I was going to write about professional athletes cussing in foreign languages during a soccer match on TV. But something way more important — the will of the people — came up.
I keep wondering why various politicians keep ignoring what people really seem to want.
For example:
“Most Americans think women should have legal access to abortion, and that opinion has shifted little since the US Supreme Court ruled in favor of women’s reproductive rights more than four decades ago,” according to PBS.
“Two years after the court’s decision, 54 percent of US adults said they supported abortion under certain circumstances and another 21 percent said abortion always should be legal, according to Gallup polling from 1975, while 22 percent of Americans said it should be illegal… By 2018, Gallup pollsters found little change, with 50 percent of Americans supporting abortion under certain conditions, another 29 percent of respondents supporting abortion no matter what, and 18 percent of respondents saying it should be against the law.”
Here’s another example:
A majority of Americans support Social Security, which various politicians seem so eager to abolish. The Pew Research Center reported, recently, that “74 percent of Americans say Social Security benefits should not be reduced in any way… Gallup polling historically has found that Americans would rather raise Social Security taxes than reduce benefits.”
According to the nonprofit National Academy of Social Insurance, “Over the years, polls have consistently shown that the American public strongly supports Social Security, across party and demographic lines.”
But more than ever, a relatively small number of politicians — apparently ignoring the will of the people — keep throwing shade on reproductive rights, Social Security and other things a majority of people really seem to want.
Reading Bill Hudson’s commentary, last month, about the Urban Renewal Authority (URA), got me thinking about the will of the people, when Mr. Hudson mentioned Pagosa Springs officials, possibly, seeking some way to ignore the “3-to-1 vote by the taxpayers” to have some say in URA funding decisions.
What’s that idiom about the tail wagging the dog, defined as “a situation where a small part is controlling the whole of something?”
Or, in these cases, attempting to override the majority opinion of things like women’s reproductive rights, Social Security and the URA.
Harvey Radin is former senior vice president in charge of corporate communications and media relations, Bank of America Western Region. He makes his home in Redwood City, CA.