The Real Power in America

Since you're reading this, I am assuming that you are a human being.  If so, there are many things about you that can be immediately attributed to you.  There are things you believe, and things you don't believe.  There are likes and dislikes, passionately held views, and things you could not possibly care less about.  There are people, ideas, institutions, products, even animals, and "everything else there is" that you like, love, dislike, are of no opinion about, and even hate.  You came about these opinions by each and everything that you have ever read, seen, heard, and felt.  No matter what anyone else as ever said about you, you come to these conclusions through logical methods- in other words, given the parameters of your experience, your human mind has done the work of applying all of your experience to each and every position you hold, and has created in you a worldview based on the facts as they have been presented.

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You buy what you decide to buy, you vote for the candidate that aligns best with your opinions, you rage against injustices as you see them, and you marvel at those who are diametrically opposed to things that you feel are self-apparent and right.  You also marvel at those who cause trouble for themselves by supporting things that are not in the best interests of anyone, and in some cases, harmful.  You become anxious, cynical, and even afraid when things seem to be going against your values by people in power that are obviously wrong.

We all share these things in common.  This is how we develop into who we are.  Notice that we don't develop into the same person with the same opinions?  The reason for that is that our experiences differ greatly, or not so greatly, depending on our local customs and common experiences.   But it is decidedly impossible that any two people will share every opinion because every two people have lived different lives with different experiences.  No great surprise so far.  The most earth-shattering fact to be drawn from all of this is that those who are conventionally thought of as The Most Powerful meet the exact same criteria.  They are not special in this, and act exactly as they do for the same reasons.  

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But there must be a universal truth to which everyone can agree.  The sad fact is that there really isn't.  While there may be a universal truth out there, not everyone agrees with it.  So what do we do?  We debate, coerce, reason, bargain, argue, fight..  but most of all, we all too often decide that those who don't agree are somehow evil.  They are lacking in virtue.  They stubbornly ignore what's obviously right in favor of that which is harmful, or disrespectful, or selfish, or, well, evil.  When we are children, we watch cartoons that plainly show that there are characters out there that are just evil.  They want evil to flourish, and do what they can to tie Miss Penelope to the railroad tracks, or develop a weapon that will destroy the world, because there are good guys and bad guys- white hats and black hats, cowboys and Indians, the virtuous and those that hate virtue.  Then we grow up and see that those who perform evil acts do so, not out of a devotion to evil, but because they have a different perspective on what is necessary.  This perspective is, of course, caused by their unique experience, as is our own.  

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So what can we do about this and why is it important?  Because if you haven't figured it out by now, WE the peope are the most powerful force in America- though there is a "most powerful group" within that parameter (I'll get to that later).  A politician gets nowhere without voters.  A business, corporation, or conglomerate gets nowhere without customers.  The "supposedly" powerful in America are dependent on the opinions of the people, and the opinions of the people are dependent on their experiences.  (and, as I said before, they are no different than us with regard to their experiences influencing their opinions)  With this in mind, commercial advertising began in the late nineteenth century.  It was fueled by WWI in the form of propaganda.  Corporate advertising proceeded through radio to television.  That's on the advertising side- the promotional side.  Campaigns to paint the opposition in "evil" terms have been around as long as political races.  All to accomplish one thing- influence opinion by providing experience in the form of information.  We all know that this is true.  If you don't think so, how are politicians, lawyers (another kind of propaganda), and salesmen depicted in our common dialogue?  The words "Snake oil" come to mind.  

And who is the most powerful within the set of the actually most powerful force in America?  Swing voters- those whose opinions are not necessarily influenced by the D or R that follows the name of the individual that is providing us with information.  These are the people that elect leaders, approve laws, and set the course for our country.  Swing voters are a dying breed in America and the reason is because of the very loud, politically charged landscape.  Even so, this dying breed of American holds the power to make change for the better.

I don't suppose there is anyone that has read the above that doesn't agree with what it says.  I hope there is also no one that disagrees with its conclusion.  This site is about a reexamination of all of the data we've experienced that make us believe the unbelievable- that our opponents lack virtue, that our opponents are racist, communists, hate the poor, hate the rich, want bad things to happen, want to keep good things from happening, are stupid, or the big one- are actually evil.  Of course, there are some in their ranks that are, indeed, some of these things, but they are not the vast majority by far.  The point is that you, me, and everyone else is susceptible to disinformation for a cause, and we will gorge ourselves like pigs at a trough when that disinformation feeds our worldview. 

I will provide here evidence of my opinion and ask that you either do so as well, or, more importantly provide evidence to the contrary which will help us all to learn.  Learning is, in fact, the discovery that you were once wrong.  No one learns unless they are wrong to begin with, discover the error, and change their mind.  I'm absolutely fine with being wrong if I can learn.  It's kind of the point.  There is no reason to attack here.  Together, we will disentangle ourselves from propaganda that has surely formed some of our opinions, and, who knows, we may create even more of the most powerful of the most powerful- those that don't subscribe to party over facts.  We all believe things passionately, but those things aren't as different as we are led to believe.  There is no question that we may all be misinformed if we only trust party views.  Challenge me, as we all challenge each other, to seek what truth there may be when party becomes secondary.  Thank you for reading.