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The Value of Public Opinion

2025-02-26 1:29 PM | Thomas

In this age, in this country, public sentiment is everything. With it, nothing can fail; against it, nothing can succeed. Whoever molds public sentiment goes deeper than he who enacts statutes, or pronounces judicial decisions.”
  ― Abraham Lincoln (1809 – 1865)

(71:2.7-8) Public opinion, common opinion, has always delayed society; nevertheless, it is valuable, for, while retarding social evolution, it does preserve civilization. Education of public opinion is the only safe and true method of accelerating civilization; force is only a temporary expedient, and cultural growth will increasingly accelerate as bullets give way to ballots. Public opinion, the mores, is the basic and elemental energy in social evolution and state development, but to be of state value it must be nonviolent in expression.
    The measure of the advance of society is directly determined by the degree to which public opinion can control personal behavior and state regulation through nonviolent expression. The really civilized government had arrived when public opinion was clothed with the powers of personal franchise. Popular elections may not always decide things rightly, but they represent the right way even to do a wrong thing. Evolution does not at once produce superlative perfection but rather comparative and advancing practical adjustment.

    Abraham Lincoln was the 16th president of the United States, serving from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. He led the United States through the American Civil War, defeating the Confederacy, playing a major role in the abolition of slavery, expanding the power of the federal government, and modernizing the U.S. economy.

A bearded Abraham Lincoln showing his head and shoulders

Comments

  • 2025-06-21 10:36 AM | John
    You are spot on regarding the importance of education in staying informed about societal issues. Sadly, many people fall into the category of low or no information voters. For a long time, I believed that major media outlets gave me a reliable perspective on the world. However, I eventually realized that I was absorbing a narrative shaped by the oligarchs, kleptocrats, and elites who control platforms like ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC, CNN, MSNBC, et al. These outlets merely perpetuate a cycle of misinformation and propaganda that the ruling elite promote, instead of fostering a genuine understanding.

    Since 2018, I’ve devoted a lot of time to volunteer political work, aiming to raise awareness and encourage people to dig deeper. Yet, I can’t shake the concern that it might take a significant global event—an economic downturn, a climate crisis, global pandemic or even a world war—to truly WAKE UP 'we the people' to the pressing realities we face.
    I wish I could feel more hopeful in the short term about what lies ahead.
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