Years ago, the game show "Family Feud" featured two families answering questions in a face-off situation who would hear the host proclaim "Survey says!" as the responses were revealed.
Just recently, members of the American public were asked their views on public services and taxation.
In a Wall Street Journal piece, it was noted in a Census Bureau survey that "49.1 percent of the population lives in a household where at least one member received some type of government benefit in the first quarter of 2011." This significant increase is measured against "the 30 percent in the early 1980s and 44.4 percent 25 years later in the third quarter of 2008" as the recession continues with an expanding unemployed population seeking support and an aging population living longer than its contributions to Medicare and Social Security.
Interestingly, just six days before the Journal article, pollster and analyst Scott Rasmussen published a national survey of 1,000 likely voters that announced opposition to such an expansion of government benefits.
Sixty-four percent of these likely voters in the Rasmussen poll "prefer a government with fewer services and lower taxes over one with more services and higher taxes." Of the survey audience, only 25 percent "prefer a government with more services."
Just as politicians offer lip service on their campaign promises, it seems citizens oppose government services in word and support them in deed.
Our government cannot continue on its unsustainable path of spending with current revenues. Survey says, it's time for everyone to be honest.