One of the more amusing, yet thought provoking, responses to recent news that 82% of Americans think the country is on the wrong track came from Rick Moran at Right Wing Nuthouse.
Are you paying attention? 82% of your fellow countrymen think that America is a sucky place to live right now.
Holy Jesus! You can’t get 82% of Americans to agree about anything. I’ll bet less than 82% of Americans like chocolate ice cream. I would wager that less than 82% of Americans like McDonalds hamburgers. And I’d bet the farm that less than 82% of Americans like old re-runs of The Carol Burnett Show even though I believe you have to be brain dead not to recognize its brilliance.
About the only thing that 82% of Americans might agree on is that they like sex.
While Rick may be correct in thinking this is dangerous news for John McCain and the Republican brand, it did get me to thinking… how many things are there that 82% of Americans could agree on? Right off the bat I think we can ignore some of the non-optionals like breathing air or eating delicious food as being “good” in the opinion polls. Ditto for other abstract concepts like “being healthy” or not getting shot in the face with a shotgun.
Would that many people all agree that pollution is bad? Sounds like it should be an easy call, but what if a certain percentage of the respondents thought that answer would make the sound like hippies, or opponents of industry? Would 82% like to pay less taxes? You might think so, but good luck with that. You won’t hit that figure in the current climate of opposition to the Bush tax cuts. How about puppies? Or kittens? Again… should be a clear, universal concensus, but lots of people don’t want to have pets. I bet we could find 18% who would vote no on puppies and kittens.
Baseball? Nope. Not since the year of the big strike anyway. Hot dogs? Chevrolet? Not going to happen. Apple pie? Hell, a third of the people I know don’t like apple pie at all. So much for the standard American icons. Perhaps Rick is right… maybe sex is the only thing 82% of us could agree on. Heck, I might even give you 85% on that one.
Any other suggestions?
UPDATE: From the comments section, OutOfContext ironically points out that George W. Bush had an 87% approval rating in November of 2001. At both ends of the spectrum, I guess he truly was a uniter after all. 🙂