Deception and Delusion: Dummies for Democracy
Published September 09, 2008
I confess. I believe there is a ruling class that sustains the two-party plutocracy running the nation for the benefit of the rich and corporate class. Their broad strategy is deception and delusion. Tactically, they use government, the mainstream media, the financial services sector, funding of politicians and the two major parties, and many other parts of the culture and economy to maintain their power and control.
Elections do not threaten elites. To the contrary, political debate and elections are important to maintain the illusion and delusion of a real democracy. They are key to preventing outright revolution, marginalizing dissidents and political reform efforts, and suppressing third parties. Would power plutocrats allow election of a president who threatened their control? Of course not. And no Democratic or Republican presidential candidate ever poses a real threat, despite cloaking themselves with labels like maverick, reformer or change agent.
If you accept my worldview, then you know that the ruling class would prefer John McCain over Barack Obama, though they can live with Obama, which is why many, many wealthy people and corporations have poured money into the Obama campaign and the recent Democratic convention. The chief disadvantage of Obama and Sarah Palin, from the rulers’ perspective, is their relative brief stints as politicians. It takes time to corrupt politicians and cement their dependency on, and membership in, the ruling class. In contrast, McCain and Joe Biden clearly have shown themselves reliable in protecting the status quo two-party plutocracy.
The best way to view most current events is through the prism of the ruling class. Take lower gas prices and the federal takeover of the two mortgage giants, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Both are occurring just before the general election, as is far better information about the Iraq war. Manipulation and engineering of national and even world events are designed to serve the interests of the ruling class.
Why does deception and delusion work so effectively? When it comes to politics, current events and history, the vast majority of citizens are uninformed, stupid and dumb, regardless of their educational level. As distracted and compulsive consumers, they fall head over heels for political lies and slick campaign rhetoric.
First, consider younger voters. So much talk focuses on the increased interest in this presidential campaign by younger people, especially evident in the Ron Paul and Obama campaigns. But consider these facts: Among those aged 18 to 29, just 20 percent read newspapers and just 11 percent regularly surf the Internet for news. Most of people's knowledge about the candidates’ positions on the issues comes from what they learn from unreliable and all too often misleading 30-second commercials. Despite far more widespread and extensive schooling, people today possess no more political knowledge than their parents and grandparents. And don’t think that those addicted to The Daily Show and its irreverent view of politics are a lot smarter than those favoring The conservative O’Reilly Factor. In both groups, only about 54 percent of the shows’ politicized viewers scored in the high knowledge category.
- Deception and Delusion: Dummies for Democracy
- Published: September 09, 2008
- Type: Opinion
- Section: Politics
- Filed Under: Politics: Elections and Candidates, Politics: Government, Politics: U.S.
- Writer: Joel S. Hirschhorn
- Joel S. Hirschhorn's BC Writer page
- Joel S. Hirschhorn's personal site
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Comments on this articleComments
'stupid' has little to do with it...your claim about the power of propaganda is more to the point imo
Actually, the way I like to describe our current awful situation is that we have taxation with MISrepresentation.
The article is a good one but sad, but in most respects I think it is accurate and that its message is one which should be heard, widely. In at least one respect, however, I think (hope might be a better word) that it is unduly pessimistic.
Until last week, the words "Governor Palin" would, if spoken and they rarely were, have produced a yawn and a "who?" That is no longer the case, and her selection as Senator McCain's running mate has dramatically energized the Republican Party as well as lots of independents. It has also cast the general election in a new light, and the party of "hope and change" seems to be losing hope and forgetting about change. It also seems to be terrified, as the recent polls give it reason to be. I doubt that Governor Palin has brought much comfort to the "ruling elite," or to their minions. I suspect that if she is elected Vice President, and eventually becomes the President, they will have no cause for exuberance.
It is, of course, possible that too much fairy dust has been sprinkled on me, and that I am in that regard in good company. Nevertheless, for the first time in many, many years, I do think that I see some hope for at least modest change for the better. It may well be a small beginning, but then again it may ignite some worthwhile fires.
Dan(Miller)
Me too, Dan. The venom and the anger are good markers here-if someone is effective, they make enemies.
The venom and the anger are good markers here-if someone is effective, they make enemies.
Quoted for Truth.
