"It's tough to make predictions, especially about the future." attributed to --Yogi Berra

Reading some of the most recent polls on various subjects (e.g., Retirement Anxiety, Economic Downturn, Disapproval of Congress, etc.) relating to public opinion is an interesting avocation even though they are more reflective of the moment rather than what they could be a year from now.

Rather than setting them in concrete it is far better to consider the findings more in tune with reading current tea leaves, much like you may remember our famed GHC Prognosticator, Madame Ving, did so well -- but she had help from supernatural/paranormal informants.

What is ironic is that our GHC editorialists have been predicting our current situation for several years now without the benefit of vast public samplings.

For instance, the most recent Rasmussen poll says that 45% of Americans now believe Americans are now in about the same mood as the colonists were just prior to the Revolutionary War. When you consider that around 18% weren't sure how they feel and couple that with the fact that only about 25% of the colonists were emphatically sure they they were fed up with the British and taxation without representation along with no semblance of consent of the governed.

The results of the attached Gallup findings are pretty much counter to what we're led to believe by the media and the pundits that are so often wrong, particularly those with academic credentials who regularly seem to be trying to tell us how we feel about the issues of the day in numerous fields.

If you had the time to review all of the commentaries of the GHC thinkers that have written on these various topics for several years you might get the impression that the current Gallup respondents had been tuned in all along.

Note the depression in the favorability of our current president. He's underwater and worse, the polling shows that any generic Republican opponent would beat him by about five or six percent at least at this point which admittedly is subject to likely variables in the coming twelve months.

Practical and experienced poll watchers will always find a fly in the ointment. In this case, carefully observe the relationship and combination of responses between the establishment Republicans and the Tea Party. If a division should develop in the consensus that seems to exist, the numbers fall short of a winning combine. Rest assured, this will be job one for the incumbents, not only in the White House, but in the House and particularly in the Senate.

"The Confederate Battle Flag is a racist symbol only for racists, demagogues (Liberals, thus Democrats), and dummies. Confederate symbols stand for an incredible heritage of courage, sacrifice, and fidelity. The people who want to oppress the Cross of St. Andrew want to suppress the Cross of Jesus." --James A. Bowden, The Confederate Vote, 11/17/03

Another observation from an old poll watcher is the fact that these Gallup numbers represent the nation as a whole, not individual state breakdowns which are crucial in the Electoral College. There is a huge differential starting with the primaries on a state by state basis. For instance the leader at the moment in the Republican Primary is believed by some to be anti-Southern and has made disparaging remarks in the past about the Confederacy. This may be meaningless to some but not to the estimated 70 million (70,000,000) descendants of Confederate soldiers. These folks are normally quite silent and most seldom show much emotion in current politics unless someone berates their ancestors. In a good percentage of such cases, without any signs or signals, they react negatively to candidates who have unwisely spoken ill of their heritage. This could have a unexpected result in some primary states.

The Tea Party has shown signs of understanding this potential trap. The so called Establishment Republicans haven't, leaving the door wide open to bring about an upset by candidates more in line with Tea Party thinking.

This leaves a question to ponder. Will the Tea Party hold together and not splinter to the pressures, power and money of the establishment which has infiltrated them with a goal of divide and conquer?

Finally, the old timer wisdom is that this will be a knock down, drag out event in American history. You won't hear the media or the liberal pundits talking about it. Their ace in the hole is the Entitlement Culture. How unfortunate it is that more than 40% of the voting population is totally immersed in the various forms of entitlement or welfare income. To them, that (their check) is the only issue. Their numbers will be increased by an estimated million illegal voters, some centered in essential areas where their votes could spell the difference. Unless some organized plan to offset this criminal activity on a precinct by precinct basis is established, liberty will be further pushed to oblivion. Remember, the incumbent president knows the Chicago methods. Though chartered and defined a republic, we suffer the Perils of Democracy.

"It is only when the People become ignorant and corrupt, when they degenerate into a populace, that they are incapable of exercizing their sovereignty... The people themselves become the willing instruments of their own debasement and ruin...Let us, by all wise and constitutional measures, promote intelligence among the People, as the best means of preserving our liberties." --James Monroe, First Inaugural Address, March 4, 1817

"...Liberty cannot exist separate and apart from Responsibility, nor Right from Duty." --Hamilton Abert Long, from The American Ideal of 1776: The Twelve Basic American Principles

"Let each citizen remember at the moment he is offering his vote that he is not making a present or a compliment to please an individual ... but that he is executing one of the most solemn trusts in human society for which he is accountable to God and his country." --Samuel Adams

Jeff Davis is a retired radio-TV journalist living in Gainesville, GA. Active in civic and political affairs, he is past president of the Georgia Jaycees and former campaign chairman of the Georgia Republican party. He volunteers as chairman of the Georgia Heritage Council. He is a collateral descendant of President Jefferson Davis and a member of SCV Camp 1404 in Gainesville and National Chairman of Public Relations and Media for SCV.