Reply #2: I am just a cynic.

[No Elephants]

I think the day when anyone in elected office paid any attention to petitions, polls, etc. is gone, if indeed it ever existed.

Take the public option. Obama ran on a strong public option, saying it was the ONLY way. Oh, and no mandate. He won the primaries over Hillary, who ran on a mandate. And then he was elected--the most significant poll of all.

While he was meeting with health insurers, Big PHARMA and big health care, the public was polling at 70% in favor of a strong public option. (I don't know if anyone even bothered to poll on the mandate, but, if they had, it had to have lost big.)

As things started looking bad for the public option, there were no end to calls and emails to Senators, Congresional Reps, and the White House. I personally contacted both my Senators, my Rep and the WH at least once a week; and I know that I am not alone. There were also demonstrations, including by doctors and nurses.

None of it mattered.

If I am correct that no one pays attention, I think circulating petitions, email chain letters and the like is dangerous, in that it gives an illusion that we are controlling our own destiny, that they are listening, and that by doing things like that, we are engaging in a form of activism.

I don't think we are. If I am correct, it's better we know it.