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Evidently, we primarily think government does have some role in a variety of areas, but we think of "total gov't responsibility" or "no gov't responsibility" as solutions to stay away from:
Not surprisingly, people did overwhelmingly give government total responsibility for protecting Americans from foreign threats - at 83%. That was the only area where we overwhelmingly would make government responsibility absolute.
A majority (51%) would give government absolute responsibility for protecting Americans against unsafe products. 47% expect total government responsibility for preventing discrimination. And so on, down to 13% for protecting major U.S. corporations in danger of going out of business.
For each category, Americans say government should have absolutely no responsibility for 2% to 36% of the public. (2% say the government should have no responsibility for protecting the U.S. against foreign threats. 36% say it should have no responsibility for protecting corporations.
The interesting part is that with the exception of foreign threats, consumer protection, and discrimination, most Americans are somewhere in the middle. That's encouraging, since it is in the middle between these ideological extremes where solutions usually exist.
More nuanced numbers grouping 1 & 2 (most responsibility) and 4 & 5 (least responsibility), vs. the center of 3, show some other interesting results. A clear majority think the government should have all or most (category 4) responsibility for ensuring adequate health care, for example, at 57%.
Anyhoo, feel free to slice, dice, and discuss.
Disclaimer: this is a thread about what Americans want - the theory of an America where the government is totally responsible for one or another area, or the theory of an America where the government bears no responsibility in an area, and why you believe that to be the case, isn't the topic. Just sayin.
PFnV
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Evidently, we primarily think government does have some role in a variety of areas, but we think of "total gov't responsibility" or "no gov't responsibility" as solutions to stay away from:
Not surprisingly, people did overwhelmingly give government total responsibility for protecting Americans from foreign threats - at 83%. That was the only area where we overwhelmingly would make government responsibility absolute.
A majority (51%) would give government absolute responsibility for protecting Americans against unsafe products. 47% expect total government responsibility for preventing discrimination. And so on, down to 13% for protecting major U.S. corporations in danger of going out of business.
For each category, Americans say government should have absolutely no responsibility for 2% to 36% of the public. (2% say the government should have no responsibility for protecting the U.S. against foreign threats. 36% say it should have no responsibility for protecting corporations.
The interesting part is that with the exception of foreign threats, consumer protection, and discrimination, most Americans are somewhere in the middle. That's encouraging, since it is in the middle between these ideological extremes where solutions usually exist.
More nuanced numbers grouping 1 & 2 (most responsibility) and 4 & 5 (least responsibility), vs. the center of 3, show some other interesting results. A clear majority think the government should have all or most (category 4) responsibility for ensuring adequate health care, for example, at 57%.
Anyhoo, feel free to slice, dice, and discuss.
Disclaimer: this is a thread about what Americans want - the theory of an America where the government is totally responsible for one or another area, or the theory of an America where the government bears no responsibility in an area, and why you believe that to be the case, isn't the topic. Just sayin.
PFnV
Correction PFiVA...what Americans "think" is not the same as what Americans "want". In order to find out what they want gov't to do, you'd have to ask them "What do you want gov't to do about "X"?"
But to your point, it does provide a reflection of the direction Americans would like gov't to go. but I'd LOVE to see a "This year vs. 2006" trend of the same questions. That would truly provide us with where we've been and where we want to go.
Last edited by PatriotsReign; 10-23-2010 at 12:06 PM..
The word is, in fact, "think." As in "how much responsibility you think the government should have..."
Here's the question itself. I don't see a great deal of ambiguity arising from the difference between "think/should have" and "want," but let's just put the semantics to rest:
On a 1-to-5 scale, please say how much responsibility you think the government should have for each -- with 1 meaning the government should have no responsibility at all and 5 meaning the government should have total responsibility in this area. How about _____ ?
As to what people thought 5 or 10 or 20 years ago, it would indeed be of historic interest. We would know what a lot of dead people thought, and we would not know a lot of things thought by children at the time who are now adults.
Two years ago might tell us even more, since it would reflect shifts in attitude among the same basic group of people (with a few added and subtracted.)
It is interesting, however, how big the disconnect is between the rhetoric we see about government only being responsible for some small subset of issues, and the mainstream view that government bears some, but not all responsibility in a range of areas.
Disclaimer: this is a thread about what Americans want - the theory of an America where the government is totally responsible for one or another area, or the theory of an America where the government bears no responsibility in an area, and why you believe that to be the case, isn't the topic. Just sayin.
