GPDP
1st February 2010, 08:40
I was gonna post this in Politics, but decided to go with OI to get a more varied reaction.
Anyway, this is all straight off of Paul Street's excellent (but widely and unjustly ignored) book Barack Obama and the Future of American Politics, a left-wing socialist critique of Obama and to a lesser extent the Democrats as a whole. It was written a bit before Obama's election, but it made many predictions about Obama that have come true, many to an unprecedented extent.
The end of the book has a section devoted to more or less debunking the myth that Americans are a "right-of-center" or conservative people. While it is true many of them do share reactionary tendencies to an alarming rate, nevertheless on a whole slew of issues, they stand left, and sometimes far to the left of even the Democrats (though irrelevantly so, of course; just goes to show you we do not live in a democracy).
Data is provided to support this thesis in the form of numerous polls, the following having been cited by The New Feminized Majority, a book by Katherine Adams and Charles Derber, which Street helpfully compiled in his book. In any case, get ready to be bombarded with data.
- 69 percent of U.S. voters agree that "government should care for those who cannot care for themselves" (Pew Research, 2007).
- 54 percent of voters agree that "government should help the needy even if it means greater debt" (Pew Research, 2007).
- 58 percent of Americans believe the U.S. government should be doing more for its citizens, not less (National Elections Survey, 2004).
- Twice as many Americans back more government services and spending (even if this means a tax increase) as the number who support fewer services and reduced spending (National Elections Survey, 2004).
- 64 percent of Americans would pay higher taxes to guarantee health care for all U.S. citizens (CNN Opinion Research Poll, 2007).
- 69 percent of Americans think it is the responsibility of the federal government to provide health coverage to all U.S. citizens (Gallup Polls, 2006).
- 80 percent of Americans support a government-mandated increase in the minimum wage (Associated Press/AOL Poll, December 2006).
- 86 percent of Americans want Congress to pass legislation to raise the federal minimum wage (CNN, August 2006).
- 71 percent of Americans think taxes on corporations are too low (Gallup Poll, April 2007).
- 66 percent of Americans think taxes on upper-income people are too low (Gallup Poll, April 2007).
- 59 percent of Americans are favorable toward unions, with just 29 percent unfavorable (Gallup Poll, 2006).
- 52 percent of Americans generally side with unions in labor disputes. Just 34 percent side with management (Gallup Poll, 2006).
- 57 percent of Americans want to keep abortion legal in all or most cases (Washington Post/ABC News, 2007). [I believe the positions may have reversed on this issue, unfortunately]
- 78 percent of Americans think “women should have an equal role with men in running business, industry, and government” (National Elections Survey, 2004).
- 57 percent of Americans support programs which “give special preference to qualified women and minorities in hiring” (Pew Poll, 2003).
- A majority of American voters think that the United States’ “most urgent moral question” is either “greed and materialism” (33 percent) or “poverty and economic injustice” (31 percent). Just 16 percent identify abortion and 12 percent pick gay marriage as the nation’s “most urgent moral question” (Zogby, 2004). Thus, nearly two-thirds (64 percent) of the population think that injustice and inequality are the nation’s leading “moral issues.”
- 67 percent of Americans think the U.S. should emphasize diplomatic and economic means over military methods in combating terrorism (Public Agenda and Foreign Affairs, 2007).
- Just 15 percent of Americans think the U.S. should play “the leading role in the world” (Gallup Poll, February 2007) – a remarkable rejection of U.S. global hegemony and empire.
- 58 percent of Americans think the U.S. should play “a major role but not the leading role in the world” (Gallup Poll, February 2007).
- 62 percent of Americans in September of 2007 thought the invasion of Iraq was “a mistake” (CBS News, September 2007).
- A majority of Americans want a firm deadline for U.S. withdrawal from Iraq (Washington Post/ABC News, February 2007).
- 70 percent of Americans want a multilateral nuclear disarmament treaty (Pew Poll, November 2005).
The following is data not provided by Adams and Derby:
- “When voters surveyed were asked to list the moral issue that most affected their vote, the Iraq War placed first at 42 percent, while 13 percent named abortion and 9 percent named gay marriage.” (Associated Press, “Heated Campaign Souring Democrats on Rival Candidates,” www.yahoo.com (http://www.yahoo.com/), April 29, 2008.)
- 73 percent of Americans think preventing the spread of nuclear weapons should be a very important goal of U.S. foreign policy, compared to 50 percent who think maintaining a superior military worldwide should be a very important goal (Chicago Council on Foreign Relations, “Global Views,” October 2004). Survival here trumps hegemony as a top global aim for citizens.
- Just 29 percent of Americans support the expansion of government spending on “defense.” By contrast, 79 percent support increased spending on health care, 69 percent support increased spending on education, and 69 percent support increased Spending on Social Security (CCFR, “Global Views, 2004).
