Poll: Congress Should Not Do What No One In Congress Wants To Do
There's a new poll out that asks, among other things, "Do you think elected officials should have more control over federal judges and the decisions they make in court cases, or don't you think so?," and 67 percent say No.
But no one in Congress is saying that elected officials should have more control over federal judges, or the decisions they make in court cases. No one.
Some people are saying Congress should exercise the control they already have under the Constitution more than they do, but not that they should have more control than they already have.
To draw an analogy: I have the control over my dog to make him sit for hours at a time. I do not need to "have more control" to be able to do that. I have all the control I need for that. But I will rarely, if ever, exercise that control.
So, this poll's results mean absolutely nothing. Perhaps, you may argue, what the pollsters meant by the question was what I said: whether the existing controls should be exercised. But that's not what they asked, and there's no way to know what the respondents thought when they responded.
If I'd been asked this question, I would have answered No, too, but if asked if I thought elected officials should exercise existing control more than they do, I'd have answered No Opinion, because there's no way for me to quantify my view (I want less exercise of control by the Senate in the approval process; and I would consider more exercise of control over jurisdictional, as well as organizational, issues).
So either this poll is meaningless because it is asking something that no one is in favor of anyway, or it is meaningless because it is intending to ask one thing but asking something different, and most likely are getting a mixture of incompatible interpretations by respondents.
Pollsters ask terrible questions like this all the time. They really need better review of the questions they ask, for accuracy, language, and so on.
But no one in Congress is saying that elected officials should have more control over federal judges, or the decisions they make in court cases. No one.
Some people are saying Congress should exercise the control they already have under the Constitution more than they do, but not that they should have more control than they already have.
To draw an analogy: I have the control over my dog to make him sit for hours at a time. I do not need to "have more control" to be able to do that. I have all the control I need for that. But I will rarely, if ever, exercise that control.
So, this poll's results mean absolutely nothing. Perhaps, you may argue, what the pollsters meant by the question was what I said: whether the existing controls should be exercised. But that's not what they asked, and there's no way to know what the respondents thought when they responded.
If I'd been asked this question, I would have answered No, too, but if asked if I thought elected officials should exercise existing control more than they do, I'd have answered No Opinion, because there's no way for me to quantify my view (I want less exercise of control by the Senate in the approval process; and I would consider more exercise of control over jurisdictional, as well as organizational, issues).
So either this poll is meaningless because it is asking something that no one is in favor of anyway, or it is meaningless because it is intending to ask one thing but asking something different, and most likely are getting a mixture of incompatible interpretations by respondents.
Pollsters ask terrible questions like this all the time. They really need better review of the questions they ask, for accuracy, language, and so on.
"It is the common fate of the indolent to see their rights become a prey to the active. The condition upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance; which condition if he break, servitude is at once the consequence of his crime and the punishment of his guilt."
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