Almost Classical

"Socialism" Not So Negative, "Capitalism" Not So Positive - Pew Research Center : "A large majority of Republicans (77%) react negatively to 'socialism,' while 62% have a positive reaction to 'capitalism.' Democrats' impressions are more divided: In fact, about as many Democrats react positively to 'socialism' (44%) as to 'capitalism' (47%)." Well, doesn't that explain a lot about current U.S. political divides? The same party that gets upset that some Republicans, Libertarians, and Independents describe our current Washington leaders (often of both parties) as trending toward socialism happens to have a fair number of members supportive of socialism. Yes, how dare you imply Democratic politicians are socialists -- but 44% of Democrats surveyed like socialism. Perfectly logical, right? We also find the typical generational divide, made worse because today's youth doesn't recall the Soviet Union, the Eastern B...

Based on the media coverage of the last few weeks, one might imagine unions are on the rise in public opinion. Actually, I've found three polls since Friday showing quite the opposite is true. I've also found data that Democrats have dropped a percentage point or two on a general congressional ballot, while Republicans have remained steady. Republicans are about 1.5 percent ahead of Democrats, which doesn't mean much since some districts are very lopsided. So, how bad are the perceptions of unions in general? According to Gallup this weekend: Republicans Negative, Democrats Positive in Describing Unions Among all Americans, 38% have a negative image, 34% positive, and 17% neutral Americans are slightly more likely to say something negative rather than positive when asked what word or phrase comes to mind when they think of "labor unions." By about a 3-to-1 ratio, Republicans have negative rather than positive things to say about labor unions. By better than 2 to 1...

CNN and other news outlets are reporting that Europeans prefer Obama to McCain by a 5:1 ratio. CNN: Cafferty File Why do we care do much about European opinions? These people don't have a single popular leader in their own nations. France's president is below 30% in the polls, Number 10 is (ironically) between 10 and 20% favorable, and even Germany, with a decent economy, doesn't give majority approval to the chancellor. So, these are relatively unhappy people, politically. They are beyond cynical — they're just plain unhappy. Part of the problem is that when you have a parliamentary system, the leaders in power seldom win leadership posts with a clear majority. You can cobble a parliamentary majority together with a 30% plurality and a dozen smaller, usually more radical, political parties. The end result is that no one is content. But, there is a larger reason: their systems, which they resoundingly claim are better than the U.S. system and our economic mode...