
| Mario, although I fully endorse the need for every citizen to do all 
      he or she can to make our country a better society and the world a better 
      place, I don't agree with Alice Walker that "We the people" will do 
      this. I follow polling of the American people very closely and by this time 
      I have become immune to shock as to how clueless and contradictory they 
      can be. A few examples will illustrate how little we should respect the 
      fabled grassroots wisdom of the American people. 1) At a time when we were being drained of our moral and material 
      fiber by two wars, 56 percent of the respondents in one poll favored 
      bombing Iran. 2) In two separate polls, a solid majority of respondents 
      were in favor of the Arizona law permitting police questioning on 
      immigration status, but even higher majorities in both polls agreed that 
      the law would result in racial profiling. 3) In a poll in which almost 
      two-thirds of the respondents said the country was going in the wrong 
      direction, they split almost evenly on whether the solution is more 
      government or less government. 4) And then there was the infamous poll in 
      which a majority of respondents were against enacting as basic law 
      specific language from the Bill of Rights. When I was in the congressional district of the conservative 
      Republican, Henry Hyde, he did the most comprehensive survey I've ever 
      seen from a congressperson on spending for specific programs. Although 
      Hyde interpreted the results as showing his constituents were in favor of 
      lower taxes and smaller government, my own evaluation showed that the 
      number of programs for which Hyde's constituents wanted more spending, tax 
      increases to pay for programs, or even new taxes -- on pollution and 
      business lunches -- well exceeded the programs for which they wanted less 
      spending. Yet, I'm sure that the people in Hyde's conservative 
      district would have responded that they wanted smaller government and 
      lower taxes if asked that question in isolation from specific governmental 
      programs. On a more general level, I've seen polls in which the respondents 
      will support specific suggested action and then conclude in another part 
      of the survey that the situation will worsen if the suggested action is 
      taken -- for example, a majority "Yes" to the invasion of Iraq and a 
      majority "Yes" to the proposition that the world will be a more dangerous 
      place if Iraq is invaded. Although not totally germane to the discussion above, the scariness 
      of polling results was brought home to me whern I stayed with my niece and 
      her husband one Christmas. They showed me a poll of how people respond to 
      common, everyday situations and even some bizarre, made-up situations. 
      When three percent of respondents said they would kill someone for 
      $10,000, I concluded that in my hometown of about 300 people there were 
      nine people who would kill me for $10,000. | 
Peter Bergel
Executive Director
Oregon PeaceWorks
104 Commercial St. NE
Salem, OR  97301
503-371-8002