Dear Friends,
It seems to me, a label only has utility when everyone knows what it means, as the meaning becomes ever more arcane, that label becomes more of a means to bring a scheme to fruition than to explain. Political labels have become nothing more than a means to obscure the workings, motives and means of politicians, which shows political labels have become obscured. When people are unable to discern the means, motivations and plans of politicians it is impossible to rationally choose who will be best in any given political office. As the ability of the electorate to make rational choices about who our leaders will be the ability of leaders to trick us is ever more easy. This circle will continue until no political label has any utility at all and the people are utterly befuddled about politicians, parties, platforms and even economics… as it has today.
Imagine how hard it would be to communicate… if red meant blue in Europe, red in South America, green in the US and brown in Asia. There would be no common reference. I could be talking about how good a red apple was, understanding the traditional definition of red, and people in Asia would be revolted at the thought of me eating brown and therefore rotten apple, people in the US would believe I liked unripe apples and people in Europe wouldn’t understand at all what I meant. Our frame of reference would be worthless. Communication would be impossible. Such a situation would lend itself to all sorts of misunderstandings and fraudulence.
Light is a powerful antiseptic that is why darkness is so favored by politicians. In the bright of day everyone can see everything, but in the dark of night, much is hidden. Those who seek to defraud others need some darkness else their machinations would be seen. Light and dark are not the only ways to hide things, language, slight of hand, mirrors, etc… are all ways tricksters have beguiled the masses. Scammers know this tactic well and use it every time they ply their trade. Most politicians are at heart scammers and so utilize misdirection, obscurity and outright lies all the time.
Terms like left and right no longer have any meaning other than as a dog whistle to alarm people. Calling someone a leftist in the US means something directly opposite in Europe, neither of which may have any bearing on the actual position of the person so labeled. A liberal in Europe is a free market advocate but a Marxist in the US. Progressive has had so many iterations since the first progressives polluted the American political system, the only actual definition one can derive from it, is a slow path Marxist, even that doesn’t describe them effectively. Political labels and terms have been so muddied up, intentionally so, that without an actual list of the positions of any candidate, along with their actual votes on various issues, their intentions, plans and positions cannot be know to any degree whatsoever.
Since we cannot, or at least are hindered, in our understanding of where our politicians stand on the various issues facing the world today, the democratic process is severely undermined. It becomes much easier to pick a team and vote for that team rather than make informed rational decisions based on past stances and present platforms. Today, a Soviet style Marxist can be called a socialist, progressive, left, right, conservative or liberal. A laissez faire free market advocate can be called right, left, neocon, libertarian, conservative, liberal, etc… It has become impossible to decide what a politician stands for anymore, from the labels given to our politicians, and so the democratic process has become a beauty contest on the radio.
How could it be easier to trick people into voting against their best interests than a beauty contest on the radio? We cannot fairly or accurately judge the merits of any politician without knowing what they stand for or have voted for in the past. If all we have to go on is propaganda, that the media that calls itself unbiased vomit in our ears, we are easily manipulated. Informed is the opposite of ignorant, without information that has a consistent frame of reference, ignorance is the only option, lacking hours of research into each candidate. How many of us have the time, inclination or energy for that? Clearly the perversion of our language has allowed connivers to obscure the realities of our politicians and therefore governments. So when you hear this politician is far right, left, conservative or liberal, you have heard… nothing.
Sincerely,
John Pepin