That would make Hillary Clinton pretty devastatingly effective, then.
Word has it she's about to be unleashed on the campaign trail. The GOP should be afraid... very afraid.
Doc, the term you're looking for here, is "Entertaining." If Hill hadn't capitulated at the DNC, that would have been Entertaining as well. That the DNC needs to bring forth the Heavy Guns to take on a ONE TERM governor from a small state most of the Democratic Party can't find on an unlabeled map (and the Party itself considers beneath concern or contempt) only brings up how threatening little Sarah is to them- after all, one can be measured not only by the passion of one's foe, but also by their stature, and Hillary is someone with LOTS of standing among Democrats.
Is it little Sarah that is threatening or is it the Idea of little Sarah that holds the most danger? Arguably the real little Sarah ain't all that significant...
I dunno, Jordan, she's managed in two years more than most governors manage in ten. I suspect the actual Sarah Palin is almost as good as the Ideal of Sarah Palin-'specially since she hasn't gone through much trouble hiding the non-perfect elements in her family life, but I might agree with this-
The Democrats are reacting more to her "Legend" than her reality, and that's good too. It means they're worried enough to make nice with Hillary and bring her in to deal with the scary girl from that igloo-state who's ruining Everything on their march to the coronation.
Cannonship and Clav,
The venom and the anger are good markers here-if someone is effective, they make enemies. Bertrand Russell, one of my all time heroes, commented that if someone tells a true believer that two plus two equals seven, he will be disregarded, pitied and ignored. If he disputes the Trinity, he will be disparaged and despised. The difference, of course, is that there is no doubt about the results of adding single digit numbers, but faith in the Trinity is quite something else.
Dan(Miller)
"And so, millions of Americans suffering from habitual stupidity will cast their votes, confident that they have discovered the truth."
Extraordinarily depressing, but it's exactly how I feel.
I wish there were a larger outcry for another party or parties, but I guess things aren't bad enough yet.
there have been numerous complaints about the 'stupidity' 'laziness' ('shiftlessness') 'apathy' etc of the 'brainwashed' voters
what is to be done - ?
Silas (Dewey) attributes the problem to low quality education and calls for improvements - sit 'em all down and talk civics and teach critical thinking...but this smacks of an evolutionary glacial gradualism and impracticality...(well perhaps there is a use for those secret concentration camps after all)
I hate to fall back on a tiresome materialism but...I suggest that we reproduce the workforce required by modern capitalism - anything less than a 'revolution' in the the way we relate to each other in the process of production is pissing in the wind
Both these guys are owned and promoted by Big Oil and Big Guns.
I said on another thread that they were Tweedledee and Tweedledum and was immediately called a liar by some little person who claims moral superiority over everyone and doesn't know the difference between the NRA and Big Guns (the Arms Manufacturers).
I think there is ample evidence from some of the posts I have read on this forum to indicate an uninformed electorate is in place.
And it really doesn't matter WHY folks are uninformed--whether because of media bullying a la Fox News, disinformation from the White House or the general attitude of "valemadrismo" as we call it in Mexico (me vale madre means I don't give a hoot).
The result is and will continue to be The Same.
Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.
cuervo says:
"I think there is ample evidence from some of the posts I have read on this forum to indicate an uninformed electorate is in place."
Righto! The worst thing is that they BELIEVE that they are smart, and well-informed.
They discount the fact that they mostly slept through their highschool courses and only have studied the most career-immediate matters since then.
They are still asleep back in their teens, asleep in some highschool classroom someplace,
They ignored knowledge, contemptuously claiming they could figure out anything just with "common sense", which they fervently believe that they possess!
Bliffle,
Ah, yes. The ubiquitous "they." Only "they" disagree. Wouldn't it be great if "they" could be eliminated, and the righteous "we" didn't have to be pestered by "them!" Then, we could all agree. Although discussions might become rather boring, it would doubtless be worthwhile. Of course! Why didn't I think of that? Perhaps I slept through too many classes.
Oh well, such is life.
Dan(Miller)
Add your comment, speak your mind
(Or ping: http://blogcritics.org/mt/tb/80993)
Amen - we need new parties or we need to tear down the current corrupt system and start anew... we have come full circle, before the revolution we had taxation without representation, and that is exactly what we have now