|
|
Article: Banish the pollsters. (pollsters have too much influence on decision makers)(The Missing Issues)(Cover Story)
- Article from:
- The Washington Monthly
- Article date:
- January 1, 1996
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1996 Washington Monthly Company. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
|
The most serious problem in our political life today, in my view, is not the rise of the right or the demonization of the poor, or the squeezing of the middle class, or the growing gap between rich and poor, or the inordinate influence of special interests, but the colonization of the minds of leaders--actual and potential--by opinion research. This is the most serious problem because, without leaders who act out of deep convictions arrived at by independent thinking, none of our problems will be solved. One might say that in democratic politics there is no power without popularity and the ability to compromise, and that the problem of politicians who are enslaved to popular ...