As is typical in these questions, a newspaper has conducted yet another poll proving to itself and I suppose its readers that the “majority still favor Fighting Sioux.” Frankly, this proves absolutely nothing. And I’m not talking about methodology, although any freshman statistics student can give you a list of serious problems about the accuracy of these polls.
Here’s the problem: No one has a civil right to maintain the name and logo, while it is strongly arguable that the persons opposing the name and logo do have a right to be free of its effects on them.
Another way of putting it is this: Does a majority of a state’s residents have the right (by virtue of their status as the majority) to humiliate and degrade a minority of the state’s residents?
If you are convinced by the results of online newspaper polls, then you know how to answer this question.
Just remember that the Framers of the Constitution (namely James Madison) worried that there could be a “tyranny of the majority” — go read Federalist Paper No. 10.
Turtle Talk 