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When the preferences of economic elites and the stands of organized interest groups are controlled for, the preferences of the average American appear to have only a minuscule, near-zero, statistically non-significant impact upon public policy.
I partially agree with you...I understand your frustration with these absurd measures. Unfortunately, it doesn't matter all that much who voted for these people.
There was a paper from 2014 that faced some criticism, “Testing Theories of American Politics: Elites, Special Interest Groups and Average Citizens. They looked at 1,779 policy changes from 1981 to 2002. In 2015 Martin Gillens did a followup where he looked at 2,245 policy changes from 1964 to 2006. And what these guys found was that policy changes were driven entirely by elite opinion, and to a lesser extent, special interest groups.
Whether the average citizens 90% opposed a policy, or 90% supported a policy it still had about 30% chance of happening. With “economic elites,” the story is radically different. If they all oppose something, it doesn’t pass. If they all support it, it’ll have a roughly 60% chance of getting passed. For interest groups, the important effects are around the middle, where interest group start net supporting a change.
In other words, there was no grass roots campaign of voters who wanted to make heating your house illegal.
I understand it's likely your title was a rhetorical question, but regardless it's an important point for people to understand if they think elections and policy are related in any significant way.
You better think again.I partially agree with you...
However if the people that are pushing for this, and/or will pass this agenda, knew that if they will get voted out for passing this, do you think they would be willing to sacrifice they're political career for the claimed reduction in "climate Change"?
I don't think so...
Well if they won't get voted out of office for it the majority of voters from your state must want thatI partially agree with you...
However if the people that are pushing for this, and/or will pass this agenda, knew that if they will get voted out for passing this, do you think they would be willing to sacrifice they're political career for the claimed reduction in "climate Change"?
I don't think so...
That is also not entirely true; voting for one of two candidate representatives inevitably leads to compromises. There are many issues in politics that are deemed untouchable for many voters (on either side). So many votes are cast by folks having one of such all-overriding issues they care about - and relatively minor things are the compromise they make to be able to vote for their principles.Well if they won't get voted out of office for it the majority of voters from your state must want that
This plan doesn't address wood burning from what I saw. Pretty much all fossil fuels.That is also not entirely true; voting for one of two candidate representatives inevitably leads to compromises. There are many issues in politics that are deemed untouchable for many voters (on either side). So many votes are cast by folks having one of such all-overriding issues they care about - and relatively minor things are the compromise they make to be able to vote for their principles.
Not saying wood burning is a minor issue, but in all honesty, it is a minor issue for most folks.
And then there are folks who vote without regard to anything than the letter behind the name.
Oh no. We cant vote people like this out of office!Well if they won't get voted out of office for it the majority of voters from your state must want that
In theory, yes. In practice, no. How many NY voters know/care about this agenda? 1%? 5%? Additionally 25-30% of your states voter-base does not know how to read and is bused to the polls by party operators.I partially agree with you...
However if the people that are pushing for this, and/or will pass this agenda, knew that if they will get voted out for passing this, do you think they would be willing to sacrifice they're political career for the claimed reduction in "climate Change"?
I don't think so...
As a politician, you’re an actor within a government. You are not intimately tied to the general health of the country. In fact if you’re a senator, you can gesticulate and claim that you had nothing to do with anything bad that happened, or anything perceived to be bad that happened in the country. Even as president in the US, you can say your ability to act was constrained by the congress or the courts, that you only had four or eight years to implement your plan. And maybe it really is true. Maybe there is no single actor or group of actors that you can blame in the US. The buck doesn’t stop anywhere.
In the US, you can pick a side. And then if anything goes wrong it’s either because of the other side. Or if your policy is implemented and that went wrong, well “it’s because those lousy Democrats corrupted the policy”, or “the Republican crippled Obamacare, it wasn’t really what we wanted.” There’s all sorts of games you can play. The system is sufficiently complicated that you can always find some plausible out. So the buck never stops anywhere.
In other electoral authoritarian regimes the public knows that the elections are a sham. But what if you had an electoral authoritarian regime where the public was well and truly conned, and truly believed that elections mattered. Well you’d have a level of control beyond any dictatorship. Because at least open dictatorships now have the burden and the odiom of being a dictatorship. And have the policy buck stopping at them.
This comment is out of line. For your record I myself am far from the flock.Oh no. We cant vote people like this out of office!
That would be crossing party lines, and sheeple like you don't do that.
This all has been a very long time coming. See the act of 1871 set forth by congress.Anyways, don't get too down about it. It's highly unlikely the United States will make it to 2035 in its current political form
Things like this tend to happen very slowly, then all at once.This all has been a very long time coming. See the act of 1871 set forth by congress.
The end of the republic.
It has been a slow painful death. We are witnessing the end.
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