CONGRESS WILL IGNORE WILL OF THE PEOPLE ON SYRIA

FROM CNN POLITICS

POLLS:  SHOULD THE U.S. LAUNCH STRIKES AGAINST SYRIA?

CNN Political Editor Paul SteinhuserWashington (CNN) – Two new national polls indicate the same thing: More Americans oppose rather than favor U.S. military strikes against Syria.
According to an ABC News/Washington Post survey released Tuesday, 36% of the public supports launching missile strikes against the forces of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad if the U.S. has determined that Damascus has used chemical weapons against its own citizens, with nearly six in ten opposing such a move. 

But public opinion means nothing in our faux democracy.  As Noam Chomsky points out,"There is a wide disparity between public opinion and policy on a very wide range of issues. Take for example the issue of minimum wage. The one view is that the minimum wage ought to be indexed to the cost of living and high enough to prevent falling below the poverty line. Eighty percent of the public support that and forty percent of the wealthy. What’s the minimum wage? Going down, way below these levels. It’s the same with laws that facilitate union activity: strongly supported by the public; opposed by the very wealthy – disappearing. The same is true on national healthcare. [Chomsky does think Obamacare meets the standards for national health care.] The U.S., as you may know, has a health system which is an international scandal, it has twice the per capita costs of other OECD countries and relatively poor outcomes. The only privatized, pretty much unregulated system. The public doesn’t like it. They’ve been calling for national healthcare, public options, for years, but the financial institutions think it’s fine, so it stays: stasis. In fact, if the United States had a healthcare system like comparable countries there wouldn’t be any deficit. The famous deficit would be erased, which doesn’t matter that much anyway. One of the mot interesting cases has to do with taxes.  For 35 years there have been polls on 'what do you think taxes ought to be?'  Large majorities have held that the corporations and the wealth should pay higher taxes.  They've steadily been going down through this period."

Today, it was widely reported that key leaders in Congress, from both parties, support a strike on Syria.  Unless public opinion changes,  once again the government will disregard the wishes of the people.