Pollster Zogby has his idea of ‘The Way We’ll Be;’ what’s yours?
I attended a live broadcast of the Charlie Brennan Show featuring the famous pollster John Zogby, who talked about his new book “The Way We’ll Be.” A listener named Stephanie said, “I have never liked pollsters because they are always asking questions and making predictions. It’s a lot like being a hypochondriac who keeps checking your blood pressure over and over again.”
Zogby’s response: “I am just providing information.” He has been providing information since 1984 and he has a grasp of American trends and a command of the data which is impressive. By the way, when I asked him to inscribe my copy of the book and told him that I planned to write about it in this blog he said “I read your blog and I really appreciated it.”
One of the funnier moments of the morning was when Mr. Zogby said that his own phone once rang and one of his own pollsters was on the other end of the line. The caller did just what she was supposed to do asking him if he would participate in a brief poll.
He said “no” and hung up the phone because he knew that the poll actually contained 88 questions! If you have ever participated in a survey, then you have helped people like John Zogby take the pulse of our country.
Here are a few of the things that he has to say about what he’s learned.
“The only sound prediction I am willing to make for sure,” Mr. Zogby said with conviction, “is that 2009 will be a major period of reform in America. Why? Because it must be. In fact our economy in particular has already undergone a major reformation and we are just sorting out what we will do about it.”
The other thing he said, and repeated several times for emphasis, is that, “anything is possible.” He was referring to the fact that as fast as things happen these days a survey can be taken and tabulated, and by the time the numbers are published, a whole new set of variables could be relevant.
“This presidential race could still go either way,” he said. “Obama has the lead in almost every poll right now but, in fact, the only thing that Democrats really have going for them in this election is that they are not Republicans.”
“One word sums up what is going on in our country right now,” Zogby said. “Katrina.” People learned then that they could not count on the government to rescue them or help them. He said of the government, “They lost our trust then, they don’t deserve it, and they have to earn it back.”
After hurricane Katrina, we all saw that the safety net we might have assumed was there, and that we relied upon for our security, did not work. I might add that the same sentiment also seems to apply to our current credit crunch (which Alan Greenspan called an economic “tsunami”).
There is a reason to be optimistic, though, because Zogby has observed and writes that American values have a way of bouncing back, especially in times of trouble.
It is reassuring to me that someone like John Zogby, who is an astute student of cultural trends, is optimistic which can be seen in the way he sums up his findings in his book by writing “The America of 2020 will be a more tolerant nation. Our people by then will have lived for two decades in a new world of less.
We will have gotten comfortable with the limitations on us and embraced the Zen of more minimal lifestyles and consumption patterns. Hype…wherever it happens…will be punished. So will those who tell us to sacrifice, then refuse to make sacrifices of their own…We’ll care for our fragile planet in hitherto unseen ways, and…we’ll vote with our pocketbooks for goods and services that serve the environment rather than destroy it. That’s the new reality we are headed for, and truth told, it sounds pretty good.”
So, here is the question:
What is your opinion of the way we will be after this election? Will America be permanently reformed in some way and will it be for the better or worse? It is true that “Anything is possible,” and the fact that this could go either way can be pretty nerve racking. Maybe it would be good to check our blood pressure right now?
::NOTE::
This is the last post that I plan to make to this blog prior to election day. Thanks to friends and supporters who voted to make my privilege to host these threads possible including all of the students in the theology department at the University of Southern California whom my son got a friend to encourage to vote!
Writing these essays and participating in these spirited conversations online has been a joy to me. What I wanted to express is what is most important to me; that religion is relevant. One thing that our country is going to desperately need going forward no matter who wins next Tuesday is a source of security, hope, purpose and meaning.
I hope that people of faith can be that source for God’s sake.
“Summing it all up, friends, I’d say you’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious — the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse.” — Philippians 4:8 The Message Bible.
By the way, I host several new blogs of my own at http://www.stmartinsucc.org.
Guest blogger Scott Lohse is the winner of our "Five Minutes with a candidate" contest and will post guest blogs through the election.
He is the pastor of St. Martin's United Church of Christ in Dittmer, Mo. He has also served United Methodist Churches in Eastern Missouri towns over the past 30 years including Kennett, Bonne Terre, Jackson, Creve Coeur and Manchester. Scott has also worked as a hospice chaplain and a radio broadcaster. He is also an amateur magician.
Scott has been married for 30 years to his wife Lin. They have three children. He is an avid reader, a news junkie, and he spends more time online than he cares to admit. 
I used to be mnore hopeful, but the tone of america, to its very soul is bad. All the pollyanna rallying will not help that. This is nothing new. Media just brings it out more nowadays. Women and people of color haters will not let up. There is no way they are going to change their tunes. And they breed more of them for an endless supply. All we can hope for is that the new blood will keep them at bay and let the good run this country. Religion is part of the problem, so it won’t help. Nothing like a wealthy preacher telling others to do the dirty work while they live well. The number of head bobbers who listen to the hate and lies from the republican camp shows how many have other agendas than raising the moral tone of our country. We see the hate being allowed repeatedly in this very blog. The world has a truer view of america than we do, and to them, we are lacking right now. Until we get past the idea of us having to be the superpower we won’t get far. And polls are not accurate, but often used to push a partisan point, so this guy would do better to get a more useful occupation. Civil rights would not have come about if we all did as your last paragraph says. Perhaps that is Pollyanna’s real goal..no change…
The civil rights movement came out of the church. What did MLK do for a living?
