manipulation Archives - The Crucial Voice of the PeopleThe Crucial Voice of the People

PART TWO

Dangerous political propaganda, aimed at destroying our governing structure, is subverting the consent of the People — our right to govern. This destructive marketing of political thought is based on a twisted interpretation of Public Choice Theory (PCT).

In PART ONE I asked, did “they” use our individual choices to manipulate our political decisions? You know they did, and do, and will continue to do so until we recognize and resist their manipulative tactics. (Read & review PART ONE, if you have not already.)

What Is Happening?

Once a Convention of States convenes, “representatives” set the rules. They decide what changes will be made. Source: Business Insider JUST 15 states to go!!!!

We all are playing a role in demolishing our republican structure of governing. But that means, if we can see our role, we can resist being part of the destruction. We can overcome what looks to be the imminent ruin of our republic. It requires enough people willing to take some simple actions to stop the march towards a Constitutional Convention (Article V Convention).

First, people must understand PCT’s role in sabotaging and overthrowing the will of the nation.

Those wishing to control us and our nation have applied Public Choice Theory (PCT) within the political marketplace to sell distrust and division rather than our unifying national ideals. Use of PCT taps into self-serving desires and emotions rather than commonsense consensus on solving our common problems. By keeping us divided, its use is torpedoing our right to govern through consent.

“… our reality is that economic theory fostered a political strategy to supplant our constitutional republic with ‘a private governing elite of corporate power.’”

Corporatists, globalists, oligarchies, robber barons, despots, totalitarians, authoritarians, white Christian nationalists, fascists — the label doesn’t matter. They are enemies of the United States when they choose to control the governing of our republic. Governing is “reserved to the people” (The Federalist No.1).

“To the People” never meant “a faction of the people”—one group over another. That is a truth — a guiding principle of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.

Why Weaponize PCT?

Achieving a Convention of States, as the mechanism for changing the Constitution, is a mammoth undertaking requiring that voters in two-thirds of the states give control of state legislatures to pro-Convention of States’ candidates. Then, in order to pass changes to the Constitution, those changes would require ratification by three-fourths of the state’s legislatures.

They argue, but have they explained that view? Are they being transparent about the changes they believe will save the republic? And, do those changes make sense in light of the exceptional reasoning the Founding Fathers used?

Changing the Constitution in this manner requires a massive number of voters to cast votes ensuring domination by pro-Convention of States’ lawmakers. But candidates aren’t openly running on the proposal. And voters don’t have it as a priority issue. Therefore, those wanting to change our constitution to fit their agenda need to entice voters using other reasons to vote for “their” guy or gal.

Now, think about how enemies of the republic might use the principles of PCT to analyze us and tap into what motivates us to buy what they are selling — an anti-government sentiment in a government designed for self-governance. It’s a twisted plot.

This was a primary race between two Republicans in North Idaho. Emotional propaganda? Precisely targeted messaging? It worked as planned.

And once our right to have a voice in the lawmaking process is further controlled or eliminated by changes to rules, laws, or the Constitution, we’ll have no chance at true representation. That’s the end of our democratic republic. So …

Here’s What’s Crucial To Understand

Three elements are essential to establishing any massive political movement of this magnitude (whether it is productive such as the American Revolution, or destructive like the Nazi regime):

weaken prevailing beliefs,
undermine established institutions, and
discredit those in power.

Once that preliminary work is done, people with differing priority issues (the economy, education, guns, religion, health care, immigration, abortion) need consolidating into one overwhelmingly powerful party. It’s being done using insight from PCT research to tap into what motivates the single-issue voters.

“Single issue voters do not need a deep understanding of every issue nor do they need to know where a candidate stands on every issue. … In general, single-issue voting gives more power to political parties.” [But] “the power to shape the government should belong to the people and not political parties.” ThoughtCo

Targeting and Using Voters

In PART ONE, I wrote “it’s PCT —not CRT (Critical Race Theory)—being used” in destroying our republic. Here’s why I said that and why I chose CRT to use as an example.

CRT was a theory unknown to most people. That made it easy to shape into a concept made-out to be divisive in nature. In that manner, it was aimed at our national belief in unity. So rightly so, it triggered patriotic passions. That passion, in the form of anger and distrust, was aimed directly at public education institutions and discredited all those seen as holding power in those institutions.

What do you call these actions? Manipulation, FOR SURE! But what else? Thought control? Triggering? Gaslighting?

Without direct knowledge of the (CRT) theory, the public was vulnerable to destructive political propaganda.

The words on the image are a quote from YouTube captioning (not added by me).Image taken from an April 5, 2022 Livestream presentation by Christopher Rufo at Hillsdale College, Michigan, titled, “Laying Siege to the Institutions.”

Those weaponizing CRT did so by controlling the narrative, the propaganda —our ability to have reasonable conversations. They weaponized PCT (Public Choice Theory) in a similar manner — only worse.

Unlike the massive media coverage and open debate over CRT, there’s little talk about PCT outside the circle of “political economists.” And there is little talk about changing the Constitution. That tactic leaves us all vulnerable to targeted propaganda and is sure to end our right to govern if we don’t counter it.

“Although public choice economists have focused mostly on analyzing government failure, they also have suggested ways to correct problems.” Public Choice Theory by Jane S. Shaw

As a research theory, PCT (like CRT) has a legitimate use. But its abuse in the political marketplace — in precisely targeting our voting behavior — is the danger to the republic most in need of addressing immediately.

