If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you…

Politics: American Style

It’s that time of year. The election season is here, the contestants are in full battle gear, and they are now engaging in a fight for the hearts and minds of American voters. It’s also that time when two very different ideologies clash, and both have the same objectives: to win majorities in Congress, in state legislatures, and in winning the big prize—the Presidency. But that is where the similarities end. In the end you and I can expect two very different outcomes. One ideology leads to improved conditions for everyone, while the other leads to a greatly improved outcome for the victors, and a Big Screw for us. I am here to help us all avoid the outcome leading to the Big Screw.

Let’s talk honest politics.

We (the voters) have the advantage in this contest. We have logic and common sense on our side, while they have a lot of money, little respect for the truth, and political propaganda machines run by ne’er-do-wells. Those conditions should be a “no-brainer” for us. But that will almost certainly not be the case. And that is because propaganda can trump (pun intended) logic and common sense far too often in these battles.

I am not writing to win anyone’s heart or mind. I only ask that you think about your own vote a lot more from the perspective of logic and common sense, and a lot less from the perspective of lies and propaganda. My job is to show you how to distinguish between the two approaches. My credentials? I have studied their tactics, analyzed their motives, know their limitations, and dislike just about everything I know about them. I wrote a dissertation on a closely related topic. I am also a survivor!

Let’s go back to 2004. The big fight then was between John Kerry and G.W. Bush. Kerry was a Viet Nam war hero who was decorated with the Silver Star for conspicuous gallantry under enemy fire. While patrolling the Mekong River, his Swift Boat came under attack. But instead of running away, he turned his boat directly into the shore where the enemy was firing at him. He ran his boat aground, he and his crew fought at close range. He got out and he chased the local Viet Cong commander, caught him, and shot him. He also was awarded several Purple Hearts for wounds received in combat. Later he became a lawyer, a Senator, and quite a good public speaker.

In contrast, G.W. Bush (plus Dick Cheney and Paul Wolfowitz) were all draft dodgers—too chicken to fight for their country in combat. Each had a sordid past. All were rescued from themselves only by political favoritism. Yet, Karl Rove (another draft dodger and college drop out) painted Kerry as some kind of war phony and kept hammering on this theme in TV ad after TV ad. He pulled page after page from the Josef Goebbels book of propaganda and kept telling his lie so long and so unrelentingly that a lot of voters bought into it. Meanwhile, G.W. Bush (who got into the Texas Air National Guard as a safe place to wait out the Viet Nam war thanks to his daddy who had connections to the Texas Lt. Governor). G.W. nevertheless went AWOL while on a drinking binge—and pretty much escaped serious inquiry into his background of privilege and mediocrity. Dan Rather reported the truth about G.W., but his source used fabricated documents to support the truth. Rather and the truth went down in flames along with Kerry. Rove’s tactic was to tell a lot of lies, repeat them again and again with huge sums of money until the public could think of little else. As long as Kerry was getting battered on the defensive, G.W. Bush kept looking better and better. It must have worked because Bush won.

Now I ask you: How pathetic is all that? The liars and the cowards turned the tables on a genuine war hero by adhering to the despicable script written by Josef Goebbels, the chief Nazi propagandist. And for the next 4 years Americans paid the price in Iraq as 4,500 American lives were lost in that war, and 30,000 more suffered severe casualties, Bush added $3 trillion to the public debt, massive turmoil ensued in the Middle East, and the worst economic recession since the Great Depression fell upon us as unregulated investment bankers ran rampant with derivative swaps linked to the housing market that became a risk free play ground for bankers and other lenders. Next time you think that propaganda does not work, think about all those facts that came about as a direct consequence of having bullshit shoved at you excessively by one lying propagandist.

Here is how the propaganda duping process runs its course among the electorate.

Psychiatrists, psychologists, and anthropologists say that we are driven first by our need to survive. In order to survive we need food, water, sleep, and safety from the elements and from certain parts of Nature. Once satisfied we need social companionship, then comes self-esteem, and then comes self-actualization. The psychologist Abraham Maslow first posited all this in a hierarchy of human needs. That final need does not come about until we decide to break away from all the social rituals and memberships and truly go out into the world on our own and on our own terms. It’s a daring step that a whole lot of people cannot make. Those who do simply break away from their social trappings and face the world without falling back on guidance from churches, pastors, communities, and the social networks that they grew up in and became a part of.

There is nothing inherently wrong with clinging to any or all of these social connections and organizations. There is, however, something that is deadly wrong with letting others decide for us what our purpose in life is all about, or in what we need to do to become better citizens, or better fathers, mothers, neighbors, or voters.

Put another way you are never “your own person” until you face the world on your own terms without relying excessively on any one else. You keep them at arm’s length in a respectful way. When you can do that, only then can you say you are free to act honestly and in a manner that is consistent with your values, not someone else’s. And when you do, an amazing transformation takes place: You will never again buy into anyone’s propaganda bullshit. That is a huge step—walking in the role of a free man (or woman).

When you vote in your best interests, you are also voting for every person who lives now or at any time (past, present, or future). You will know a lie when you hear it because it rings hollow with your values and with your understanding of what is right—regardless of who makes it. You can tell the Pope to knock off the poop when you know he is wrong, or you can praise him when you know he is right. It’s that simple. Kipling said it much better:

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And—which is more—you’ll be a [free] Man, my son!

With freedom comes perspective. It builds character while it rejects superficiality. Immigrants are strong; they’re not superficial. Minorities are not superficial. Asians are not superficial. Blacks and Latinos are not superficial. Jews are not superficial. Scientists are not superficial. Intellectuals are not superficial. Women are not superficial. College professors are not superficial. City dwellers are not superficial. Even Hollywood actors are not superficial in their non acting lives. People who believe in our founding principles (remember: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness?) are courageous; they’re not superficial. In fact they all lean strongly toward building a better future, and toward candidates who do not rely on the political backing of those with economic or social agendas.

Who you vote for is your business. But what you vote for also affects me and all others. Free people tend to vote for those candidates who honor your rights and mine, who think in terms of the common good, not riches for the few. They don’t listen or pay attention to political ads. They rarely attend political rallies because their vote is not for sale. They know the difference between chicken and chicken shit. It’s invoking that survivor thing; it’s reaching for the stars and freedom.