Oh for crying out loud Danny, I wish people would get off “the world hates us” bit, it’s getting old. The world doesn’t hate us, the media does. Believe me, if we pulled our money and resources out of every country we are in now the cry from around the world would be deafening.
Now Mr. Lohse,
Security, hope, purpose and meaning. The are the exact 4 words that could have been used 200 years ago, 100 years ago, 50 years ago. America has always faced challanges and despite what pundits may say, America has been through worse and pulled through. No, American won’t be reformed (I don’t like that word, I like America the way it is), we will come out stronger like we always do.
And Mr. Lohse,
As to your Katrina reference, we should not count so heavily on government, which is something I think most Americans knew before Katrina so there really is no “trust” to be re-earned.
The Katrina reference was a direct quote but I tend to concur: “The government failed as badly with Katrina, Zogby said, as it did during the Great Depression or the economic slump of the late 1970s. Democrats can use the argument, as Franklin Roosevelt did in 1932 and as Ronald Reagan did in 1980, to argue that “what we need is an entirely new definition of federalism,” Zogby said.
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2007/08/for_democrats_a_balancing_act.html
After this election I will get up and go to work. I’ll spend time with my wife and family. I’ll ride my bicyle and follow my baseball team.
We may have different leaders and we will pay more taxes, but the American people will still be hard-working and innovative. America will continue to be a great and beautiful place. We will still be generous and helpful. That’s who we are and it’s going to take a lot more than one man, or one woman or a political party to change it.
I’ve enjoyed the blogs, Rev.
If Obama wins, our future will be a repeat of 1977-1981. A nearly radical president with a Democrat run Congress. I write this on Halloween, the only scary day of the year, except for maybe April 15th. His presidency will be 4 years of scary. Makes me wish Clinton could have had a 3rd, 4th, and 5th term. At least will him, you knew what you were getting.
Pastor, the failure of government was not in response to the levees in New Orleans breaking, but the previous 40 years leading up to that. During that time, democrats in LA created a nanny state. They gave out just enough money to keep people dependant, but never enough to become independant. The LA dems also didnt properly fund levees and flood issues, counting on the bigger nanny government to bail them out. When the levees failed, those that the LA dems had left behind did what they had been trained for 40 years to do, call on the government to bail them out. The local dem leadership was in Dallas, the state level dems proved completely incompetent, even refusing to allow food and water deliveries to the (Not so)Superdome and the convention center. The initial reaction at the federal level was disbelief; disbelief that the state and local level dems could screw it up as bad as they did.
Hurrincane Katrina did NOT cause the flooding of New Orleans, government incompetence at the ACE did.
Si Vis Pacem Para Bellum, I think your indignation is righteous. We wer not ‘prepared’ and all of our tax dollars should have been being used to prepare us. The disaster showed an awful secret that the social fabric was torn. The point seems to be who do we trust(more or less) to help repair it and get the infrastructure to work because, I think, the hurricane also showed that we cannot go it alone.
“The way we will be”…..a bit of crystal ball gazing for your final post.
Fair enough. Here’s my guess of the world in 100 years.
Oil production has long since peaked, and the biggest consumer of oil – transportation, has been radically changed. Electrical power is still produced with coal and nuclear, amply supplying the needs of the people. However, the ability to store electricity, although greatly advanced, is not up to the energy density of petroleum. As a consequence, air travel is now greatly scaled back, reserved for the government and the super rich. Cars, however, have decent range, fast charge and are clean and quiet. Ship travel is now moved back to coal as a power source – or nuclear for certain government warships.
Which brings us to conflict. With the scarcity of oil, expeditionary wars are now prohibitively expensive. Since the ability to fight is directly tied to planes, tanks, ships, trucks, etc – traveling to another country to fight is pretty much beyond the capacity of everyone. Defense, on the other hand, is much easier to achieve. With the advances made in electronics, and the ever decreasing expectation of privacy, spotting criminals or terrorists within your borders is easier than ever. Also, computer aided targeting and better personal armor will make the future war fighter a formidable opponent – making it even harder for a foreign invader to attack.
Some conflicts, however, will continue. The places in the world where people have fought for hundreds (or even thousands) of years will continue to be war torn. This is because the multiple factions all live in the same area, so retreating to “your territory” isn’t an option. Therefore, the middle east, the Balkans, certain parts of Africa, etc – will still be fighting each other. Fortunately for the world, due to the expense of long distance travel, these battles will be effectively localized.
On the economic front, the expense of air and ship travel (and to a lesser extent, trucking) will mean that the days of outsourcing to China for a cost savings will be over. Regionalism will be the order of the day, with most things made in the area where they will be sold. This will really help with job creation, and every country that wants to be modern will have to have significant manufacturing capability. The US will actually be uniquely prepared for this, as we are big enough and diversified enough to manufacture everything we need within our borders – whether it’s cars, electronics, clothing, or even food. Sure it will take some rebuilding to restore our capabilities to the pre-outsourcing levels, but it will be achievable.
As for politics, we will still be a collection of opinionated, passionate people. Disagreements will continue to happen, they will continue to be heated, and people will continue to forget that it’s always been that way.
I guess, no matter how much things change, some things will still be the same.
Thanks for the series of posts Pastor, and may God Bless America in the future!