Politics is largely about emotion.
Just look at the emotion surrounding the doings of Acorn and those surrounding the recent patriotic tea parties which were talking truth to power. Look at the hysteria of Perez Hilton as he condemned Carrie Prejean for daring to hold a point of view that he didn’t agree with, a point of view, by the way, also held by almost everyone in the Obama administration – including the President himself. Would Mr. Hilton dare to chide the President for holding that same view as Ms. Prejean? THAT would be speaking truth to power, Mr. Hilton. What power does Ms. Prejean comparatively have?
We point out that politics is largely about emotion for a very important reason. The current President is a master of using it to get his way.
Attacking the logic of his messages is like chipping away at the visible portion of an iceberg. In this sense the logic of his messages can be viewed as a decoy which should be ignored. Instead, attention should be paid to the emotion he seems to want to drive through the body politic.
For example – from November through the time he got his budget passed, President Obama was talking down the economy. It did not matter what the facts of a given day were. Mr. Obama would say things like, “If my budget isn’t passed, we will take a crisis and turn it into a catastrophe.” Once it was passed, but before he signed it, he went on a little vacation.
When Chris Dodd inserted language into the AIG legislation that enabled AIG to give out bonuses, Mr. Obama conveniently ignored that fact until it became widely known. He allowed the public sentiment against AIG to fester and boil over. Once it was pointed out that a member of his party was at least partially to blame, he stopped the incendiary rhetoric.
There are many, many more examples in this short time that he has been in office.
The point of this entry isn’t to itemize each such event. It is only to illustrate how this man operates. He will use facts conveniently to stoke or dampen the fires. THIS effort, and not the facts as such, comprise the part of the iceberg that is usually not seen, and that is generally ignored by the press – even by the good folks at FoxNews.
Here at Off-the-cliff.com, we are of the opinion that what those who oppose the socialism-izing of America need to do is focus on the emotion that Mr. Obama is trying to create and respond creatively, civilly, and with humor, to show the fraud that is occurring.
The reason is this: there is a political spectrum, ranging from rabid-left to rabid-right. (Rabid people of any persuasion annoy us.) Inside that spectrum, you will find people close to the fence. They are open to fact. They are open to being persuaded. And as the President continues his leftward march, he will be pushing past people on his own.
So we view our job here, at Off-the-cliff.com to give the fence-sitters things to think about. Since the mainstream press, which is so clearly in the tank for the President, won’t do this, it opens up a vast opportunity for those of us who are willing to do so.
So that’s what we will do here at Off-the-cliff.com. We will point out how the President is using his skill to manipulate your emotion to achieve his goals. We will do so by pointing to stories that are in other respected venues that we believe you should take a look at as you decide which side of the fence is your side. We hope you will side with traditional America – with an America that values free speech, freedom of thought – not just for those on the Left, free enterprise, and the full panoply of rights that are your RIGHTS – not merely privileges, under the Constitution of the United States of America.
But whether you side with this side of America or not, if we inspire you to THINK, and to consider things that are not pointed out to you by the usual venues, we will view our jobs as well done.
Obviously we’re on a mission here. Obviously, we want you to join us. But really, we want you to join us because you’ve thought it through; because you love America, and because the combination of both factors moves you to our cause. Just joining us because of emotion might be nice come 2010, but it will mean much more to us if you have done so because you’ve thought it through.
Think about it. Look long and hard at the man in the White House. Think about whether the policies make sense to you. Think about whether you like the way he treats people he disagrees with. Think about the way he over-reaches to get his way. Think about how he treats traditions that you yourself have considered sacred (like the secret ballot, and how he wants to end it for union members).
And if you don’t like what you see, think about changing your political persuasion. America is calling all of us to look hard as we go through the next months leading up to the 2010 elections. The fate of you and your children, your friends, your co-workers, and all that you hold dear depends on making the correct choices.
We obviously have our opinions. We believe that you, as a fence-sitter, are torn by what you see, and crave material to make an intellectually sound choice. We will try to provide this service to you.
Enough said (for now).
- Off-the-cliff.com