In this great nation, it is of vital importance to know what we
are thinking at all times, because it is up to us to lead ourselves
as a self-governing great nation that is run by the citizens the
government of which is of, by, and for, which is to say it’s our
show, our call, our decision at critical points in crucial times
where the rubber meets the road, push comes to shove, and we get
down to the nitty-gritty.
In this great nation, it is of vital importance to know what we are thinking at all times, because it is up to us to lead ourselves as a self-governing great nation that is run by the citizens the government of which is of, by, and for, which is to say it’s our show, our call, our decision at critical points in crucial times where the rubber meets the road, push comes to shove, and we get down to the nitty-gritty.
And except for the fact that our government has become so secretive that we the self-governing citizens know less about what we are doing, where we are doing it, and why we are doing it than the average gerbil knows about Keynsian economics this is a good thing.
So to cover, the fact that we have little if any reliably factual basis from which to form an intelligent decision any more, we look to public opinion polls to tell us what we are thinking, and possibly to tell our government, which knows oodles more than we do about whatever the topic is and probably knows that what it has lead us to believe we know about it is dead wrong, what we want it to do in our name. Many of us find this comforting, as it strengthens the delusion that the feelings of 50 million systematically misinformed Americans carries nearly as much weight as the agenda of Dick Cheney.
A large and informative new poll has come out on the subject of our great nation’s foreign policy. In response to a series of mix-and-match scenarios, we apparently are of some of the following views:
83% support attacking Iraq if in conjunction with our major allies and with the full backing of the United Nations.
47% support attacking Iraq if in conjunction with one or two of our allies and without the backing of the United Nations.
34% support attacking Iraq alone and without the backing of the United Nations.
12% support attacking the United Nations and our major allies.
In response to the question, “If it is shown that Iraq possesses chemical weapons but no capability of delivering them, Iran possesses the capability to produce nuclear weapons but has no intention of doing so, and North Korea possesses nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons as well as the capability of delivering them, but is currently inclined to use them only on small countries with hard-to-pronounce names and no known oil reserves, would you support (a) attacking Iraq with the support of the United nations and our allies, (b) attacking North Korea without the support of the United Nations but with the backing of Iran, or (c) attacking somebody, it doesn’t matter much who, because we’ve already spent all this money on a huge military buildup and we’ll look really lame if we don’t attack anybody at all?”
68% supported having “Friends” come back for another season no matter how much they have to pay the stars.
18% are of the opinion that Al Kaida was the guy who got more votes than Bush in 2000.
44% are of the opinion that Kim Jong Il’s haircut is a crime against humanity.
7% are of the opinion that the reason U.N. weapons inspectors have been completely unsuccessful in finding Saddam’s instruments of mass destruction is that they are all in the possession of a funny-looking fellow named Waldo.
19% are of the opinion that Bush will never attack Iraq because Saddam is protected by his Republican Guard and Ronald Reagan decreed that Republicans should never attack each other.
Boy, I sure hope the government is listening.
Robert Mitchell practices law in Morgan Hill. His column has appeared in The Dispatch for more than 20 years. It’s published every Tuesday.
