Ending Frustration with #HiddenMajorities

Real question: Are you afraid that America’s Democracy no longer works, and soon there’ll be no going back?

Let me explain. I’ve been getting a ton of questions asking: Why doesn’t Congress pass legislation that most Americans want?

And then, I dive into the deeper side of the question with them and realize that the rooted emotion here is actually fear.

1. Congress won’t limit our vast military spending and refuses to raise taxes on the rich, yet these fuel inflation which most voters say is the biggest problem, according to Pew research.

2. Extreme weather gets worse, yet half of Congress refuses to mitigate climate change.

3. Health care costs are high and rising, yet Congress won’t create a single-payer option.

4. Housing is scarce, prices and homelessness are rising, yet Congress does nothing.

5. Politics is mostly about propaganda and attacking the other party, rather than about what voters want.

6. States are banning abortions, censoring teachers, stigmatizing people who are different, and fighting fair elections. All these without ever asking voters.

...and honestly, I get it. Maybe this isn’t what you wanna hear but it TRULY is scary. It’s terrifying. There is a lot of political propaganda dividing us, and the parties are not prioritizing reforms.

For example, a page in the Web Archive shows that at the start of 2021, the Republican Party had a survey on their site. Their first question was: “Which do you identify as: Republican or Socialist?” They didn’t want to know how people identify. Rather, they wanted to push their message that non-Republicans are socialists in order to cement their division of America. (Last I looked, that survey is still up on the party’s platform page.)

Meanwhile, TermLimits.com reports 80% of Americans want term limits for Congress, TheFulcrum reports 61% favor ranked choice voting, and Public Integrity says 75-80% of Americans want to overturn Citizens United. But these are not on Congress’ agenda.

On all of these issues, what the majority of voters want stays hidden. We’re not asked. If we were asked, we’d have no way to reply that would make a difference. And even if we could reply, politicians are accountable to their wealthy donors and the parties, not to the people.

This is why I designed PeopleCount. You’ll be able to say what you want in a way that’ll make a difference. The hidden majorities on issues will be revealed. It’ll reduce the power of money in politics and let politicians be much more independent of the parties.

Works Cited:

1. Pew on top problems: pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2022/05/12/by-a-wide-margin-americans-view-inflation-as-the-top-problem-facing-the-country-today
2. The Republican Party survey:  gop.com/2021-republican-platform/
3. Proof the survey was up in January 2021: web.archive.org/web/20210114224907/https://gop.com/2021-republican-platform/
4. Term Limits: termlimits.com/polls/
5. TheFulcrum: thefulcrum.us/Elections/Voting/ranked-choice-voting-survey
6. Public Integrity: publicintegrity.org/politics/study-most-americans-want-to-kill-citizens-united-with-constitutional-amendment/