Maybe it stems from the beginning of America, certainly it is true in contemporary America, we have a problem understanding our facts. It seems that we are so damned lazy that we would rather accept the opinions of all the talking heads, print editorial writers, bloggers (the collective of us all), split-tongued politicians and pseudo politicians, and, of course, all the self-promoting artists and snake-oil salesmen that have come to dominate public discourse. We seem to have lost the ability to find information, analyse the information available, dig out the facts and come to rational and factual conclusions.
A case in point is a factual look at the causes of our deficit and the Congressional Budget Office projections of future deficits and the underlying causes of the deficit spending.
This data sourced from Think Progress' Matthew Yglesias web article of June 9, 2011, entitled: Public Overestimates Cost Of Wars, Underestimates The Impact Of Bush Tax Cuts. Here is fact, reality.
For the skeptic, these facts may be sloughed-off as not facts, just estimates. The skeptic would be right because any forecast of the future is by definition not fact but projection based on historical precedence and documented assumptions for the future. The suspicious mind could conjure a partisan conspiracy theory that has the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office favoring one side of the political argument at the expense of the other. But truth is, this is the best, non-baised information available that looks at all sides of government spending (In this case spending also includes the loss of revenue caused by changes in the tax code ...the Bush tax cuts). As a government, we gave back a large chunk of the paycheck.
Partisan politicians, lobbyists and others with narrow agendas may take the same set of facts, the history of actual expenditures and project into the future a much different scenario.
By manipulating projections for interest rates, cost of living, program spending cuts or increases, swings in the economy caused by commodity or other price changes and/or any number of other factors, partisans and other interest groups attempt to sway the electorate to their way of thinking. They do this to win reelection or to get favorable treatment from the government for whatever may be beneficial to themselves or to their paying clients. We must always remember to be wary of the narrow agenda. With enough marketing and PR, distorted facts become public opinion.
In recent years, political action groups, media companies, the rich and powerful (corporations, individuals and frequently foreign interests) have used every means of persuasion available to them to move the body politic in their favor.
Public opinion is the chosen path that many take to sway government in their direction. The threat of voters not voting for incumbents is the most powerful political force afloat.
The industry, set up to manage public opinion, is one of the largest, fastest growing and most powerful industries in our country. The table shown above is ample proof that the influence industry is alive and well. Unfortunately, that industry, informally known as The Lobby, is well on the way to destroying America.
People, as a general rule, will not take the time to think. They much prefer that someone else do the thinking for them.
The unscrupulous commentariat, the fake news organizations, biased columnists, partisan editorial writers, certain industry groups, a growing number of private companies and others are all too willing to provide that thinking. Consequently, the lobbying effort with the most money and the best PR professionals usually sways Americans to this self-defeating type of erroneous thinking.
Will we awaken before we strike the wall? It's doubtful.
No comments:
Post a Comment