In the 2004 election cycle Republicans used gay marriage to whack Democrats; the reverse could happen in 2016.The change in public opinion found political expression four times over last November.
"We don't regard the forthcoming elections as being a legitimate expression of public opinion," Jeremy Browne, a Foreign Office minister, said in Bangkok last month.
Moreover, where the electoral process is competitive and forces candidates or parties to expose their records and future intentions to popular scrutiny, elections serve as forums for the discussion of public issues and facilitate the expression of public opinion.
He urged the clearing of channels for the expression of public opinion, the convocation of assemblies, and even the acceptance of popular sovereignty and the separation of state powers, and he organized the Society to Preserve the Nation to marshal support.
But he added: "It would be amazing if they tried to brush aside such a powerful expression of public opinion on an issue crucial to the future of our society".
This isn't an expression of public opinion, it is an highly organized (and shamelessly well-funded) attack on democracy and, as the tobacco documents quoted above prove, it has been typical of the Bonner style for far too long.
The country's change of heart seems complete and dramatic because the central government still controls the media and, to a large extent, outward expressions of public opinion.
Two-thirds hoped that those new methods would be "quite different and improved from the present one -- one that allows expressions of public opinion," he said.
In short, we are the answer we've been waiting for: all those spontaneous expressions of public opinion that we grew up thinking would never make a difference are, in fact, making all the difference.
Public opinion, a culmination of individual expressions of preference, becomes votes and votes are converted into executive power, which is accountable to the general public.
