So, the government conducts a "private poll" of the American public, only to discover that 68% of its constituency believe Y2K "does not rise to the level of" a problem worth spending "all that money" to on - much more than a Starrie 45 million. In fact, the poll also tells the politicians that the American public would just as soon that Y2k would go away so the government could "get on with the real business of the American people". It then follows logically that any politician not avoiding the Y2K issue risks becoming very very unpopular with the voters, and, he or she just might not be re-elected. So.....

The ramifications of this new 'leadership-by-poll' form of representative democracy are truly scary. Each of us will draw our own conclusions about what the future will look like if this is allowed to continue.

I am certain that, no matter what your personal conclusions about the above, we will agree that we need many more open letters addressed to William Jefferson Clinton and all those friends of Bill.

-- Bob Walton (waltonb@kdsi.net), November 27, 1998

Answers

My posting should have included a, "PLEASE RESPOND"!

Have you all seen the response to Hyde's 81 question? (I still would like your reflections on the original post.)

-- Bob Walton (waltonb@kdsi.net), November 27, 1998.

Bob, it sure seems like the country IS being "run" according to opinion polls, lately. So, what happens when the media begins to manipulate those polls?

-- Gayla Dunbar (privacy@please.com), November 28, 1998.

Here's a Gallup poll on Y2K from July:

http://www.gallup.com/POLL_ARCHIVES/980703.htm

-- Kevin (mixesmusic@worldnet.att.net), November 28, 1998.

Kevin, thanks for the Gallop Poll info! It should be interesting to see what the polls say after 60 Minutes airs tonight.

My thesis is that it is typical of the White House to continue it's silence in light of its propensity to do "the popular thing" - as it sees it. My prediction is there will be no proactive movement by the executiave branch until the polls tell them to act.

FEMA knows this to be true and is begging for guidance on the entire Y2K issue.

-- Bob Walton (waltonb@kdsi.net), November 29, 1998.