Americans still refuse to understand what will happen if we allow a dictator to ruin our small-“d” democratic institutions.
The result will be unpopular minority groups being scape-goated, and US soldiers being treated like cannon fodder, exactly like Russian soldiers are being treated at Chernobyl. Remember history!
Dictators end up believing their own lies and being isolated, as we see with Putin.
Americans, based on recent polls:
1. Still refuse to see the Fall election as being different from any other;
2. Still refuse to acknowledge that the Republican Party has been taken over by a madman;
3. Still refuse to acknowledge that while Trump may be withering, his policies of scape-gloating, racism, and ignorance have taken over the Republican Party; and
4. Still refuse to see that it is the institution of Congress that is our most important constitutional safeguard still standing between us and the madness of Q-Anon, the book-burning right, and the whole assortment of racists and torch-bearers still lurking in the wings.
A chill wind still blows. We remain in great danger, but few swing voters are paying attention.
The national media — especially CNN and MSNBC — are driving us towards catastrophe in 2022. Consider the “approval poll” that is so often reported.
Think carefully about how that question is worded and what that wording says about the results.
There are two groups of voters who do not approve of President Biden — those who oppose the Democratic agenda and those feel that Mr. Biden is not doing enough to advance that agenda. The “approval” poll lumps those together.
The result is that a president who supports the agenda of an overwhelming majority of Americans is portrayed as unpopular in the national media.
One effect of this aggregation is to drive any president who seeks higher approval ratings towards the middle. Another effect is to heighten overall tension by promoting the meme that the current administration is ineffective.
Consider a hypothetical situation where 80% of the voters support an agenda item such as raising taxes on the very wealthy. Suppose that 10% of voters are strongly against the increase. Suppose that 60% of the voters strongly support the increase. Suppose the president is firmly entrenched in the middle, providing only lukewarm support for the measure.
The result of an “approval” poll is that 60% of the voters who want the proposed increase express disapproval because they think the president isn’t aggressive enough. Another 20% of the voters express disapproval because they oppose any increase.
The resulting approval poll shows the president with a disappointing 20% approval rating, even though he or she is advocating a proposal that 80% of the voters support.
This is an example of difference between fact and truth. The reporting of the approval rating is entirely factual. The message it conveys is not true.
This is an example of the way the media manipulates us to suit the economic agenda of the media. The result is the most serious existential threat to representative democracy in my lifetime.
It is time to turn off MSNBC and CNN along with Fox.
I can use an approval pole to prove that a majority of McDonalds customers do not like their hamburgers. If I simply ask “What is your favorite sandwich at McDonalds?” and 35% say cheeseburger, 20% say hamburger, 35% say Big Mac, and 10% say Fillet of Fish, if I wanted to attack McDonald’s in my editorial, the headline would read “80% of McDonalds Customers give a thumbs down to their Hamburger!”
Those on the right make the mistake of assuming the Media is liberal and against them on key issues, so they automatically oppose what the media reports on Covid, Climate Change, Health Care.
What’s worse is that those on the left make the mistake of assuming the Medial is liberal and on their side so they believe what they hear about Economic topics like employment, wages, inflation, taxes…even though it’s all twisted to suit the agenda of the .1%
I agree with your main point, but its hardly unique to Biden. We’ve had approval polls forever and Presidents of either party get both “too much” and “not enough” disapprovals. I for one take into account how my answer might be interpreted when I respond to such polls.
Indeed, this absolutely transcends Joe Biden.
The fact remains that it exemplifies how we end up unable to enact policies that are supported by an overwhelming majority of voters.
I fear things will get worse before they get better.
I thought all we had to do was fund the police, full stop.
Blaming Americans for not sharing your beliefs is a sign that you’re living in a bubble. Americans aren’t under some delusion that this administration has failed to pass measures which would have helped them economically, and is on the verge of getting us into a war with Russia. That’s the reality.
(PS. I wonder how far this discussion will get before someone starts censoring it?)
They have warned about Putin hacking and controlling the media/information
outlets