With all of the pontificating over being a democracy, you hear precious little about what the U. S. would be like if our laws were what people wanted rather than what activists in one party or the other wanted. Let’s consider a few issues.
Abortion
If the majority of Americans had their way, after 15 weeks abortion on demand would be illegal in most cases. That is amazingly similar to the Mississippi law the challenge to which ultimately resulted in the Supreme Court striking down Roe v. Wade and Casey.
Trans Rights
The majority of Americans think that individuals with gender dysphoria should not be subject to discrimination. They also do not believe that coverage of gender transitions should be mandatory for insurance companies.
Gun Control
The majority of Americans think that gun control laws should be stricter, that private ownership of assault weapons should be banned, but that it should not be illegal for Americans to own handguns.
War in Ukraine
Americans are ambivalent about the war in Ukraine. In general they support the administration’s position, think that our support for Ukraine is about at the right level and that we should have sanctions against Russia.
Chinese Imports
By far the greatest number of Americans think we should have higher duties on goods imported from China.
Federal Taxes
The majority of Americans think that the federal income tax is too high.
Healthcare
The majority of Americans think we should have a healthcare system based on private insurance (like Germany’s) and that our present system has major problems.
You might notice that the views held by the majority of Americans more closely resemble those I’ve expressed around here than they do those of the advocates in either political party. My interpretation of that is that our present system is not a representative democracy. I also doubt that most of those who complain how undemocratic the U. S. is realize what democracy in the U. S. would mean.
Feel free to cite other issues in comments. Please provide supportive links.
Note: I did not include opinion on immigration because there is no consensus on it. Most American think that immigration has in general been good for the country but are uneasy about the present situation at our southern border. Some think that we should have more immigration, some less.
Update
It has been brought to my attention in comments that the findings of polls sponsored by the Kaiser Family Foundation differ sharply with those of the Gallup organization to which I linked. Gallup’s recent poll on the subject found that 50% of Americans think that abortion should be illegal except under certain circumstances, 13% thought that it should always be illegal and 35% thought it should be legal under all circumstances. That is consistent with their findings for the last 50 years. The KFF poll on the other hand found that 74% think abortion should not be regulated by law while 25% think it should.
I have examined the methodology of both polls and they both appear to be proper and I do not believe that either organization is dishonest. I see no way of reconciling these differences.
Your phrasing on abortion is odd. Most people, by very large percentages, approve of abortion after 15 weeks for rape, incest, health of mother and if child has significant abnormalities. Only about 7% were done after 13 weeks and the number one cause for an abortion going past that time is the delays put in by red states. Les than 1% take place after 21 weeks. So the Mississippi law only superficially resembles what most people want. (This also goes for the false claims about abortions in Europe.) Also, large majorities (KFF polls) oppose criminalizing doctors or women who have abortions.
Finally, pretty consistent majorities opposed overturning Roe and larger percentages, when polled, say that abortion should be a personal decision and not regulated by law. This last is seldom polled.
Steve
Please provide evidence for your claims.
Could you rewrite the statement on China so that it makes sense. Did you mean higher duties on imports?
Fixed. Thanks.
Dave Schuler: That is amazingly similar to the Mississippi law the challenge to which ultimately resulted in the Supreme Court striking down Roe v. Wade and Casey.
Meanwhile, Mississippi instituted a trigger law, which outlawed virtually all abortions.
https://abcnews.go.com/Health/abortion-trigger-law-effect-mississippi-case-overturned-roe/story?id=86366550
Which I agree was the wrong strategy. My point was that most Americans prefer a middle ground. By opposing Mississippi’s law what we ended up with was the present Supreme Court decision, which left the matter up to the individual states.
We have two parties, each of which is dedicated to a policy more extreme than most Americans would prefer. That’s the point.
https://www.kff.org/womens-health-policy/poll-finding/kff-health-tracking-poll-views-knowledge-abortion-2022/
Will find the Pew and Gallup polls later.
Steve
https://www.cdc.gov/reproductivehealth/data_stats/abortion.htm
Steve
The KFF link seems to support the opinion that I reported rather than the one that you did. The most relevant graph appears to be:
In particular it supports the view that the state has an interest in the lives of the unborn which is inconsistent with the view that abortion should be a matter between a woman and her physician. The point about widespread opposition to criminalization is well-taken.
