Majority says government a threat to citizens' rights
55 replies, posted
[quote=CNN]Washington (CNN) – A majority of Americans think the federal government poses a threat to rights of Americans, according to a new national poll.
Fifty-six percent of people questioned in a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released Friday say they think the federal government's become so large and powerful that it poses an immediate threat to the rights and freedoms of ordinary citizens. Forty-four percent of those polled disagree.
The survey indicates a partisan divide on the question: only 37 percent of Democrats, 63 percent of Independents and nearly 7 in 10 Republicans say the federal government poses a threat to the rights of Americans.
According to CNN poll numbers released Sunday, Americans overwhelmingly think that the U.S. government is broken - though the public overwhelmingly holds out hope that what's broken can be fixed.
The CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll was conducted February 12-15, with 1,023 adult Americans questioned by telephone. The survey's sampling error is plus or minus 3 percentage points for the overall survey.[/quote]
Entire article right here. and in the link.
[url]http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2010/02/26/cnn-poll-majority-says-government-a-threat-to-citizens-rights/?fbid=Q7eJTqF5-gi[/url]
Well... oh dear.
'The survey indicates a partisan divide on the question: only 37 percent of Democrats, 63 percent of Independents and nearly 7 in 10 Republicans say the federal government poses a threat to the rights of Americans."
Probably more important than the final conclusion of the poll. Things are going to get a bit skewed when you turn on Fox News every day and see promises that the goon squad will be kicking down your door and raping your freedom any day now.
However, thanks to the Patriot Act, the federal government sure as shit does pose a danger to individual rights, or at least the right not to be arbitrarily imprisoned overseas indefinitely and tortured.
The poll was comprised of 1023 people. That's not a large enough sample to generalize an entire country.
[QUOTE=Used Car Salesman;20445807]'The survey indicates a partisan divide on the question: only 37 percent of Democrats, 63 percent of Independents and nearly 7 in 10 Republicans say the federal government poses a threat to the rights of Americans."
Probably more important than the final conclusion of the poll. Things are going to get a bit skewed when you turn on Fox News every day and see promises that the goon squad will be kicking down your door and raping your freedom any day now.
However, thanks to the Patriot Act, the federal government sure as shit does pose a danger to individual rights, or at least the right not to be arbitrarily imprisoned overseas indefinitely and tortured.[/QUOTE]
Oddly enough, it was through Mark Levin that I found this.
[QUOTE=Used Car Salesman;20445807]'The survey indicates a partisan divide on the question: only 37 percent of Democrats, 63 percent of Independents and nearly 7 in 10 Republicans say the federal government poses a threat to the rights of Americans."
Probably more important than the final conclusion of the poll. Things are going to get a bit skewed when you turn on Fox News every day and see promises that the goon squad will be kicking down your door and raping your freedom any day now.
[B]
However, thanks to the Patriot Act, the federal government sure as shit does pose a danger to individual rights, or at least the right not to be arbitrarily imprisoned overseas indefinitely and tortured[/B].[/QUOTE]
Has the Patriot Act ever been used yet?
[QUOTE=Canuhearme?;20445853]Has the Patriot Act ever been used yet?[/QUOTE]
Didn't it do something to allow for that wiretapping fiasco that went on a while back?
[QUOTE=Zeke129;20445829]The poll was comprised of 1023 people. That's not a large enough sample to generalize an entire country.[/QUOTE]
Thats pretty much the census size of any corporate surveys. I actually work at a survey place, the biggest one we're doing (Biggest one ever for us) tallies at around 15,000 expected completed surveys over 55,000 marked, specific possible participants.
[QUOTE=Zeke129;20445829]The poll was comprised of 1023 people. That's not a large enough sample to generalize an entire country.[/QUOTE]
CNN called a thousand people and concludes people feel threatened by their government.
Seems accurate.
Actual survey, they did it by phone
[QUOTE=sloppy_joes;20445917]CNN called a thousand people and concludes people feel threatened by their government.[/QUOTE]
1,000 out of several hundred millions, that's not majority of Americans
If 10 cars drive past you and 1 calls you an idiot, does that mean 1/10 of Americans think you're an idiot?
[QUOTE=Canuhearme?;20445853]Has the Patriot Act ever been used yet?[/QUOTE]
Yeah, hundreds of people have been arrested under it, including a teenager that made a prank phone call. Also, countless warrentless wiretappings made just because the administration "says so".
[QUOTE=lolwutdude;20445981]1,000 out of several hundred millions, that's not majority of Americans
If 10 cars drive past you and 1 calls you an idiot, does that mean 1/10 of Americans think you're an idiot?[/QUOTE]
My point exactly.
[QUOTE=Used Car Salesman;20446003]Yeah, hundreds of people have been arrested under it, including a teenager that made a prank phone call. Also, countless warrentless wiretappings made just because the administration "says so".[/QUOTE]
I was with that teen the night he got arrested, we were using skype to call in pranks and broadcasting it into ventrillo. He made about 17 bomb threats to various schools before he got nabbed, he was tyrone, he was the greatest.
