Things are not always as they seem

Politicians lying to get elected is now accepted as normal. There was a time this was not so, or at least they were more crafty than they are today. A popular pundit suggests another standard on top of accepting lying. He called such behavior appalling. All this suggests we common American voters are around to go along with all this, as if our standards and savvy are less than those of the politicians and the pundits. Maybe they are correct. But the thought that some politicians concoct strategies and hire media managers (many will say propagandists), to hide their real agenda with platitudes and pandering that has always worked to gain votes in the past, well, things may not be what they seem to be today and in the near future.

What seems to be happening for the 2008 elections is the “best marketing ever” applied to politics. Any advertisement on TV, especially kid’s TV, provides a good example. Even if it works, which is doubtful applied to politicians in 2008, can one imagine it still working in 2010, or 2012, or 2020. And jump ahead. Can it work on the TV, radio, or Internet pipelines of today and the future. And how many Americans will even pay to bring the receivers of these pipelines into their homes?

An “old saying” goes that the higher up the chain of command one achieves, the later this person finds out what is really going on. Things are not always as they seem to many of these politicians and their hired minions, who exist in their own social circles of work and socializing. The successful leaders know how to cut through this wall. Most never make the leap to even try cut through the wall, mostly out of simple ignorance as they bask in their own world achieved to date. Most don’t care because the world revolves around them, and not we common citizens. This smacks of royalty, vice ideas like loyalty to a constitution, which is the bedrock of American culture.

All the hullabaloo about Iowa and New Hampshire is not as it always has been, also. The basic strategy was used by Jimmy Carter, and since it worked, most since have plagiarized it. But there have been other strategies that also worked. Some might say there are more American strategies than two localized caucuses/primaries in Iowa and New Hampshire. Even the abhorrent idea of smoke filled rooms at national conventions deciding on candidates is starting to show value, when compared to managed and manipulated campaigns powered by raised/private money that are the alternative. Again, things are not always as they seem. Somewhere our American values, culture, and basic blue collar concerns will assert themselves. The big hint is the little discussion of basic blue collar concerns at the debates. It appears the debate controllers and the politicians want to talk about other things, and are having their way, so far. Again, things are not always as they seem.

It is interesting to keep reading about polls. It is an American infatuation, as if we can rule by polls, or just accept them. This can even apply to sports, or hurricane predictions, or global warming, or politics, or our favorite recipe or color in China, or even our favorite Hollywood/Bollywood type star. In business, the rules are more realistic, and more time is spent in constructing the poll than is in accepting the results. So no insults to the sincere pollsters like Pew, but somebody is paying the company, and many of us are just suspect. We would rather vote.

And voting issues should be about American national interests first and foremost. And of course our local blue collar issues are second, and important. Assuming things are not always as they seem, and too many present political candidates can be out of touch, we voters will sort it out just fine.