-- Albert Einstein
I was recently asked, "What I thought of our countries list of candidates" and "Who I will vote for"I replied that I will vote, campaign and endorse a ANY leader of ANY American party who has our freedom, future, health, environment, prosperity in mind. In that order, as the path to our "future, health, environment and prosperity" are the same... freedom is first. Because if we are not free to enjoy the rest, nothing matters.
That being said, I will not be voting again this election...
Four years ago I began "shopping" candidates that could pull the U.S. out of our upcoming environmental and economic disasters which coincide with my vote determination.
After the same imbalance of power and money during the election process, any and all potential for positive results or respectable candidates were lost to politics.
... because if it's on the internet , it must be true.
Worsened yet on the web by propaganda campaigns were advertising is apparently exempt from the legal category of promotions.
Now Millions of new "googled" minds can be harvested like lemmings to "skew the vote" symbolizing grossly emotional, symbolic, cynical and vacuous politics. Knowing as little about the future policies of the candidates they cheer as they do about the true foundation of "change".
Viral videos are now "viral politics" with indifference to, and contempt for, real issues - including ones that may determine the fate of our democracy, economy and environment. Leaving us in the end nothing to of which to be certain.
It isn't the politicians fault; it is in their nature.
Nobody wants to admit it that nearly every campaign ad you see follows the principles outlined by Leonard Doob in the book "Public Opinion and Propaganda":
- To be perceived, propaganda must evoke the interest of an audience and must be transmitted through an attention-getting communications medium.
- Credibility alone must determine whether propaganda output should be true or false.
- A propaganda theme must be repeated, but not beyond some point of diminishing effectiveness
- [Slogans] must evoke desired responses which the audience previously possesses
- They must be capable of being easily learned
- They must be utilized again and again, but only in appropriate situations.
Our current candidates have entered dangerous territory in a campaign that has relied excessively on effective but ultimately indefinable abstractions of "hope and change" while giving only hyper technical explanations of what actions they might actually conduct.
We are under the assumption of what they might do in the future, even if they don't want to tell us in more than evasive terms.
But we, as citizens, should not be quiet servants of the pitiful choices set before us. Our future and freedom depend on us understanding when we are being duped.
And while there is no hope for my vote,
I would implore to go out and vote IF you feel as strongly for candidate as I do for a "lack there of".