Just a quick thought as I have to go to work early today. This one's been bouncing around my head for the last few days.
Way back when, in 1850, just to pick a year at random, there were no daily tracking polls, no policy polls and no way for congressmen and the president to be told which way the wind was blowing at that particular moment.
Do you suppose the lack of instantaneous feedback allowed them to be a bit more strategic in their thinking?
Maybe. On the other hand, before polls it was a lot easier for politicians to completely misunderstand what their constituents wanted, and to indulge in rash acts.
ReplyDeleteFor example, was there really a majority of the population in the South that was in favor of seceding from and then going to war with the North? I guess we'll never know, but it seems likely to me that most people would have preferred not to have the war.
I guess it's like most things. Polls are tools. It is what you do with them that is good or bad.
I don't think it would solve all problems, but I think a lack of constant polling feedback would allow for more concentration of thought.
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