A new poll came out this past week showing that Americans' concern about and belief in global warming was "cooling off," as the authors so aptly put it.  Around 20% fewer people were found to think that there was "strong scientific evidence" of global warming as opposed to a similar study conducted two years ago.  Even fewer people felt that man-made activities were responsible for climate change.  Despite this widespread apathy, uber-liberals in the House have stamped together climate change legislation that will cripple American businesses, raise costs for consumers, and stunt growth, all in the name of counteracting global warming, and the White House has assisted their efforts by implementing a McCarthy/Nixon-esque policy of blacklisting any dissident voices (Yes, Fox News clearly has a conservative bias, but it's hardly alone in picking a side. Have you ever watched MSNBC?).

Health care is hardly any different.  Again, most Americans do not feel like the current plans in Congress will do anything to improve their actual health care situation, and almost half think that these reform proposals will actually raise their costs (likely true).  Most importantly, however, is that most people right now simply don't feel like health insurance reform is that important of an issue.  Obama and arch-liberals like Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid have discussed the urgency of enacting health care reform now.  The urgency isn't for the American populace, however, but rather for the Democratic leaders.  Their super-majority in Congress doesn't look like it's going to last, and with an election year imminent, the window is closing on pushing through these types of liberal agenda pieces. The American people, though, are concerned about the economy and their jobs, not the health insurance which without any income they won't be able to afford anyway.

Former president Clinton was often criticized for governing "through the polls;" that is, either refusing to act if the public was against it, or at least waiting until he knew how the public felt before he made a decision.  Clinton disregarded the fact that he had been elected to be the country's leader and was expected to move forward on his own, not sitting back and reacting to the whims of the public.  There's a reason that we have a representational form of government: because the framers knew that simply going with public opinion isn't always a great idea.  Obama, Reid, Pelosi, and others have taken this to the opposite extreme, flaunting the will of the people and proceeding as if their majority in Congress is the result of some manifest destiny that they enact every pinnacle of American liberalism from the last twenty years all at once, dissenters be damned (even if those dissenters make up a majority of the country).  When people do speak up in opposition, the Dems work quickly to undermine their adversaries instead of directly engaging them.  "You don't like our brand of health care? Well, then you're a tool for the insurance industry," or "Well, it's really because you're a racist."  Such arguments are more befitting of an elementary school playground than the halls of Congress ("You don't want to play with us? Well then, uh, you're stupid!").

Our politicians are elected to make the tough decisions, decisions that maybe none of us would have the courage to make.  Sometimes these decisions may be unpopular, but if it's truly the right thing to do, then the public will come around.  After six months of listening to the same old arguments however, we haven't come around.  Nobody except a few districts on the west coast and in the Northeast wants climate change legislation that will raise prices on virtually every consumer good.  And badmouthing the insurance industry hasn't convinced anyone that handing the reins over to the federal government will suddenly improve the health care industry.  In between a pure Athenian-style democracy and totalitarianism lies a point in which leaders can strike the balance between making the tough decisions and understanding that they are elected to represent the popular will.  Democrats in Congress and the Administration have overshot this mark by a mile.  Given such flagrant disregard for their constituents' concerns, it can come as little surprise that many Democrats are finding their seats hotly contested.