That is a question that we conservatives could ask every day. Polls consistently show that in the U.S., there are far more conservatives than liberals–from 1 1/2 to 2 to 1, depending on the survey–and conservative positions on specific policy issues generally poll well, too. Today’s example comes from Rasmussen Reports, which asked questions about banks. That doesn’t sound promising; doesn’t just about everyone hate banks? (Maybe, but don’t ask me to explain why.) And how about Occupy Wall Street?
Yet this is what the Rasmussen poll finds: 56% of voters say that more competition and less regulation is the best path forward for the banking industry. Given all of the nonsense that has been written about banking over the last five or ten years, that is a remarkably strong majority. Moreover, by 51% to 28%, voters say the federal bailouts of the banks were bad for the United States. In other words, Americans agree with Michele Bachmann over George W. Bush and Barack Obama on the bailouts by almost a two to one majority.
By rights, we conservatives should be a powerhouse, yet we feel like the 98-pound weakling who is always getting sand kicked in his face. (My apologies to our younger readers who never heard of Charles Atlas and didn’t grow up reading comic books.) What is the explanation? This is a question that I have posed many times on this site, and no doubt will return to many times in the future. There are lots of possible explanations, but for now, I would like to see our readers–as good a cross-section of conservatives as any–weigh in. Given that so many Americans consider themselves to be conservatives, why don’t we do better politically?
We’d really like to see a lot of conservatives show up and speak their minds, so please feel free to recommend to your friends that they come here and vote!
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