"Pluralistic ignorance" is an invaluable concept for understanding American politics, as Mark Buchanan suggests in a NY Times Select column May 24.

The basic idea is that a substantial number of Americans--often a big majority--are persuaded by the White House and commercial media that the progressive views they embrace are only held by a marginal minority.

Both the major parties and the Beltway media generally function as what Buchanan calls "subculture enforcers" who effectively persuade the majority that their views are far outside the mainstream. The White House--abetted by top Democratic leaders like Hillary Clinton, Joe Lieberman, and the like-- and the corporate media all seem wrapped in a cocoon of self-ratifying myths that reinforce a unique American brand of political discourse that is both remarkably narrow and serves the interests of those in power.

Anyone who dares to puncture the cocoon, like Stephen Colbert at the White House Press Corps dinner last year, is branded as a rude pariah by the insiders. But a truth-teller like Colbert gets embraced as a hero by the general public, as evidenced by the popularity of the video footage of his gutsy in-your-face putdown of Bush.

Consider as well the divergence between acceptable elite political and media views and the perspectives of the public on some of the most critical issues. As Mark Buchanan notes, 60% of Americans want a timetable for withdrawal of US troops (who, according to a Zogby poll, favored by a 72% majority a withdrawal last year).

Washington pundits and pols favor "free trade" agreements, but a University of Maryland survey showed that even among those earning $110,000 or more, 55% believe that such deals destroy US jobs (of course, it's much higher among the general public.)

The notion of a single-payer healthcare system is widely dismissed by the Capitol Gang, but a Business Week poll in 2005 revealed 67% explicitly supporting a single-payer health system like Canada or Britain's. But thanks to the "subculture custodian" leaders of both parties(guided far more by contributors than mere voters) and leading media voices, "pluralistic ignorance reigns--at the expense of democracy and a far more humane America.

Roger Bybee, Milwaukee.