Let's Give the American People What They Want...

You've heard it, I've heard it, we've ALL heard it in the media lately. "The American people don't want it!" We as Americans have an expectation that in our political system that our will should be done. In the recent weeks any number of conservative politicians have stated that the American people don't want Obamacare and that President Obama and his Democratic counterparts should listen to us and put a stop to the implementation of the Affordable Care Act immediately.

Here's Speaker of the House John Boehner saying it:



He's surely not alone as most Conservatives agree to one degree or another that they feel the ACA should be stopped as soon as possible. Senator Ted Cruz spent over twenty hours on the floor of the Senate driving that point home earlier this week. Right wing voices from Rush Limbaugh, Mark Levin and Sean Hannity all are predicting the utter destruction of our Country if Obamacare is permitted to carry on.

There's good evidence that a significant percent of Americans also feel less than enthused about Obamacare. The poll website Real Clear Politics, which looks at many polls from various sources, shows an average breakdown of 52% against the ACA, with just 38.7% in favor of the new law. Their results include polls from CNN, CBS/NYT, Rasmussen, ABC/Washington Post among others. Hardly just a sampling of far right wing outlets. It is a fact, there is significant opposition to Obamacare. We can quibble on the merits of the opinions, but we can't and shouldn't pretend they don't exist.

Maybe with just over half of those polled feeling the ACA isn't the way we should go right now, we should listen to them. I don't think so, myself at all, but hey, if more than half the Country feels this way, perhaps we shouldn't ignore them. Americans elect politicians and send them to 50 different State Houses and Washington DC to do "our will." They represent us in these matters and are compelled morally to do so honestly, even if it means they must assume a difficult or unpopular stance.

We all agree on that? Right?

I have one question that I've been unable to get an answer to. If we move from looking at the "will of the people" when it comes to Obamacare and change the issue to gun control, things seem to change very quickly. There's an issue with even more dramatic poll results than the ACA. A CBS poll from March indicates a 90% approval rating, a Washington Post/ABC News poll from April shows a 86% approval rating, a CNN poll from April shows a 83% favorability rating, a Quinnipiac Poll from the Spring comes in at a striking 91% approval.

Here's my question:

If the best argument against the ACA is that a majority of the American people do not want it so therefore we should stop it in its tracks immediately, why doesn't the same thinking apply to background checks/gun control? Remember this vote from the Senate, last Spring?

Someone please explain it to me...


Sources:

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/other/obama_and_democrats_health_care_plan-1130.html

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2013/apr/18/gabrielle-giffords/gabby-giffords-says-americans-overwhelmingly-suppo/

http://www.cnn.com/2013/04/17/politics/senate-guns-vote/index.html