Tuesday, January 5, 2016

Ted Cruz Sums Up the Republican Platform

From a long Times piece on how dark and dangerous the world seems from the Republican campaign trail, I extract this nugget from Ted Cruz:
President Obama and Hillary Clinton continually focus on stripping the constitutional rights of law-abiding citizens instead of fighting the bad guys. We don’t beat the bad guys by taking away our guns. We beat the bad guys by using our guns.
The notion that we live in what Chris Christie keeps calling “dangerous, perilous times” is bewildering to me. People in Syria live in dangerous, perilous times, but in North America we are living in the safest era in human history. I have to think that the constant doom-mongering we get from so many political leaders is part of why we can't enjoy it.

1 comment:

G. Verloren said...

These people are con artists, and fear is their tool for manipulating people.

"There are terrible dangers that are lurking unseen around you, perhaps in your very own neighborhood! You didn't even know they were there, did you? But it's not because you're not smart, savvy, independent individuals - oh no! I can tell you're real winners - that's what I like so much about you!

No, these dangers are the work of sinister and evil forces working in secret, hiding their foul deeds from the good honest people of this country! That's why you didn't suspect a thing - not because nothing is actually wrong, but because these villains have worked to pull the wool over your eyes! Over all our eyes!

Now I tell you, they're just jealous of how great our lives are, that's what it is! And their jealousy drives them to evil, and they seek to destroy our very way of life! Yes that's right, there's no reasoning with them - it's us or them, and I know which one I'm gonna choose, amirite?

But don't you worry - I have the answer to all your problems! Yes sirree, you're in luck today because I just happen to know how to fix things, if only you give me your full support! Together we can protect those great values we all cherish, and foil the plots of those who would ruin all our hard work for their selfish ends!"


It's the oldest trick in the book, stretching back for as long as human history has been recorded. You invent an external danger that seems overwhelming, but then promise a simple solution if only people do what you tell them, and of course they can trust you because you're "one of them". You split the world into "Us" and "Them", demonize the other, champion the self, take credit for anything positive, and blame anything negative on others.

Tribalism is alive and well.