Fear and Trust
What are the key essentials of political life?
Some would say kindness and intelligence. If you are kind and if you are intelligent, you will be a good person. But being a good person doesn't get you elected. To quote Gypsy Rose Lee, you need a gimmick. The gimmick that most politicians use is a combination of fear and trust.
Why do you need one specific politician over another? The answer in the political ads will be that you should trust her and fear her competitor. While everyone has an opinion, I believe that the word "maverick" was just scary enough to give Obama an edge over McCain. Besides, the Republicans had pretty much spent all their trust. While some would lay this at George W Bush's feet, I believe that it truly belongs to the Congress that, while under Republican control, did little to advance the free market, libertarian agenda that most Americans believe in. Americans by nature trust themselves and fear big government.
Most people believe that Obama is intelligent and for the most part kind, but more than a little detatched. As is true for each of us, he has basic values and beliefs that are not universal. This leads many in the middle and on the right to fear his agenda and its impact on the USA as well as on world economics and politics.
On the other hand, many on the left have come to distrust him as he fails to implement his pre-election agenda. The party of the left has watched as more environmental damage has occurred on the left's watch than ever occurred on the right. Gitmo is STILL open. We are still in Iraq and now have a hot war in Afghanistan. The axis of evil now has 2 countries with nukes! And many of the 10% or more unemployed American citizens go searching for jobs while illegal aliens hold millions of U.S. jobs.
If I were a political animal (lets say, a big gray one with a trunk), I would try to position myself as being less frightening and more trustworthy than those currently in office. We need people in power who will relieve the fear on the right and improve the trust on the left.
If you believe that most people are kind and intelligent, then you will favor a land where we increase individual freedom and shrink government intrusion. If you believe that most people are evil and stupid, you will want a big government making homogenous citizens.
However, if you are smart and kind, you should fear big government which will be neither as smart or kind as you are. If you are evil and stupid, big government will give you the opportunity to wield power, assuming you can be cunning enough (or connected enough) to get into a position of influence or friction.
Some would say kindness and intelligence. If you are kind and if you are intelligent, you will be a good person. But being a good person doesn't get you elected. To quote Gypsy Rose Lee, you need a gimmick. The gimmick that most politicians use is a combination of fear and trust.
Why do you need one specific politician over another? The answer in the political ads will be that you should trust her and fear her competitor. While everyone has an opinion, I believe that the word "maverick" was just scary enough to give Obama an edge over McCain. Besides, the Republicans had pretty much spent all their trust. While some would lay this at George W Bush's feet, I believe that it truly belongs to the Congress that, while under Republican control, did little to advance the free market, libertarian agenda that most Americans believe in. Americans by nature trust themselves and fear big government.
Most people believe that Obama is intelligent and for the most part kind, but more than a little detatched. As is true for each of us, he has basic values and beliefs that are not universal. This leads many in the middle and on the right to fear his agenda and its impact on the USA as well as on world economics and politics.
On the other hand, many on the left have come to distrust him as he fails to implement his pre-election agenda. The party of the left has watched as more environmental damage has occurred on the left's watch than ever occurred on the right. Gitmo is STILL open. We are still in Iraq and now have a hot war in Afghanistan. The axis of evil now has 2 countries with nukes! And many of the 10% or more unemployed American citizens go searching for jobs while illegal aliens hold millions of U.S. jobs.
If I were a political animal (lets say, a big gray one with a trunk), I would try to position myself as being less frightening and more trustworthy than those currently in office. We need people in power who will relieve the fear on the right and improve the trust on the left.
If you believe that most people are kind and intelligent, then you will favor a land where we increase individual freedom and shrink government intrusion. If you believe that most people are evil and stupid, you will want a big government making homogenous citizens.
However, if you are smart and kind, you should fear big government which will be neither as smart or kind as you are. If you are evil and stupid, big government will give you the opportunity to wield power, assuming you can be cunning enough (or connected enough) to get into a position of influence or friction.
posted by DocBrain at
4:39 AM
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