Wag the Dog

If politicians are only doing what their polling is telling them to do, then aren't they just doing what the public wants them to do? Isn't that more democratic? I'm not saying that it's better. It might be better that politicians have a backbone and do what they think is correct no matter what the public believes, but that isn't very democratic. That's just an extreme end of representative democracy where you elect someone and then no longer have a say in what they do.

And there's something to be said for keeping the ignorant masses out of the political process as they are many times far behind the politicians (I could be giving the politicians too much credit, maybe the credit should be given to the courts).

But if it's the case where politicians just do whatever the polls tell them to do then you still do have a way to get them to do what you want. You just change what the public believes in and cares about. That's probably not easy, but it's definitely possible. Maybe we should focus our energy more on what the public believes and less on who is getting elected. Could we have more of an effect on the direction of this country just by educating the uneducated masses?

How do you reach the type of people who don't read the Economist? Monday Night Football?

[Yes, I know I sound like an elitist asshole right now. It's just that there are so many stupid people. I can't stand it.]