Our problem is social in that we shun community and refuse to make concessions for the collective good. Hell, we even refuse to engage in the conversation. We let politicians and the media drive wedges between us that only serve to foster animosity between rural and urban, white and black, gay and straight, liberal and conservative, and these divisions are reinforced by a marketing strategy employed by those who want our money and our votes. This marketing of products and ideas only validates our selfishness and destroys any chance for a country made whole. We are becoming more and more entrenched in partisan politics because we have fallen victim to the predators that think by building us up, they can bilk us out of our meager holdings.
By believing the hype and not questioning our emotional responses to the hallow words they shower upon us, we have allowed for language to be stripped of meaning. There are no longer agreed upon definitions of words and facts have become subjective. A perfect example is the so-called 'death tax'. There is no such thing as a 'death tax' because not everyone who dies is subject to it, only those with an 'estate' worth more than $1,000,000 are required to pay it, making 'estate tax' the proper description. When we let these distortions of language slip by, we erode the value of public discourse and strip words of their meaning.
She is absolutely correct. When are "we the people" going to recognize advertising-agency hype and realize this is not what we should take with any seriousness in making political decisions about life in the USA?
The problem with relation between politics and "the people" in the USA is we tend to take the easy road. We are not studying the political issues (local, state, federal) that effect us every day or put us in harm's way. By the way, "harm" is not just physical. It is also a harm (a greater one in my opinion) to us if we ignore the erosion of our constitutional protections in the name of physical safety. NSA spying on Americans may give us some physical protection from terrorists, but it is more dangerous to us because it can be abused and we have no way to check when the Whitehouse ignores the law that does provide the verification that this spying is not being abused. By the way, as my profile says, I'm retired Navy and dealt with security matters; don't believe the Whitehouse when they say the NSA spies only on known terrorists, it doesn't work that way (I cannot say anything more).
All of us, "the people," need better filter the hype from the facts. We need to recognize when our emotions are being appealed to, rather than our common sense. We need to be cognizant Wallstreet advertising agencies are being used to sell us a political idea as if it was a brand of soap. When was the last time you read or heard an ad that told the truth and nothing but the truth about what they're promoting? Truth is not what ad agencies promote.
We "the people" need to consider what is good for our country, not just ourselves. There is a term used in Britain I like, "the loyal opposition." You can oppose government policies and politicians and still be loyal to the Constitution and the USA.
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