Gallup, Braisted and me

Sean Braisted has a nice post up about legislators doing the right thing as opposed to what is ostensibly popular. Of course, Sean is employing this argument in favor of Dems passing big-gov't regulation of health insurance, but I thought of his post when I read a salient article from George Gallup about the perilous abuse of polling data in the law-making process. Gallup's intro is as follows: George Gallup, Health Care and the Peril of Legislating by Polls -- Politics Daily:

Personally, I do not look forward to the passage of the president's package. I would have few qualms about voting against it if I were in Congress. I'd prefer less government involvement in health care, not more, and less insurance, too. (I think Americans should pay out of pocket for routine medical care, that insurance should be for truly expensive procedures, and that the whole thing should be uncoupled from employment. My views were informed by an eye-opening Atlantic Monthly cover story last summer, 'How American Health Care Killed My Father,' an article that should have altered the national debate, but didn't.) My views aren't important, and I only mention them because this is not a back-door argument for the Democrats' bill. It's a front-door argument for better debate and better governance.