Monday, January 14, 2008
The theme:
The central issue from the 17th century forward, is the shift from the rule of established authorities in a ruling class of king and church to a republican form of government. The empirical issue is the nature of mass publics. Alexis de Tocqueville in Democracy in America was interested if a mass society could be stable without a responsible ruling class or aristocracy. A very interesting analysis of mass psychology in the Century of the Self and the power of propaganda is a remarkably eloquent and epic 4 part series from BBC 4 and director Adam Curtis which explores the influence of Freudian psychoanalysis and Edward Bernays’ PR techniques in shaping western mass media, politics and consumer culture. The issue over the last few centuries and today and in the campaign for democracy today is the problem of the unlikely trust placed in ordinary people – are they a mass of unconscious desires and hidden motivation aroused by the market managers, elitists and the media or are they sovereign individuals endowed by their creator with reason and citizen with rights. Is it Rush or Jefferson? Clearly both are true and important depending on education, the civic culture, the balance between mythology, superstition, and pure reason given the economic conditions.
This years selection of President have this in the background – can people, the great unwashed, the masses take charge of their own affairs – can there be a government of the people, for the people and by the people or is this a fairy tale – and grand illusion?
According to General Semantics, cognitive sciences, it’s the frame STUPID! The frame is the network of associations that spring from the sub-conscientious with the brand.
Obama has a brand of hope and change – a people lost in the wilderness about to cross to the holy land. The collection of tribes of all the people lost in the dessert looking across to the promised land of milk and honey. The leader is a guide and prophet, a coach getting the team into the supper bowl.
Clinton is the good mother or sheep herder taking care of her children or sheep. The sheepherder will provide – health care, financial stability, jobs, welfare, prosperity, world peace, the whole laundry list of democratic promises. The focus is on HER, me, I, the government, the process, and in material benefits of voting.
The Republican image of the strict father offer security and freedom from reason. The people is to follow and believe and not question authority. Ditto Heads…
Democracy in America:
There are some popular myths about the nature of the American civilization. The nation was a child of enlighten not a Christian revival. The Deists and Freemasons who organized the “committees of public safety” and created the propaganda that let to the “rebellion of the American Colonies” and was all about CHANGE. The established order of CHURCH, KING, and State was gothic v. the modern world which was rational, logical as opposed to faith based doctrine based on tradition and authority. The idea that people could manage their own affairs depended on people being sensible, not driven by superstitions, and passions. The people must have a higher sense of the common good and see beyond just personal, regional, racial, ethic, class or religious prejudices. The “people” were property owners and educated. The masses were not to be trusted. Without the balance of power, public education, and a stable middle class Imperial tyranny would be replaced by the rule of the mob.
If Mr. Edwards wants to change “the system” he will have to convince the states to call a constitutional convention to redesign the balance of power. The system we have has been successful designed to prevent Democracy because popular rule would endanger civil liberties and state sovereignty – Democracy only requires majority rule within a parliamentary system. The American design was to prevent the state from doing much, for better or worse. The balance of power design was there because the founding fathers did not trust the people or majorities that would abolish slavery, over tax or regulate, tax trade to the disadvantage of one region or industry or another. Our limited democracy is another result of our original sin of slavery.
The central issue from the 17th century forward, is the shift from the rule of established authorities in a ruling class of king and church to a republican form of government. The empirical issue is the nature of mass publics. Alexis de Tocqueville in Democracy in America was interested if a mass society could be stable without a responsible ruling class or aristocracy. A very interesting analysis of mass psychology in the Century of the Self and the power of propaganda is a remarkably eloquent and epic 4 part series from BBC 4 and director Adam Curtis which explores the influence of Freudian psychoanalysis and Edward Bernays’ PR techniques in shaping western mass media, politics and consumer culture. The issue over the last few centuries and today and in the campaign for democracy today is the problem of the unlikely trust placed in ordinary people – are they a mass of unconscious desires and hidden motivation aroused by the market managers, elitists and the media or are they sovereign individuals endowed by their creator with reason and citizen with rights. Is it Rush or Jefferson? Clearly both are true and important depending on education, the civic culture, the balance between mythology, superstition, and pure reason given the economic conditions.
This years selection of President have this in the background – can people, the great unwashed, the masses take charge of their own affairs – can there be a government of the people, for the people and by the people or is this a fairy tale – and grand illusion?
According to General Semantics, cognitive sciences, it’s the frame STUPID! The frame is the network of associations that spring from the sub-conscientious with the brand.
Obama has a brand of hope and change – a people lost in the wilderness about to cross to the holy land. The collection of tribes of all the people lost in the dessert looking across to the promised land of milk and honey. The leader is a guide and prophet, a coach getting the team into the supper bowl.
Clinton is the good mother or sheep herder taking care of her children or sheep. The sheepherder will provide – health care, financial stability, jobs, welfare, prosperity, world peace, the whole laundry list of democratic promises. The focus is on HER, me, I, the government, the process, and in material benefits of voting.
The Republican image of the strict father offer security and freedom from reason. The people is to follow and believe and not question authority. Ditto Heads…
Democracy in America:
There are some popular myths about the nature of the American civilization. The nation was a child of enlighten not a Christian revival. The Deists and Freemasons who organized the “committees of public safety” and created the propaganda that let to the “rebellion of the American Colonies” and was all about CHANGE. The established order of CHURCH, KING, and State was gothic v. the modern world which was rational, logical as opposed to faith based doctrine based on tradition and authority. The idea that people could manage their own affairs depended on people being sensible, not driven by superstitions, and passions. The people must have a higher sense of the common good and see beyond just personal, regional, racial, ethic, class or religious prejudices. The “people” were property owners and educated. The masses were not to be trusted. Without the balance of power, public education, and a stable middle class Imperial tyranny would be replaced by the rule of the mob.
If Mr. Edwards wants to change “the system” he will have to convince the states to call a constitutional convention to redesign the balance of power. The system we have has been successful designed to prevent Democracy because popular rule would endanger civil liberties and state sovereignty – Democracy only requires majority rule within a parliamentary system. The American design was to prevent the state from doing much, for better or worse. The balance of power design was there because the founding fathers did not trust the people or majorities that would abolish slavery, over tax or regulate, tax trade to the disadvantage of one region or industry or another. Our limited democracy is another result of our original sin of slavery.