Here’s Some Simple Actions You Can Take Right Now

We restore our right to govern ourselves by recognizing and resisting the influence Public Choice Theory has over us in the political marketplace.

Judge groups and people by their actions.

Watch your language for divisive words. Listen carefully to words others are using, especially when you find them troubling, confusing, or triggering some other emotion. Question whether or not you and others are being manipulated.

Confront lies. Don’t let them stand as truths when you are certain that what you are really seeing or hearing is destructive propaganda. Correct lies immediately as ” false … fake … untrue … incorrect … dishonest … wrong.” Stand firmly on the truth without arguing.

Decide what you will and can do.

Choose an issue or cause that will help on the local, state, or national fronts.
Determine how much time you can give, stay devoted to that commitment, and do it with a determination to not give up.
Research organizations that are already actively addressing your chosen pursuits, in a way that makes sense to you, and consider joining them. Make sure they are legitimate.

Know a candidate’s position on changing the Constitution.

Vote in every election! Do your best to inform yourself. Then go vote! If you find you don’t have enough information on some contests, it’s okay to leave them blank.

Everyday — try. In everything you read or hear, try to sort out the truth for yourself.

“In politics, being deceived is no excuse.” Leszek Kolakowski

What do magicians and politicians have in common?

Sound like the lead-in to a good joke? It isn’t. Magicians and politicians share a common trick based on the idea of focusing people’s attention on one thing so they can do something else and get away with it.

For magicians, it’s all in good fun. No harm; no foul. With politicians, it’s time to call “FOUL” on these masters of misdirection.

“The technique of misdirection, which is most notably and professionally practiced by magicians, is also a highly valued technique employed by politicians.” (From ViewFromTheMeadow.com)

Manipulation of the public is a valued political technique!?!

“As magicians have long known and neuroscientists are increasingly discovering, human perception is a jury-rigged apparatus, full of gaps and easily manipulated…A great deal of the success of a piece of magic is simply getting the audience’s attention and sending it to the wrong place…Magic shows are masterpieces of misdirection.”

“…people have a pronounced tendency to miss things that are happening right in front of them.”

“…we miss things simply because we aren’t looking at them.”

“…there’s a value in simply coming to grips with the gaps and limits in our awareness…”

People are growing more and more aware of the way politicians use a crisis —a distraction—to push through some law or take some action that leaders likely know the public would not accept under normal circumstances.

With the Great Recession in 2008, it was the Quiet Revolution in education policies (Common Core Initiative, robust data systems, outcome-based teacher evaluations, and school closures) that skipped across the national stage while our focus was on the fiscal cliff. And six to seven years later, once these policies were well in place in the states, it no longer mattered that they were finally noticed and dissension arose….too little, too late. And we continue to be played for fools — mostly unaware.

To purposely change a major national policy at a time when it is least likely to draw attention is a low blow in a country supposedly based on the Consent of the Governed.The only thing lower than taking advantage of a bad situation is to purposely create distractions.

“Distraction and misdirection are very close (and are sometimes used to mean the same thing). In distraction, you manage something that the other person notices. In misdirection, you more deliberately direct their attention (although not always obviously).”

At this point, we should question both political techniques and motives.

In today’s society, thinking critically and being vocal about a dissenting view puts a person at risk of being called a conspiracy theorist. But think about this, politics as we know it involves deception.

“To some degree, politics has always involved deception….Media bosses demand a constant flow of material, which ensures that much reporting remains undigested. Customers want speed or will click elsewhere; competitors spew their own undigested news, and campaigns are only too happy to concoct it, or their opponents will. Shiny objects become tools of our least resistance. Polls and gaffes take less time and brainpower to comprehend than, say, Jeb Bush’s book on immigration policy.

In other words, the press colludes with politicians in this culture of distraction-mongering.”

So with the presidential race starting earlier than EVER…

“It is simply insane how much we’ve pushed up our presidential campaigns.”

…with all eyes on the hair on the stage, what went on in congress while the majority of the population didn’t have their eyes on “our representatives”? Several really, really Big Bills were put on the Fast Track. To name the ones I know—trade, infrastructure, and education…the last one only taking eleven days from its appearance to the pre-planned signing! Now that’s fast!

Was the early start to presidential campaigning insane or a distraction?

What do we see?

Activists on a variety of topics are telling the same story. They tried to draw attention to their cause only to find that they couldn’t rally enough troops to make a difference. They couldn’t grab the attention from the main stage.

“When a population becomes distracted by trivia, when cultural life is redefined as a perpetual round of entertainments, when serious public conversation becomes a form of baby talk, when, in short, a people become an audience and their public business a vaudeville act, then a nation finds itself at risk: culture-death is a clear possibility.”—Author Neil Postman

“When we’re being bombarded with wall-to-wall news coverage and news cycles that change every few days, it’s difficult to stay focused on one thing—namely, holding the government accountable to abiding by the rule of law—and the powers-that-be understand this.”

“If we do not awaken to the truth and open our eyes soon, then we may well find ourselves staring at a far different, far less pleasant picture before long, and by then, it will be too late to alter our reality.”

Trickery by magicians is entertaining. By politicians, the same methods are putting our nation at risk.

No joke.

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