The Polls

I know, I know ... polls are widely suspect, easily manipulated and often WRONG. Nevertheless, they are a finger on the pulse of at least the people polled ... and sometimes what's more interesting than the results are the questions being asked. At least to me.

So -- just for fun -- here are two polls in the news today:

First of all, there was this Gallup/USA Today poll, posted yesterday following the passage of the Health Care Reform bill -- which I'm filing under: What a difference a day makes!

WASHINGTON — More Americans now favor than oppose the health care overhaul that President Obama signed into law Tuesday, a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll finds — a notable turnaround from surveys before the vote that showed a plurality against the legislation.

48 percent: It's a good first step; more changes are needed
31 percent: Makes the wrong type of changes
8 percent: The system doesn't need changes
4 percent: Makes the most important changes needed.
10 percent: No opinion.

And then there was this Harris poll -- as reported in the Baltimore Sun -- which I'm filing under: You've got to be kidding!

•67 percent of Republicans (and 40 percent of Americans overall) believe that Obama is a socialist.
•57 percent of Republicans (32 percent overall) believe that Obama is a Muslim
•45 percent of Republicans (25 percent overall) agree that Obama was "not born in the United States and so is not eligible to be president"
•38 percent of Republicans (20 percent overall) say that Obama is "doing many of the things that Hitler did"
•24 percent of Republicans (14 percent overall) say that Obama "may be the Antichrist."

I also found of interest this observation by John Avlon, as quoted in the Sun article:

The full results of the poll, which will be released in greater detail tomorrow, are even more frightening: including news that high percentages of Republicans—and Americans overall—believe that President Obama is "racist," "anti-American" "wants the terrorists to win" and "wants to turn over the sovereignty of the United States to a one-world government." The "Hatriot" belief that Obama is a "domestic enemy" as set forth in the Constitution is also widely held—a sign of trouble yet to come.

Do I have any idea what all of this means? Of course not. I'm just a parish priest with a blog and an opinion or two.

But I'm also an American who loves this country and wants it to be the best it can be -- to rise to its full stature of a land of liberty and justice for all -- to be worthy of the sacrifices my son and thousands of others young Americans are making as they serve to protect the core values of our democracy from all enemies -- foreign and domestic.

I am the daughter of a staunch Goldwater Republican father who I guaran-damn-tee you is rolling in his grave at what has been done to his Grand Old Party.

And I am Episcopal activist who has spent the last 10+ years watching my church distracted from its mission and ministry by an Absolutist Agenda that has proved itself ready, willing and able to destroy (or attempt to destroy) whatever it can't control.

They say that those who don't learn from their past are doomed to repeat it. I think in these days of rapid change and challenge I'd add to that "those who don't pay attention to their present are doomed to be statistics." And the work we have to do -- the challenges we have to face -- are too great to allow ourselves to step back and let the Wingnuts take over this country the way they've tried to take over this church.

So now I'm getting back to the week-before-Holy Week details of life ... but I'm keepin' a candle burning -- literally and metaphorically -- for this country, for this church and for all of us to find ways to overcome the ignorance and fear which has so sadly become so much of our public discourse.

Kyrie eleison.