The Most Interesting Fact that Americans are Missing in Polling

Posted: September 28, 2022 by datechguy in culture, Uncategorized

Daniel Webster: What are you looking for, Colonel? What’s your name?

Martin Van Buren Aldrich: Martin Van Buren Aldrich. My pa is the only Democrat in Cross Corners. He said you had horns and a tail, Mr. Webster, but I ain’t seen them yet.

Daniel Webster: [laughs] You see, Martin, I only wear them when I’m in Washington. That’s the trouble. But if you ever get down there, I’ll be glad to show them to you.

Martin Van Buren Aldrich: Gee, would you, Mr. Webster? Honest?

Daniel Webster: Of course! And you tell your father for me, that we may be on opposite sides of the fence, but I’m always glad to hear of a man who holds to his own opinion. As long as the people do that, this country is all right.

All That Money Can Buy (also known as The Devil & Daniel Webster) 1941

Every day when I get up and look at the next I see multiple pieces on polling. Trump is up by four over Biden, Abbot up four or eight over Beto, the generic ballot favors democrats by one, or republicans by three or DeSantis is up over trump by five or Fetterman is up over Doc Oz by six etc etc etc

You can find polling on almost every race, almost every opinion, in fact on just about everything and there is one fairly consistent fact that is very easy to miss if you don’t take a moment to think about it.

No matter what side of the fence you are on, no matter what candidate you support, at least 40% of your fellow citizens think you are wrong.

You might find an odd issue or candidate where that number drops to as low as 35% in fact once in a great while you might find an issue where you might get even lower and of course regional differences might make the number as few as three in ten but the bottom line is this: As a general rule it’s safe to say two out of every five people who pass you on the street don’t hold the opinions you do.

Now for most of the history of this county this hasn’t been that big of a problem. People disagreed and were willing to let it go today this is not the case. There is a key line in the movie I quoted above when Daniel Webster challenges the contract the Devil uses to claim his clients soul on the grounds that an American can’t be made to serve a foreign prince

Mr. Scratch: It’s true the North claims me for a Southerner and the South for a Northerner, but I’m neither.

In the end we’re all men, we share a common humanity and one of the basic rights of a man is the right to be wrong sometimes. Some may be wrong more frequently than others but in the end everybody gets some things wrong.

The danger is that when you criminalize disagreement and furthermore criminalize the attempt to hear the other side of an argument that’s when the Robespierres of the world arise.

There are those who may not object to this, and might fancy themselves the one who shall decide who gets the chop and who does not, but never forget that in the end every Robespierre ends up under his own guillotine.

Let’s see if we can avoid this fate for our country.

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