Public hearings are preference tallies, not meaningful deliberation

Evidence

BACK TO NOTE REFERENCE 45 Zach Schonfeld, “Public Opinion Relatively Unchanged After Jan. 6 Hearings: Poll,” Hill, August 9, 2022; Jennifer Agiesta, “CNN Poll: January 6 Hearings Haven’t Changed Opinions Much, But Most Agree Trump Acted Unethically,” CNN Politics, July 26, 2022; “National: Jan. 6 Hearings Have No Impact on Opinion,” Monmouth University Poll, August 9, 2022, https://www. — Dorothy A. Brown, Getting to Reparations, 1145 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

But it wasn’t what the speakers said that mattered, but what they represented. They represented power, enough power to defeat anyone in the state—even a Mayor of New York City—and to defeat him easily. As the perceptive Schanberg was to put it, “The hearing was a pro forma charade. It was like the Green Bay Packers playing a high-school team. Lindsay never had a chance.” Moses didn’t stay around to review the parade of power brokers he had marshaled—and there was no reason why he should. Lindsay should have—he might have lost face, but he would have learned something—he would have learned the identity of those “power brokers” he was always talking about. His foe had lined them up and paraded them before him. — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker, 4571 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Courts recognize comment-without-power is not real voice yet reverse such rulings; Factual hearings rarely shift entrenched public opinion — Dorothy A. Brown, Getting to Reparations: How Building a…, 1145; January 6 hearings shifted public opinion very little (+5 more)

Related

• Legislative hearings function as displays of raw power, not deliberation. (similarity 0.82)
• Factual hearings rarely shift entrenched public opinion (similarity 0.81)
• Hearing transcripts rarely influence committee bill decisions (similarity 0.79)

Broader Connections

• January 6 hearings shifted public opinion very little #exemplifies (0.90)
• Factual hearings rarely shift entrenched public opinion #corroborates (0.85) — Dorothy A. Brown, Getting to Reparations, 1145
• Legislative hearings function as displays of raw power, not deliberation. #corroborates (0.85) — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker, 4571
• Hearing transcripts rarely influence committee bill decisions #corroborates (0.80) — Henry M. Hart, Jr. and Albert M. Sacks, The Legal Process, 665
• Hearings serve political-barometer and safety-valve functions beyond fact-finding #qualifies (0.80) — Henry M. Hart, Jr. and Albert M. Sacks, The Legal Process, 701
• Less than ten percent of the public watched Jan 6 hearings closely #exemplifies (0.80) — Dorothy A. Brown, Getting to Reparations, 529
• Witness hearings cannot establish the truth of policy predictions #corroborates (0.75) — Henry M. Hart, Jr. and Albert M. Sacks, The Legal Process, 676