Tinfoil Hat Tuneup

The above video is a Ted Talk by Dan Ariely. He walks us through some deeply ingrained psychological flaws in the human mind, and how easily they are manipulated. What he shows here have some deep implications for the manipulation of the electorate. The next time you are headed to the voting booth, think about this video; think about what choices you are being given, and whether they are really choices at all, or merely the illusion of avoiding a more negative option placed there as bait.

Or, you could hunt down the phone book, call up your local bookstore, and see if they have Dan Ariely’s book.

Or you could get it on amazon: Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions by Dan Ariely

Torture, Religion, Life, Death, and Fear

A doomish title if ever I’ve penned one. As seen in the video below, a recent poll has shown a strong link between churchgoing and the approval of torture.

While this comes as no surprise to those of us who have been paying attention, I think it deserve some further scrutiny. The obvious conclusion would be that religion causes a desire to torture, but I think that may be backwards. Another recent study showed the religious as being far more likely to seek extreme life prolonging measures when deathly ill. What does all this have in common? A fear of the unknown extreme enough to lead people to oppose the values they claim to have, just to scrabble at a scrap of hope. It is religion that is an irrational safety blanket for some very rational fears, that provides the self  righteousness and justification for the commission of atrocities that were already desired by those susceptible to it’s pull of absolution. It is the dichotomy of hope and fear that got both Bush and Obama elected by the same electorate. While hope and fear are polar opposites, they are two sides of the same coin.

It is as if the whole country is in a Kübler-Ross model of the stages of grief. 

1. Denial: This is where we were between WWII and the Bush years. We were the greatest country on earth. It was our birthright, not just a side effect of being the last manufacturing power standing after the war due to the distance of our homes from the front lines.
2. Anger: We clearly transition from denial to anger early in the Bush years. We believe all of our problems are external in nature, that it isn’t our fault. The Axis of Evil is the source of our pain. Wars ensue on multiple fronts.
3. Bargaining: Hope. Perhaps if we elect a Democrat, they will fix everything. We will give the banks whatever they want, bail out the manufacturing industry, borrow money, whatever it takes. The final days of Bush and the first 100 days of Obama.
4. Depression: This is where we are now. consumer confidence is low, the parties are fragmented, the future unclear. 
5. Acceptance: This is where we are going. We need to accept that our problems are fundamental and widespread, that the middle east won’t have peace, China isn’t going away, and the Dollar isn’t intrinsically strong. Our economy isn’t  in a downturn, it has seen a correction, and we aren’t going back to the golden age of the 1950′s any time soon. It is time to pick up the pieces, make some hard choices, and begin to move forward. 

We are a government of the people, by the people. It hasn’t led us here, we have led it here. We can take it back, but we can’t do it without a majority. Our next president should be a Ron Paul.

A New Era

Things may not have turned out as we had hoped, but we would like to extend our congratulations to president elect Obama on a hard earned victory. It was obvious four years ago after his speech at the DNC for John Kerry that he had the potential for greatness. Those who claim he has no executive experience haven’t been watching for the past two years. He executed the best campaign I can remember, and he took down titans and fellow visionaries. Hillary Clinton began her campaign seeming to believe it was merely a formality to her nomination. She underestimated him. His unyielding hope for the future likely convinced many potential Ron Paul supporters that the system wasn’t broken beyond repair. John McCain, as brave a man as there is in Washington, fell to his own desperation after seeing the inexorable gains of this Teflon newcomer. Obama ran an honorable campaign. He avoided dirty politics, rejected special interest money, rejected government money, and sparked the largest voter turnout in history.

And what has he won? He has won the right to stand at the helm of the Titanic after it hit the iceberg. His followers have led themselves to believe that he will part the waters and walk them to safety. All we can do now is hope that they were right. After eight years of disastrous leadership backed by rampant corruption, we have seen what has become of the Republican party. I feel a great relief that the Bush administration is on its way out. I’ll give this former constitutional law professor the benefit of the doubt because he has earned it, and standing in the way will only prolong the problem, but it our responsibility to call him on his mistakes, and we will do so. Right now our biggest issues are bloat and corruption. I think Obama will find that his biggest challenge is getting his own party to do the right thing. If he can’t turn things around, it won’t be a two party election next time. The race for 2012 starts today. It is time to take one eye off of the government and prepare to pick up the torch, should he fail.

Should felons be allowed to vote?

“An individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for the law.” – Martin Luther King Jr.

Why not? What are we afraid of? Are the axe murderers going to muster up enough of a coalition to legalize axe murdering? The only way felons would be likely to change the system is if they were with the majority. The most common response I hear is that voting is a privilege, and those people should lose it for doing something illegal. I think Dr. King would disagree, especially considering the disproportionate percentage of felons who are minorities, and are now silenced. Preventing them from voting only serves to make them feel like they are no longer a member of the society, to resent it, and in the end to work against it. One quarter of our inmates are in for drug offenses. Caging them as punishment for addiction, cutting them off from our democracy, and then setting them loose in the middle of it does not strike me as an optimal policy. There are only two states currently allowing felons in prison to vote, and only 13 that allow it after you have done your time. Thank you Vermont and Maine.