I Hope Obama Is Reading The Washington Post

I Hope Obama Is Reading The Washington Post

This poll taken earlier this month, published in the January 17, 2009 Washington Post shows that 53% of Americans would prefer less government with less services, while 43% wanted more government, and more services. (See question 19.)

So you are probably asking yourself: if a majority of Americans want less government and less services, how did Obama get elected? Pretty clearly, millions of Americans wanted less government and less services, then voted for someone who is intent on more government. Some of this is because lots of people aren't paying attention--and some of it is that the Obama vs. McCain choice was really two different liberals, arguing about what parts of the government they were going to expand. If Republicans would take a consistent position in favor of a smaller government, they would have a powerful tool for winning. But that would require Republicans interested in winning.

I mentioned that a lot of Americans aren't paying attention to politics--and that's part of the problem. Conservatives are too focused on politics first. For the perhaps 50-60% of Americans who don't pay much attention to public policy issues, who seldom read a newspaper (and then, usually the sports section), conservatives are just noise in the background. Part of why the left has gained so much ground is not only their dominance over the educational system, but also their utter control over popular culture. If we want to have any influence on people that want less government but still voted for Obama, we need to be making an effort in the popular culture. Properly done, this can be a money making activity. (How do you think leftists get to fly around in private jets?) But it requires some capital to make it happen. Look at how much money Mel Gibson's film about Jesus made.