- 58 percent of Americans in 2004 did not think the U.S. should have long-term military bases in Iraq (CCFR, 2004).
- 59 percent of Americans in 2004 thought the U.S. should remove its military presence from the Middle East if that’s what the majority of people there want (CCFR, 2004).
- 72 percent of Americans in 2004 thought the U.S. should remove its military presence from Iraq if that’s what the majority of people there want (CCFR, 2004). [And need I mention the huge majority, from 71 to 81 percent, of Iraqis who want us out?]
- To counter terrorism, 87 percent of Americans think the U.S. should work through the UN to strengthen international law and make sure that the UN enforces that law; 67 percent think the U.S. should work to develop poor economies; 64 percent think the U.S. should make a major effort to be even-handed in the Israel-Palestine conflict. Just 29 percent think the U.S. should use torture to extract information from terrorists (CCFR, 2004).
- 77 percent of Americans think the U.S. has the unilateral right to go to war only if the U.S. has strong evidence it is in immediate danger of being attacked (53 percent) or (24 percent) if the other country attacks first (CCFR, 2004).
- 89 percent of Americans reject the United States’ right to overthrow a government supporting terrorists who might pose a threat to the U.S. without UN approval (CCFR, 2004).
- 79 percent of Americans reject the first use of nuclear weapons and 22 percent reject the use of nuclear weapons ever (CCFR, 2004).
- Two thirds (66 percent) of Americans think the U.S. should be more willing to make international relations decisions within the UN even if it means the U.S. will sometimes have to go along with a policy that is not its first choice (CCFR, 2004).
- 59 percent of Americans favor dropping the veto power granted to the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, including the U.S. (CCFR, 2004).
- 57 percent of Americans favor general compliance with the decisions of the World Court, not just case-by-case (as under current U.S. policy) compliance (CCFR, 2004).
- 74 percent favor giving the UN a standing peacekeeping force selected, trained, and commanded by the UN (CCFR, 2004).
- 57 percent of Americans favor giving the UN the right to regulate the international arms trade (CCFR, 2004).
- 76 percent of Americans think the U.S. should participate in the International Criminal Court, with powers to try individual American military and other officials for war crimes even if their own country will not prosecute them of such crimes (CCFR, 2004).
- 71 percent of Americans think the U.S. should participate in the Kyoto Accord on global warming (CCFR, 2004).
- 93 percent of Americans support minimum standards in international trade agreements for working conditions and 91 percent support minimum standards for environmental protection.
The following data comes from Street's January 25, 2010 ZNet article "What's the Matter With the Democrats? Post-Massachusetts Reflections on Popular Resentment, the Liberal-Left Vacuum, and Right Comeback," under the subheading The Not-So Reactionary People:
- 71 percent of Americans think that taxes on corporations are too low (Gallup Poll, April 2007), 66 percent of Americans think taxes on upper-income people are too low (Gallup Poll, April 2007) and 62 percent believe corporations make too much profit (Pew Survey 2004).
- 77 percent of Americans think there is too much power concentrated in the hands of a few big companies (Pew Survey 2004), 84 percent think that big companies have too much power in Washington (Harris Poll 2007), and two-thirds think that "big business and big government work together against the people's interests" (Rasmussen Reports, 2009).
- A majority of American voters think that the United States' "most urgent moral question" is either "greed and materialism" (33 percent) or "poverty and economic injustice" (31 percent). Just 16 percent identify abortion and 12 percent pick gay marriage as the nation's "most urgent moral question" (Zogby, 2004). Thus, nearly two-thirds (64 percent) of the population think that injustice and inequality are the nation's leading "moral issues" (Katherine Adams and Charles Derber, The New Feminized Majority [Paradigm, 2008], p.72).
- Just 29 percent of Americans support the expansion of government spending on "defense." By contrast, 79 percent support increased spending on health care, 69 percent support increased spending on education, and 69 percent support increased spending on Social Security (Chicago Council on Foreign Relations [hereafter "CCFR"], "Global Views,"2004).
- 69 percent of Americans think it is the responsibility of the federal government to provide health coverage to all U.S. citizens (Gallup Poll, 2006) and 67 percent "think it's a good idea [for government] to guarantee health care for all U.S. citizens, as Canada and Britain do, with just 27 percent dissenting" (Business Week, 2005).
- 59 percent of Americans support a single-payer health insurance system (CBS/New York Times poll, January 2009) and 65 percent of Americans respond affirmatively to the following question: "Would you favor the government offering everyone a government-administered health insurance plan - something like the Medicare coverage that people 65 and over get - that would compete with private health insurance plans?" (CBS-New York Times, September 23, 2009)Just some numbers to think about the next time people complain (or proudly claim) the U.S. is populated with conservative reactionaries.
