When Policy Bites Like A Tick: Politics 401
Have you noticed how public opinion polls are conducted?
A small cross section of people are asked some questions.
The questions are often leading and very simple.
From a small group of people, their 'yes' or 'no' answers are projected onto the rest of the population.
All this according to labels and categorizing of people.
The questions sometimes express words of 'feelings'.
Depending on the survey and the topic or aim, perhaps someone may be offended by their pandering nature.
I have been.
I shouldn't be too critical, for there is a recognizable notion that people can be categorized.
However, how do we feel when someone assumes too much about us from just looking at us?
It is bad enough people are judged according to how they dress, what they believe, or know.
Are human beings that one dimensional or predictable?
I'm sure there are predictable patterns according to categories.
Perhaps some people in the realm of political science think their approach is sophisticated.
Perhaps it is believed that mankind as a whole has already been figured out.
I don't think so.
This is part of politics.
This is now consensus, momentum, and public sentiment is fostered and built.
If I were to really look into such things, this I would find:
Not every middle-aged straight male of Cuban immigrant heritage thinks like me.
Not every man from a Catholic, conservative, working class family thinks like me.
Not every man who eventually got his act together after being a bit rebellious thinks like me.
Not every man who went to college, worked over 20 different jobs before finally starting his own businesses, thinks like me.
Not every man who is married and would do anything for his wife thinks like me.
Although I may share a likeness with another man, no other man is like me according to category or label on paper.
My heart and mind is unique... as is your heart and mind unique.
Your story is unique as is mine.
Surface things seem alike.
As layers are removed, perhaps more likeness is revealed... but also unique personalities and unique perspectives are revealed.
Whatever I was listed as in a previous election cycle is not how I view politics Today.
I've discovered that there is no label / category / party affiliation I agree with.
None represent me.
Most of my past values, practices, and manners hold no bearing on the man I am Today.
Perhaps I don't fit into any box that another person has conceived for me.
I think the reality is that no other person can box me into a label.
It isn't that I've not kept up with politics, but that politics has failed to keep up with me.
Perhaps I have outgrown the playground antics that adults are confused and convinced by.
Perhaps it is I who has gone through the road less traveled, and not them.
Since labels and categorizes are very easy and don't encourage much thinking, it is very easy to point at someone who was once a criminal as a forever criminal.
In some cases, this is true.
Once a criminal always a criminal.
In other cases, redemption is very real.
Once a criminal, a criminal no more.
Is redemption considered or even believed to be possible in the public and political realms?
If redemption was considered, perhaps more politicians would be more forthright with their humanity.
For the reformed person who was previously a criminal and secured in their redemption, it matters not how others view them.
If they know in their heart they have changed, judgments are understood as part of the process.
For some people, the very nature of some political manners can be argued as criminal.
A poll can provide research that legislators may use in writing their laws.
Through such a narrow and simpleton manner can policy be promoted or denounced, adopted or edited.
It is such a poor approach, I think, to people management.
Many people are convinced it 'works'.
There have been major strides since democracy took hold of the world's imagination a few centuries ago.
But an air of illusion has also been added.
You likely hear it too often on the news: 'such and such poll says that most Americans believe.... blah blah blah.'
How often does such a statement have you thinking 'do I believe that'?
Are we able to recognize subtle suggestions that desire to convince us of something?
From a media's standpoint, it could be argued as manipulative.
It is to me.
Elijah went before the people and said,
“How long will you waver between two opinions?
If the Lord is God, follow Him;
but if Baal is god, follow him.”
But the people said nothing.
- 1 Kings 18: 21If you have yet to choose who to follow, the silence option won't work.
Continued at Politics 501.
Read Politics 101.
Read Politics 201.
Read Politics 301.
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