What the American People Want

It never fails to unsettle me when politicians say things like, "That's what the American People want." I've heard politicians of every stripe say it, and a good share of time, they're saying exactly the opposite of what I want. And for every time they are actually saying something I like, I can find as many friends as not who DON'T like it.

And the key word there is friends. Amongst my own friends I count people of nearly every political and social bent. Republicans, Democrats, Libertarians, Independents and people who don't vote. I've talked politics with conservative Christians, agnostic Jews, liberal deists, pagans, atheists, and secularists. And those are just the people I've actually shared meals with in the last year. I know gay people, and people who think they shouldn't marry. I've had beers with hawks and doves. Every last one of these people is a born and raised citizen of the United states.

The American People are a highly varied group who want a lot of different things. Only a few of them overlap. So any the only time we should hear a politician say "That's what the American People want," is when he or she is talking about roads.