Anyway, this is all straight off of Paul Street's excellent (but widely and unjustly ignored) book Barack Obama and the Future of American Politics, a left-wing socialist critique of Obama and to a lesser extent the Democrats as a whole. It was written a bit before Obama's election, but it made many predictions about Obama that have come true, many to an unprecedented extent.
The end of the book has a section devoted to more or less debunking the myth that Americans are a "right-of-center" or conservative people. While it is true many of them do share reactionary tendencies to an alarming rate, nevertheless on a whole slew of issues, they stand left, and sometimes far to the left of even the Democrats (though irrelevantly so, of course; just goes to show you we do not live in a democracy).
Data is provided to support this thesis in the form of numerous polls, the following having been cited by The New Feminized Majority, a book by Katherine Adams and Charles Derber, which Street helpfully compiled in his book. In any case, get ready to be bombarded with data.
- 69 percent of U.S. voters agree that "government should care for those who cannot care for themselves" (Pew Research, 2007).
- 54 percent of voters agree that "government should help the needy even if it means greater debt" (Pew Research, 2007).
- 58 percent of Americans believe the U.S. government should be doing more for its citizens, not less (National Elections Survey, 2004).
- Twice as many Americans back more government services and spending (even if this means a tax increase) as the number who support fewer services and reduced spending (National Elections Survey, 2004).
- 64 percent of Americans would pay higher taxes to guarantee health care for all U.S. citizens (CNN Opinion Research Poll, 2007).
- 69 percent of Americans think it is the responsibility of the federal government to provide health coverage to all U.S. citizens (Gallup Polls, 2006).
- 80 percent of Americans support a government-mandated increase in the minimum wage (Associated Press/AOL Poll, December 2006).
- 86 percent of Americans want Congress to pass legislation to raise the federal minimum wage (CNN, August 2006).
- 71 percent of Americans think taxes on corporations are too low (Gallup Poll, April 2007).
- 66 percent of Americans think taxes on upper-income people are too low (Gallup Poll, April 2007).
- 59 percent of Americans are favorable toward unions, with just 29 percent unfavorable (Gallup Poll, 2006).
- 52 percent of Americans generally side with unions in labor disputes. Just 34 percent side with management (Gallup Poll, 2006).
- 57 percent of Americans want to keep abortion legal in all or most cases (Washington Post/ABC News, 2007). [I believe the positions may have reversed on this issue, unfortunately]
- 78 percent of Americans think “women should have an equal role with men in running business, industry, and government” (National Elections Survey, 2004).
- 57 percent of Americans support programs which “give special preference to qualified women and minorities in hiring” (Pew Poll, 2003).
- A majority of American voters think that the United States’ “most urgent moral question” is either “greed and materialism” (33 percent) or “poverty and economic injustice” (31 percent). Just 16 percent identify abortion and 12 percent pick gay marriage as the nation’s “most urgent moral question” (Zogby, 2004). Thus, nearly two-thirds (64 percent) of the population think that injustice and inequality are the nation’s leading “moral issues.”
- 67 percent of Americans think the U.S. should emphasize diplomatic and economic means over military methods in combating terrorism (Public Agenda and Foreign Affairs, 2007).
- Just 15 percent of Americans think the U.S. should play “the leading role in the world” (Gallup Poll, February 2007) – a remarkable rejection of U.S. global hegemony and empire.
- 58 percent of Americans think the U.S. should play “a major role but not the leading role in the world” (Gallup Poll, February 2007).
- 62 percent of Americans in September of 2007 thought the invasion of Iraq was “a mistake” (CBS News, September 2007).
- A majority of Americans want a firm deadline for U.S. withdrawal from Iraq (Washington Post/ABC News, February 2007).
- 70 percent of Americans want a multilateral nuclear disarmament treaty (Pew Poll, November 2005).
The following is data not provided by Adams and Derby:
- “When voters surveyed were asked to list the moral issue that most affected their vote, the Iraq War placed first at 42 percent, while 13 percent named abortion and 9 percent named gay marriage.” (Associated Press, “Heated Campaign Souring Democrats on Rival Candidates,” www.yahoo.com (http://www.yahoo.com/), April 29, 2008.)
- 73 percent of Americans think preventing the spread of nuclear weapons should be a very important goal of U.S. foreign policy, compared to 50 percent who think maintaining a superior military worldwide should be a very important goal (Chicago Council on Foreign Relations, “Global Views,” October 2004). Survival here trumps hegemony as a top global aim for citizens.
- Just 29 percent of Americans support the expansion of government spending on “defense.” By contrast, 79 percent support increased spending on health care, 69 percent support increased spending on education, and 69 percent support increased Spending on Social Security (CCFR, “Global Views, 2004).
