in the span of 2 years we went from a very liberal nation to a conservative nation.
Yes, they keep electing Democrats and Republicans. Things won't change until that changes.
Cenk?
Polls during the 2008 campaign clearly reflected the US as center-left. It was there for all to see.
The GOP will realize that, yet again, in the 2012 elections when they, once again, get routed.
No one really cares what is going down. What matters is that I'm getting mine.
The In God We Trust banner on our currency should be replaces with
Money Talks BS Walks.
I agree with all the rest.