Posted on 01/20/2016 1:01:44 PM PST by conservativejoy
"Power," Henry Kissinger once told The New York Times, "is the ultimate aphrodisiac." Kissinger might amend that statement today: Now, fame is power, and thus replaces power as the ultimate aphrodisiac. In fact, fame isn't just an aphrodisiac - it's the ultimate nepenthe, a drug causing forgetfulness. The more famous our politicians are, the more we neglect their positions and character. No wonder the most admired woman in America is criminal Hillary Clinton, the most admired man is criminal Barack Obama, and the second-most admired man is loudmouth Donald Trump.
We assume that fame inoculates our politicians for the same reason we check Yelp reviews: If there are tons of people who recommend a restaurant, they can't all have been bribed. If tons of people like and support a politician, then, he or she must be worthwhile.
But this logic doesn't always work. If several people stand on a street corner and simultaneously look up in the air for no reason, passersby will begin staring up into the air, looking for the rationale behind the mass gaze. Our human desire for informational shortcuts - our willingness to take another's word for it - means that we end up looking like idiots when someone points out there's nothing up there.
Our media-reinforcing cycle of fame is more like a street corner of skyward-looking nincompoops than an aggregation of Yelp reviews. Our elites tell us that we ought to look at a given candidate in a given way; we then react to those elites by following their spotlight. Donald Trump has received nearly half of all media coverage in the Republican race since he announced his campaign. That means that a lot of people are willing to overlook his flubs and his foibles - he's a known face, and that fame protects him from comments that would hurt any other candidate.
The problem here isn't Trump. It's our entire culture of politics. Barack Obama has made ubiquity an art form - it's hard to imagine that someone who appears regularly with YouTube stars to talk about tampon taxes could actually be malignant. Joe Biden appears on "Parks and Recreation." Hillary Clinton dances with Ellen and makes awful jokes on "Saturday Night Live." Our politicians know that exposure makes us comfortable with them.
In truth, we should never be comfortable with our politicians. We should never trust them. Star worship of Ronald Reagan on the right leads establishment Republicans to idolize even his worst failures, like amnesty; star worship of Bill Clinton on the left leads Democrats to pooh-pooh his brutal treatment of women, and his wife's enabling of that behavior. Our celebrities have become royals, and our politicians have become celebrities.
That means we crown ourselves a king or queen every four years. And America needs no kings and queens. We need unimportant, decent people who focus on how to make themselves unimportant in our lives.
But that's not what we get. Instead, we get glitz and glamour, fun and frolicking with the people who control our freedoms. That's dangerous. We are dangerous, not Trump or even Obama or Hillary Clinton. Until we check our own impulse to blindly follow our celebrity political class, we shouldn't be surprised when our celebrities become politicians and our politicians become tyrants.
I’m getting to the point that I know who posted the article, by reading only the title of the article.
I’ll have you know Sir, I’m a High Grade Moron!
Already posted today. Search is your friend.
Oh, I forgot, your group does this ad nauseum all day and night.
Just how special was Henry Kissinger?
When Cruz says he will secure the border and enforce the law, I believe him. When Cruz says they can’t come back, I believe him. I don’t know if Trump is working with the Democrat Party or not, but with his touch back amnesty ensuring that Democrats will be in power for decades to come, he might as well be.
He was pretty special and a power player on the world stage for many years.
While I’m good with either Cruz or Trump, I think Cruz will take names and comment, whereas Trump will kick ass and take names.
Whichever way, Cruz or Trump will be a welcomed change from the Muslim caliphate we now have, and better than any of the other candidates.
Look objectively at their postings here, and it’s the Cruzer Losers who are cult like. Cruz is a combination of Superman, Obi Wan Kenobi and the Dukes of Hazard. And if they don’t get their way they’re going to take their ball and go home. They would rather see Hillary president than take a chance on being proven wrong about Trump.
A Trump presidency does not scare me as much as the Great Division I see among Americans. The fact that 49.5% of this country sees no problem voting Democrat after what we have been through as a nation, after seeing the corruption ...and then knowing that some 40-60% of Conservatives even, can’t come to any agreement over any single candidate.
THAT is what frightens me, more than Trump, more than any of our conservative candidates getting in.
People — seriously. Unite behind someone. Stop the petty picking apart of each and everyone in the race. Just get behind them. If Trump gets in and starts behaving liberally, well, hold his feet to the fire!
I think of Trump not in terms of Trump, but in terms of breaking the monopoly of the Establishment. Once that is accomplished ...well, then, it’s up to us who broke it.
Have faith!!!
I think of Trump not in terms of Trump, but in terms of breaking the monopoly of the Establishment. Once that is accomplished ...well, then, it’s up to us who broke it.
Uh hunh.
It’s a “cult of personality” when people support a candidate you don’t support.
It’s “principled” when people support a candidate you DO support.
We know how these games are played.
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