- 58 percent of Americans in 2004 did not think the U.S. should have long-term military bases in Iraq (CCFR, 2004).
- 59 percent of Americans in 2004 thought the U.S. should remove its military presence from the Middle East if that’s what the majority of people there want (CCFR, 2004).
- 72 percent of Americans in 2004 thought the U.S. should remove its military presence from Iraq if that’s what the majority of people there want (CCFR, 2004). [And need I mention the huge majority, from 71 to 81 percent, of Iraqis who want us out?]
- To counter terrorism, 87 percent of Americans think the U.S. should work through the UN to strengthen international law and make sure that the UN enforces that law; 67 percent think the U.S. should work to develop poor economies; 64 percent think the U.S. should make a major effort to be even-handed in the Israel-Palestine conflict. Just 29 percent think the U.S. should use torture to extract information from terrorists (CCFR, 2004).
- 77 percent of Americans think the U.S. has the unilateral right to go to war only if the U.S. has strong evidence it is in immediate danger of being attacked (53 percent) or (24 percent) if the other country attacks first (CCFR, 2004).
- 89 percent of Americans reject the United States’ right to overthrow a government supporting terrorists who might pose a threat to the U.S. without UN approval (CCFR, 2004).
- 79 percent of Americans reject the first use of nuclear weapons and 22 percent reject the use of nuclear weapons ever (CCFR, 2004).
- Two thirds (66 percent) of Americans think the U.S. should be more willing to make international relations decisions within the UN even if it means the U.S. will sometimes have to go along with a policy that is not its first choice (CCFR, 2004).
- 59 percent of Americans favor dropping the veto power granted to the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, including the U.S. (CCFR, 2004).
- 57 percent of Americans favor general compliance with the decisions of the World Court, not just case-by-case (as under current U.S. policy) compliance (CCFR, 2004).
- 74 percent favor giving the UN a standing peacekeeping force selected, trained, and commanded by the UN (CCFR, 2004).
- 57 percent of Americans favor giving the UN the right to regulate the international arms trade (CCFR, 2004).
- 76 percent of Americans think the U.S. should participate in the International Criminal Court, with powers to try individual American military and other officials for war crimes even if their own country will not prosecute them of such crimes (CCFR, 2004).
- 71 percent of Americans think the U.S. should participate in the Kyoto Accord on global warming (CCFR, 2004).
- 93 percent of Americans support minimum standards in international trade agreements for working conditions and 91 percent support minimum standards for environmental protection.
The following data comes from Street's January 25, 2010 ZNet article "What's the Matter With the Democrats? Post-Massachusetts Reflections on Popular Resentment, the Liberal-Left Vacuum, and Right Comeback," under the subheading The Not-So Reactionary People:
- 71 percent of Americans think that taxes on corporations are too low (Gallup Poll, April 2007), 66 percent of Americans think taxes on upper-income people are too low (Gallup Poll, April 2007) and 62 percent believe corporations make too much profit (Pew Survey 2004).
- 77 percent of Americans think there is too much power concentrated in the hands of a few big companies (Pew Survey 2004), 84 percent think that big companies have too much power in Washington (Harris Poll 2007), and two-thirds think that "big business and big government work together against the people's interests" (Rasmussen Reports, 2009).
- A majority of American voters think that the United States' "most urgent moral question" is either "greed and materialism" (33 percent) or "poverty and economic injustice" (31 percent). Just 16 percent identify abortion and 12 percent pick gay marriage as the nation's "most urgent moral question" (Zogby, 2004). Thus, nearly two-thirds (64 percent) of the population think that injustice and inequality are the nation's leading "moral issues" (Katherine Adams and Charles Derber, The New Feminized Majority [Paradigm, 2008], p.72).
- Just 29 percent of Americans support the expansion of government spending on "defense." By contrast, 79 percent support increased spending on health care, 69 percent support increased spending on education, and 69 percent support increased spending on Social Security (Chicago Council on Foreign Relations [hereafter "CCFR"], "Global Views,"2004).
- 69 percent of Americans think it is the responsibility of the federal government to provide health coverage to all U.S. citizens (Gallup Poll, 2006) and 67 percent "think it's a good idea [for government] to guarantee health care for all U.S. citizens, as Canada and Britain do, with just 27 percent dissenting" (Business Week, 2005).
- 59 percent of Americans support a single-payer health insurance system (CBS/New York Times poll, January 2009) and 65 percent of Americans respond affirmatively to the following question: "Would you favor the government offering everyone a government-administered health insurance plan - something like the Medicare coverage that people 65 and over get - that would compete with private health insurance plans?" (CBS-New York Times, September 23, 2009)Just some numbers to think about the next time people complain (or proudly claim) the U.S. is populated with conservative reactionaries.