Political Science, continued

Now I ' m going to say a bit about politics in the U.S. Elections -- certainly not in the U.S. -- are not machines for turning voters ' policy preferences into representation that produces them. Consider a current and very clear case. Polls consistently find that close to 70% of the electorate does not want Roe v. Wade to be overturned and wants abortion to remain legal. Yes, views about the circumstances under which it should be legal vary, but there is scant support for the bills being pushed through many state legislatures that would ban abortion entirely or allow it only under very narrow conditions.  But despite what is presumably the support of 70% of voters, the senate couldn ' t pass a bill codifying abortion access.This is different from many political issues in that people are aware of it, understand it, and can ' t help but perceive that policy will affect their lives or those of people they know, and exactly how. Most people have limited information or understanding of most policy issues, and that ' s a major reason why the electoral system isn ' t principally about turning popular will into policy. People do know that they receive, or will receive, Social Security benefits, so those are very hard to take away. But people don ' t understand the complexities of health insurance markets or the tax system. They can easily be tricked by rhetoric. " I ' m going to cut taxes, " when they really mean taxes on wealthy people, not you. Many false beliefs are prevalent...
Source: Stayin' Alive - Category: American Health Source Type: blogs