The Silent Majority

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The Republican Party --or various constituents of it-- have frequently claimed to represent the majority of Americans. They claimed that
1. Most Americans were against equality of women. This is obviously false, since half the citizens of the US are women to begin with, and most women have hoped for equality of women. It is mathematically possible, even if a majority of women desired legislation that guaranteed equality, that they were a minority among all voters. But in my humble opinion, the vast majority of citizens are in favor of equal rights for women.

2. They claimed that most Americans were against government services such as public transport, public schools, student loans, public tv and radio, medicare, medicaid, and disaster relief. In the absence of conclusive evidence to the contrary, it is hard to refute this. But I am firmly convinced that all these services are necessary, and welcome.
3. They claimed that the majority of Americans were against the separation of religion and government (Church and State). My belief is that a narrow majority is yet in favor of separation. However, religious hysteria seems to be on the rise, and it is possible that conservatives have so denigrated non-religious people that opinion is shifting the other way.

4. Some conservatives have claimed that they are sick of Evolution being taught in schools and that a majority of Americans would like "Creation Science" to be taught in schools. I think otherwise. I think that the states in the South have adopted Creationist "Science" because of the agitation of a minority.
5. Republicans have claimed that the majority of American citizens are against protection of the environment. There are many who mistakenly believe that opening up the wilderness for commercial exploitation will result in a bonanza for everyone. This is false. Big business is very adept at exploiting natural resources in such a way as to benefit only the stockholders. I live in a state where there is an upsurge in exploration for so-called Shale Gas. Shale gas is extracted using a highly pollutive procedure that releases vast amounts of toxic Rare Earth metals and other toxic organic compounds as by-products, not to mention deploying fleets of heavy vehicles that pollute the air, the ears, and destroy the roads, and destroy forests. But so far only people in the real estate business are profiting by the "Boom". And maybe truck-stops. They hire mostly workers from the oil states (Texas, Alaska, Louisiana), and a little of the money does flow down to workers in those states. The folks who owned the land now being exploited have got large sums of money. But they are a tiny minority.
6. Republicans have claimed that the vast majority of people are against gun control. Is this true? You tell me.

7. Republicans have claimed that the vast majority of people are against gay and lesbian marriage, and even against civil unions. Recently Starbucks is reported as having made a statement in support of equality for gays and lesbians. Let's see whether there is a backlash against Starbucks, or a huge wave of endorsement.

I honestly believe that there is a large majority of people who believe in liberal principles and objectives, but who are tired of arguing with conservatives and their slogans. This is regrettable, but I can see their point. I spend a lot of time trying to think through the possible advantages of permitting unrestricted gun ownership, for instance. (I have not found any.) But I doubt that those against gun control spend any time at all considering the positives of gun restriction. They treat each of their principles as if they were the doctrines of a religion, and not as a principle that flows from rational thinking.

On the plus side, President Obama can be guaranteed a second term if the silent majority votes. The difficulty is to get the vote out, given the miserable tone of the political discourse at the moment. I can just see Rush Limbaugh claiming that he was thrown off the air by liberal special interests. The conservative minority is adept at demonizing the reasonable majority.

I see that the tone of this post is taking an unfortunate turn towards the very thing I want to speak against, so I will stop now. The main thing is not to begin to believe that the noisy sounds coming out of Fox TV represents the majority. I'm sure it doesn't. But we will know only in November ...

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