One of the reasons for my focus on psychology and psychological warfare was due to the impact of such fields upon the human aspect of war.

Since war can be an extension of political goals, the same also applies to politics, for politics also deals with people in similar fashions although the methods (kinetic vs propaganda) are balanced differently.

I would see Obama on TV and little red warning lights started flashing inside of me.

Classical liberals or those rooted in a solid foundation don’t tend to get carried off by the regular class 5 hurricanes of the world. Our roots are dug deep and overlaid with the work of generations of others, our forefathers and ancestors. That is a strength totally independent of classical liberal philosophy.

Most of AMerica, at least the leaders, used to be classical liberals. The ones that weren’t, were simply isolationists or ancestor worshippers. But when they were called upon to do their duty to preserve the Union, they did it. When this crop of Americans were called upon their duty to save America, they relied upon Bush and the US military to do things. Then when Iraq looked too hard while sitting on their couches and buying stuff at the mall, they went and voted for Obama.

There are always going to be around 22% in a free society that won’t go with the program. Our 22% just happens to be all traitors. This wasn’t true in the Civil War, for example. Their 22% were secessionists or Confederate sympathizers. Then you had the other side of the coin. People like Robert E Lee in the South that hated slavery and wanted to ban it, but felt a loyalty to their state strong enough to kill and die in the defense of such. That is true bipartisanship, but it really is a misnomer. What most people think of bipartisanship is really a Loyal Opposition working with the Party in Power.

Robert E Lee was a Loyal Opponent. Democrats in the North, weren’t. Democrats today, aren’t. Republicans in WWII were the Loyal Opposition. Democrats in the Vietnam War, even though it was started under Democrat Presidents, weren’t the loyal opposition, in fact they were the ruling power after Nixon’s resignation.

These are the facts of the matter. Facts that no amount of demoralizing and traitorous propaganda about Iraq will ever change.

But it does no good to blame the audience for not getting the message.

As if even a Reagan level message could convert demoralized people into virtuous individuals. Southerners were already thinking about voting Republican, cause while the Democrat party remained as racist as ever, the people of the SOuth were changing and adapting to the new standards, without losing core Southerner traditions and values. This was a decades long process, nothing Reagan cooked up in 4 or even 8 years. When people have abandoned personal responsibility and ethics in response for race and identity politics, what message are you going to say, in 4 years, to change the re-programming results of 40 years?

It does tremendous good to recognize that the “audience” is weak and vulnerable to such things, if the Republicans are going to adapt to such things as Democrat demoralization and cultural dominance.

From a lawyer’s perspective, it may look like reason and changes in certain wording and polices can produce different results. From a sociological, psychological warfare perspective, that’s not true. And history has proven that out.

I visited my local printer (an old friend and Obama supporter) this morning. I brought up the economy and he practically broke into tears. I think that he knows that he is going to lose his business, go broke and he will be too old to start all over again. Needless to say, I kept my mouth shut.

Why not adopt a facade and call him on any of his regrets, sadness, or disappointment by holding him to the standards of wealth redistribution and race politics? Demand why he should not be grateful and joyous for paying his “fair share”. Demand to know why he is feeling less enthusiastic about Obama now that he is in power. That way, if he gets angry, he’ll get angry at the facade and not at the reality. A reverse psychology derivative.

If we believe we are responsible for our actions and we live in a country where we have the right to vote, then why are we not responsible for the representatives and senators we vote into office who actively engage in behavior that can only lead to damage and ruin?

That’s a position of reason. People are ruled more by their emotions, especially if they have personal things invested (money, status, position, influence, reputation, family members, etc.) A more effective tool would be to make the obama supporters angry. Angry at someone other than us, for example. Angry at Obama, and then finally, angry at themselves. Anger is a powerful tool, for it manipulates people’s beliefs and actions. And with enough sadness, there will be anger. Just got to dig deep and bypass people’s mental defenses of denial, projection, displacement, etc.

These were “educated” ADULTS! Talk about our whole concept of government being in danger. I used to think that those ninnies that Jay Leno interviews in his “Jaywalking” segements were exceptional. Maybe they really are the norm.

The problem with classical liberals is that our standards are too high. Socrates, for example, drank hemlock because he believed that it was better to obey the law, even when it ruled against you, then violate the law and set a precedent for the dissolution of the rule of law. We believe in such things, but it is often too easy to forget that so many others do not hold to such high standards.

Given that barely 55% of the 300 million Americans vote, “most” would be just about right even if you count 25% of the 55% voters.