[QUOTE=breakyourfac;20446050]I was with that teen the night he got arrested, we were using skype to call in pranks and broadcasting it into ventrillo. He made about 17 bomb threats to various schools before he got nabbed, he was tyrone, he was the greatest.[/QUOTE]
You're an idiot by association.
Of course government threatens rights, it's called self-preservation. Would you rather work for someone with the chance of being fired, or would you rather be your own boss and make your own rules?
[QUOTE=lolwutdude;20445981]1,000 out of several hundred millions, that's not majority of Americans
If 10 cars drive past you and 1 calls you an idiot, does that mean 1/10 of Americans think you're an idiot?[/QUOTE]
For a community like the US? You probably need an accurate sample of about 8-12 thousand. Sampling is weird.
Republicans think the government is out to enslave them under communist overlords every time they can't afford another yacht.
[QUOTE=Mingebox;20446412]Republicans think the government is out to enslave them under communist overlords every time they can't afford another yacht.[/QUOTE]
Only when they aren't in power. When they are in power, they enslave everyone else under corporate overloads so they CAN afford another yacht.
I agree with the result of the survey, but damnit 1,000 people is way too small for a sample size. You need a much larger number, spanning many ethnic, cultural, economic and political groups.
This is why random / systematic sampling is terrible and you do stratified sampling. It gives you a much more in-depth analysis that isn't as biased towards chance.
[QUOTE=Canuhearme?;20445853]Has the Patriot Act ever been used yet?[/QUOTE]
Yes.
[QUOTE=lolwutdude;20445981]1,000 out of several hundred millions, that's not majority of Americans
If 10 cars drive past you and 1 calls you an idiot, does that mean 1/10 of Americans think you're an idiot?[/QUOTE]
It means 1 in 10 Americans with cars think you're an idiot :P
CNNs sample size was faaaaaaaaaaar too small for something like this.
No shit?
Goddamnit, it's not "Big Government" that's the problem you retarded fucks.
Really, I'm getting sick of seeing this plastered all over Religious Right t-shirts, news outlets, and Tea Party signs. It's not the government that's the problem, it's the American people for not doing something about having their rights taken away. Figures we fight wars for centuries for our freedoms and the freedoms of our allies and brothers, having hundreds of thousands slaughtered in the civil war, WW2, and the revolution, only to have the neo-cons and republicans take it all away in a period of half a century.
Nixon, Reagan, McCarthy, and Bush did more damage to our freedoms than any fucking Japanese air raid, or government expansion could have ever done. Nixon for manipulating the public and getting off free with election rigging, McCarthy for practically inventing social blacklisting and legal corruption, Reagan for practically robbing the entire world with his economic policies and military corruption and hypocrisy, and Bush for just about everything else, from pissing on the constitution to emulating 1984 slogans.
Our grandfathers and the men before them would have been absolutely horrified if they thought that the government was going to be able to see what everyone across the world is thinking by reading our wires. They would have been disgusted if they even so much as thought that our armies were torturing people or raping civilians/servicewomen, much less declaring "crusades" on nations on the other side of the world.
[QUOTE=Xystus234;20451432]Goddamnit, it's not "Big Government" that's the problem you retarded fucks.
Really, I'm getting sick of seeing this plastered all over Religious Right t-shirts, news outlets, and Tea Party signs. It's not the government that's the problem, it's the American people for not doing something about having their rights taken away. Figures we fight wars for centuries for our freedoms and the freedoms of our allies and brothers, having hundreds of thousands slaughtered in the civil war, WW2, and the revolution, only to have the neo-cons and republicans take it all away in a period of half a century.
Nixon, Reagan, McCarthy, and Bush did more damage to our freedoms than any fucking Japanese air raid, or government expansion could have ever done. Nixon for manipulating the public and getting off free with election rigging, McCarthy for practically inventing social blacklisting and legal corruption, Reagan for practically robbing the entire world with his economic policies and military corruption and hypocrisy, and Bush for just about everything else, from pissing on the constitution to emulating 1984 slogans.
Our grandfathers and the men before them would have been absolutely horrified if they thought that the government was going to be able to see what everyone across the world is thinking by reading our wires. They would have been disgusted if they even so much as thought that our armies were torturing people or raping civilians/servicewomen, much less declaring "crusades" on nations on the other side of the world.[/QUOTE]
Amazing point, you win an internet.
Well of course Government threatens rights, there only one of a few entities in this world capable of doing so.
I don't think there's any question that the government poses a threat to individual rights.
Does anyone think they don't?
We don't need a survey to realize bureaucrats want more power.
[QUOTE=Boba_Fett;20452279]We don't need a survey to realize bureaucrats want more power.[/QUOTE]
Uhh internal bureaucracy is what keeps government from violating rights.
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