@spendius,
spendius wrote:
Hey Tico--I was commenting on what Builder said about more than 85% of Americans disapproving of the ruling elite. That figure is greater than the Soviet government disapproval rating used to be.
It's Builder you should be taking issue with--not me. I've no idea about such things. I judge freedom from how the cops behave, the perp walking and the level of belief in allegations before the evidence has been heard.
Are Builder's figures incorrect?
It really doesn't make much sense to draw simple conclusions from public opinion polling and so using it to determine the extent of freedom in the US is plainly ridiculous.
Here's a poll on congressional approval:
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/mood_of_america/congressional_performance
According to the pollsters these results show that only 9% give congress "positive" marks.
But 29% rated congressional performance as "fair."
I suppose if one considers "fair" to be neutral that the bit about a 9% positive rating is so, but I doubt very much we could get a large group of people to agree that "fair" commonly signifies "neutral"
Not that anyone in congress should take pride in a 38% positive rating, and certainly not where "fair" is by far the dominant rating, but I can easily make the argument that this poll is not revealing what the pollsters claim it does.
In any case, ours is a republic and individual citizens don't get to vote on each and every action taken by the government. Presumably, by way of your thinking and that of Builder's this has us starting off beind the curb when it comes to freedom.
Furthermore, an expression of disapproval is not tantamount to a complaint concerning individual freedom.