There’s a reason why voting is a right and not just a duty. For those that can’t satisfy that duty, they should have a right to obstain.

The question that I pose…how much of this economic collapse was engineered by key members of Congress to coincide with the election? I have really, really wondered about the why, when and how of Chuck Schumer’s engineered run on IndyMac last summer http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/laland/2008/07/feds-cite-schum.html and Harry Reids famous (and spurious) memo warning of the impending failure of a major insurance company, causing insurance stocks to plunge http://articles.latimes.com/2008/oct/03/business/fi-moneyblog3. They seemed too perfectly timed to be coincidence – were those that matches that set off the conflagration?

With a financial manipulator like Soros behind the campaign, it behooves us to ask serious questions about the sequence of events that got us where we are today.

http://www.heritage.org/Research/NationalSecurity/wm2274.cfm

We were right about him – he intends to destroy this country.

You are not rambling.

I’ve been thinking about this and truly can’t figure out how this happened. Obama got the votes of the groups who live on the polar opposite ends of the spectrum.

He got the votes of the uneducated inner-city masses AND the majority of the votes from the super-educated, professionals. These two groups should not have that much in common and yet they do.

It’s weird.

Perhaps psychology and emotional make-up play a more significant role in all of this than I believed.

These people seem to have no internal “warning signals.” I mean, months and months ago, I would see Obama on TV and little red warning lights started flashing inside of me.

I get why the inner-city folks went for him. What I don’t understand is how all of these people who I went to school with and worked with and shared so much could have falled for him just as hard.

I ramble.

Spiff

Considering that nurses are the backbone of every hospital, Deana, it does not bode well for the citizens of Chicago that there is a hiring freeze.

Wow. I don’t even know what to say.

How could this have happened? I guess I was kind of like you – I thought those people whom Jay Leno interviewed on the streets were unusual. You know, the “there’s one in every crowd” kind of people.

That just makes my heart heavy. You are right. We are in trouble.

Deana

P.S. It’s interesting that people are going back to school to become teachers. I just finished a bachelor’s in nursing and, after I pass the boards, I can start working as a nurse. The problem? Most of the hospital systems in the greater Chicago area have hiring freezes for nurses. Yeah. You read that right. For nurses. I did NOT go into nursing because of the economy – I made this decision when the economy was doing fine. But I’m in shock nonetheless. And thankful for my family.

Here’s a scary story: my better half was in an adult class last night (in education administration) where many of the people are from other fields trying to get into teaching (now, why could that be? Duh!). The teacher asked the class what “democracy” meant. My spouse tells me that most had no idea. Neither did the teacher (a PhD). Many thought that it meant “equal access to resources”. Others said “diversity”. Talk about products of a Lefty education system. These were “educated” ADULTS! Talk about our whole concept of government being in danger. I used to think that those ninnies that Jay Leno interviews in his “Jaywalking” segements were exceptional. Maybe they really are the norm.

I know that all of us that frequent this blog are highly educated and interested in politics and history. However, we may be talking way over other peoples heads on policy issues. Maybe we need to go all the way back to basics.

Folks, we are in big, big trouble.

I’ve got to stop rushing things so much. These are the mistakes I make when I fire off something in the quiet moments between tasks. All my synapses are firing, but I forget to check the details.

Your remark is a good option when circumstances call for that kind of a response.

I realize that if I am angry and belligerent, those who voted for Obama who are “middle of the road” folks will simply shut down and not listen. No one enjoys being made to feel like they were fools.

But people simply need to be made to understand that their votes have consequences and sometimes those consequences can be devastating.

I want to know: does it even matter anymore how good they felt when they voted for Obama or while they were watching him on inauguration day? Those dream-filled days are ephemeral and in the end, meaningless.

All of us are NOT to blame for where we currently find ourselves. You, me, and millions of others have advocated for fiscal responsibility (which would have results in the U.S. avoided the housing fiasco and significantly minimizing the national debt), limited support for social programs, a strong defense – I could go on and on.

But the majority of the voters indicated by their votes that they want something else. I want these people to be reminded that they voted for this, that the problems we are seeing are simply the results of the choices they have made.

I guess I feel that we need to be upfront, direct and frankly, somewhat confrontational. That doesn’t mean that we need to be (as Obama said) “in their face” and ugly – but we need to be persistent and specific and ask these people whether this is what they voted for.

If we believe we are responsible for our actions and we live in a country where we have the right to vote, then why are we not responsible for the representatives and senators we vote into office who actively engage in behavior that can only lead to damage and ruin?