Do you ever get the feeling that the only reason we have

The words of Robert Orben — “Do you ever get the feeling that the only reason we have elections is to find out if the polls were right?” — echo like a lament from the age of prophets. They remind us that what was once a sacred rite of choice, where the people lifted their voices to shape the destiny of nations, has been reduced in the eyes of many to a mere confirmation of statistics. The election, meant to be a living fire of democracy, becomes a shadow of itself when its worth is measured only against the cold arithmetic of polls.

In these words lies not only wit, but also sorrow. For what are polls but the whispers of prediction, frail and fleeting as reeds bent by the wind? And yet, men have begun to treat them as oracles, venerating their forecasts more than the ballots themselves. This is the burden Orben lays before us: that a ritual meant to ignite hope and bind a people together now risks being seen as no more than a test of the seers of numbers.

Consider the tale of Harry Truman’s triumph in 1948. The newspapers, guided by their polls, declared the victory of his rival before the final count was even known. And yet, when the dawn broke, the people’s voice had spoken otherwise. The polls had failed, the prophets of numbers were shamed, and Truman held aloft the banner of victory. This story, remembered through the photograph of Truman smiling with the infamous headline, teaches us that the people’s will cannot be chained to prediction, and that the election itself carries a might greater than the charts of men.

Orben’s words, then, are not merely satire; they are a warning. If we reduce the sacred to the statistical, if we measure our freedom only by how well the polls align with the outcome, then we risk forgetting the deeper meaning of choice. The vote is not for the validation of forecasters — it is the covenant between the governed and those who would govern. To mistake it for less is to trade the thunder of the people for the whisper of surveyors.

Let those who hear these words remember: the power of the ballot is not in proving the wise men right, but in shaping the world anew. The election is the furnace of the people’s will, and the polls are but sparks that may or may not reflect its flame. Guard this truth, children of tomorrow, lest the spirit of liberty be reduced to a ledger of predictions, and the thunder of your voice be silenced by the murmurs of probability.