The CDC link appears to be an analysis of the prevalence of abortion rather than of opinion about abortion.
The quote “For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction,†is applicable for the times we live in, as well as the social/domestic issues that divide us.
Abortion exemplifies such an issue, having an opinionated rawness to it from it’s initial inception, involving the morality of arbitrarily taking the life of an unborn human being. The pro choice group, though, kept incrementally advancing the line – when it was acceptable to end a life – finally ratifying an abortion all the way up to birth, and even after birth by not medically attending to a newborn’s needs. This became appalling, looked upon as a ruthless act of infanticide, and incentivized pro Life fervor into a judicial Roe vs Wade confrontation, leading to it becoming overturned. With the “equal and opposite reaction†to the extremes of abortion having been realized, where abortion on demand is no longer nationally assured, the next round will involve deliberation by each state in how they want to deal with if or when a life can be aborted.
“Most Say Abortion Should Be Personal Choice Rather Than Regulated, Some Support For Limited State Regulations
Despite divided views on the future of Roe v. Wade, the public is somewhat more aligned in believing that getting an abortion should be a personal choice rather than one regulated by the government. Three in four U.S. adults say generally, getting an abortion should be a personal choice (74%), while one in four say it should be something that is regulated by law. Large majorities of Democrats (90%) and independents (74%) say it should be a personal choice, while Republicans are split (52% saying it should be a personal choice and 48% say it should be regulated by law). Eight in ten (79%) women ages 18-49 say that getting an abortion should be a personal choice, including majorities across party; nine in ten (90%) Democratic women, eight in ten (80%) independent women and about six in ten (59%) Republican women ages 18-49 say this should be a personal choice.”
Go to figure 13.
If the state is going to regulate, then you get the graph above but you should start with asking if the state should be involved at all.
What about overturning Roe? (Figure 9)
“Public’s Opinion on Overturning Roe v. Wade, State Restrictions
KFF polling has consistently found that a majority of the public do not want to see Roe v. Wade overturned and the latest KFF poll is no different. About two-thirds (64%) U.S. adults say they do not want to see the Supreme Court overturn Roe v. Wade, while one-third of adults say they would like to see the case overturned. Majorities across gender and racial and ethnic groups say they don’t want to see it overturned, but there are differences by partisanship. Six in ten (61%) Republicans want to see the law overturned while a large majority of Democrats (85%) and six in ten independents (62%) do not want the Supreme Court to overturn Roe.”
So most people dont want government involved with abortion. If we were going to have government involved most people didnt want Roe overturned. If we were going to overturn Roe then people want to have some interventions, probably. I agree that in the poll most people seem ok with delays and US, but when people have been asked about these practices I think a lot fail to understand their purpose. Some people think that the US is used to help with the abortion. It is not. It is just a delaying tactic. The question we should ask to find out the real value of these practices would be something like….
“Understanding that an US is not used diagnostically to help perform an abortion, should a woman be forced to look at an US if it caused her to go past the 15 week limit or should she be allowed to make and carry out her decision if the US causes a delay?”
Finally, just because I am a doctor the part about being licensed to work at a hospital is laughable. That is ignorance. Many good docs work only at outpatient facilities or surgicenters. That requirement serves no purpose. People are agreeing to something that kind of sounds good but is meaningless. (I say this as an inpatient oriented doc.)
Steve
Jan: even after birth by not medically attending to a newborn’s needs.
That’s a misrepresentation of end-of-life care for a terminally-ill newborn.
steve: I have updated the post pursuant to the KFF findings for which you provided a link.
Dave- It is because almost no one asks the basic question of whether or not government should be involved in making decisions about abortion. If you start with the presumption that government is going to be involved then you ask the question that Gallup asked and get their answer. Also, Gallup and Pew have almost always, far back as I checked, found that most people did not support overturning Roe v Wade. So if we had a democracy Roe would still be in effect.
https://news.gallup.com/poll/1576/abortion.aspx
Steve