Translation: Please show me the respect in this thread that I refuse to show other people in their's.
At what level is government supposed to have responsibility? I certainly do not want government at the Federal level to have any responsibility educating my children. Nor do I want my state to have any. I want that responsibility at the local level.
To me, this thread and the "public sphere" thread are grossly misleading. I think that the Federal government has little responsibility or role in the public sphere, aside from what is constitutionally mandated (especially defense from foreign threats).
It is not so much a question of "if" as "who" for me. Though I think there are areas that government has no responsibility at any level.
The respect card? From you? The bacon-and-eggs guy?
really???
Contribute if you have a contribution to make. Otherwise leave.
So who died and made you a mod? Don't throw a hissy fit at me just because I am pointing out your hypocrisy. You have no problem firebombing other peoples' threads, but when you start one of your own, it's always "please stay on topic" or something of that sort.
Once again, Wolfpack, I would invite you to make a contribution addressing the subject matter of the thread.
You and I obviously disagree on the subject of respect. Now, we have dispensed with our respective, no pun intended, opinions on that subject. This thread is not about such disagreement.
Do you have a contribution to make on the subject of American Attitudes on the role of government?
If so, once again, I invite you to address the subject matter of this thread.
PFnV
Last edited by PatsFanInVa; 10-23-2010 at 05:30 PM..
Shirtsleeve, other than whether these threads are misleading - an area of disagreement between us, bien sur - good observations.
The poll simply asks about "government" as you say, and you identify schools as one area where you don't want federal government involved.
The obvious counter is what happened when the local and state governments insisted on discrimination in the 50s and 60s, and the feds eventually had to step in to integrate the schools. I think that history is reflected in the responses about "government responsibility" in the poll quoted as regards discrimination. But really, just because that's consistent with the historical events, doesn't mean that the respondents did not mean local government.
But again, one's personal opinion is one thing, and what the country says it wants (or "thinks should be", to be precise) is another.
Most Americans think the federal government should be more involved or about as involved as they are in education, not less involved in education.
So this does not establish whether you are right or wrong, obviously, it just establishes where the center is on the question. Only about 35% think the federal government should be less involved. Far more, 46%, think the federal government should be more involved. Among k-12 parents, 56% think the federal government should be more involved. 10 years ago, only 50% of parents thought the federal government should be more involved, and only 26% said the federal government should be less involved (27% now).
In other words, the high water mark of general sentiment against federal government involvement is now, among the general public, at 35%. Among parents that sentiment has picked up far less traction. Conversely, far more parents would now want more federal involvement, at 56%. In 2000, that was only 50%.
Shirtsleeve, other than whether these threads are misleading - an area of disagreement between us, bien sur - good observations.
The poll simply asks about "government" as you say, and you identify schools as one area where you don't want federal government involved.
The obvious counter is what happened when the local and state governments insisted on discrimination in the 50s and 60s, and the feds eventually had to step in to integrate the schools. I think that history is reflected in the responses about "government responsibility" in the poll quoted as regards discrimination. But really, just because that's consistent with the historical events, doesn't mean that the respondents did not mean local government.
But again, one's personal opinion is one thing, and what the country says it wants (or "thinks should be", to be precise) is another.
Most Americans think the federal government should be more involved or about as involved as they are in education, not less involved in education.
So this does not establish whether you are right or wrong, obviously, it just establishes where the center is on the question. Only about 35% think the federal government should be less involved. Far more, 46%, think the federal government should be more involved. Among k-12 parents, 56% think the federal government should be more involved. 10 years ago, only 50% of parents thought the federal government should be more involved, and only 26% said the federal government should be less involved (27% now).
In other words, the high water mark of general sentiment against federal government involvement is now, among the general public, at 35%. Among parents that sentiment has picked up far less traction. Conversely, far more parents would now want more federal involvement, at 56%. In 2000, that was only 50%.
PFnV
I do not think that we are far in disagreement re: thread misled intention. It was the original poll, not you that did not delineate at what level government might be responsible.
The second half of my response was more an answer to your other thread, giving my opinion of the issue. Clearly I do not expect my opinion to be in the majority nationally, and I definitely clearly understand my opinion is berated, ridiculed and insulted locally. (I live in Berkshire county, Mass).
American Attitudes on role of government
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