Voter attitudes generally reflect a conventional wisdom that is shaped by the corporate media and statist educational system. A whole series of buzzwords comes to mind--ideological hegemony, the sociology of knowledge, reproduction of human capital--but they all boil down to the fact that a fairly centralized cultural apparatus is effective at creating the kinds of public opinion the existing system of power needs to survive.
Concerning the real issues involved in our politics, and the contending groups that are actually represented in the state's decision-making, I'd say Thomas Ferguson and William Domhoff were closer to the mark than the "interest group pluralists" are. >From: Fred Foldvary <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Subject: Re: Republican Reversal >Date: Tue, 16 Jul 2002 17:31:43 -0700 (PDT) > > > These are all good comments on the Republican reversal. Thus, I take it > > that the list agrees that democracy works pretty well in reflecting the > > wishes of the voters. > > Alex > >I don't agree. What about the large literature on voter ignorance and rent >seeking? Does the typical American agree, for example, that it is good >policy to spend billions on farm subsidies, or are they just ignorant and >apathetic? > >Fred Foldvary > >===== >[EMAIL PROTECTED] > >__________________________________________________ >Do You Yahoo!? >Yahoo! Autos - Get free new car price quotes >http://autos.yahoo.com _________________________________________________________________ MSN Photos is the easiest way to share and print your photos: http://photos.msn.com/support/worldwide.aspx
