A friend cc’d me on an email about a 2011 Pew poll that included:

a majority of people under 30 prefer socialism to capitalism

First off, it wasn’t true. The poll asked people whether they had a positive or negative reaction to words. The poll did NOT ask: “Which is better, a socialist country or a capitalist country?”  Nor did it ask other worthless questions, like, “Which do you like better, socialism or capitalism, or a mixture?”  Or, “Should America become more capitalist or more socialist?”  Or, “Which are more important, America’s socialist aspects or America’s capitalist aspects?”  Basically, this poll doesn’t ask questions that matter.

These are all worthless questions because most people think BOTH that the government should do more in some areas and do less in others.  Most people think police and fire departments should be run by us collectively and that stores should be owned by private parties.  Most people think capitalism is bad when it allows monopolies to make competition impossible, and most people think that socialism is bad if it means the government spends 20% of its budget on a peace-time military.

Perhaps many are saying we have enough capitalism and need a bit more socialism. Perhaps they’re saying that the dirt of capitalism is soiling the world a lot more than the dirt of socialism.

We could speculate all day on why young people have positive vs negative connotations to certain words, but it doesn’t matter.  Without a doubt, people would have a variety of reasons.  And also without a doubt, we’d need a much different poll to get information that could be valuable in knowing what people want.

A 2012 poll asked if people thought Wall Street made an important contribution to America.  “Important” compared to what?  Farm products?  Fairness?  Liberty?  Their incomes?

Many polls like these deliver incoherent communication.  While this is great when your goal is to generate blogs, it’s not helping us where we need it, to give our representatives direction so they carry out the will of the people instead of arguing about philosophy and posturing to satisfy the zealots in their parties.

If you want some choices that matter, that could make a difference, register and vote on issues on PeopleCount.org.  Or start with our invitation.

Let’s give ourselves some real choices and have meaningful communication.