The Culture Of Deception Continues

Controlling the news has become a permanent role of government in our modern age. Television has been provided as a tool for government to totally manipulate the public, and pushing your political agenda to the maximum is a temptation that cannot be resisted. This has become an ongoing standard. The costs of governing this way without a debate process, have become enormous.

It was Patrick Caddell, a pollster for President Jimmy Carter, that came up with the idea of the “permanent campaign“. Caddell wrote, “it is my thesis governing with public approval requires a continuing political campaign.”

President George W. Bush pushed the “permanent campaign” to get the people of the United States to believe that a war in Iraq was necessary. This pursuit backfired in the end for Bush. President Barack Obama is using the same tactics to push for his policies – climate change taxation, health care reform, and now more war in Afghanistan.

With the aid of the 24/7 newsroom, Obama manages to storm the screen almost daily to assimilate a mentality that he hopes will become permanent. The Afghanistan War is a “just war” just because that he, the president, says it is so.  A continuing political campaign is driven by his team with attempts to maintain public approval.

When a politician campaigns incessantly, this may lead to political suicide if the tides turn. One must remember, although those sound bytes may sound like the message is on key, those same bytes can come back to haunt you if your course of action causes more destruction than was anticipated.

Permanent partisan warfare also sets the stage for revenge on the next cycle. And it is the people in the end that suffer from decisions that were poorly thought out. Political parties always rebuild. It is the citizens that always bear the burdens.

As President Bush elevated the permanent campaign, President Obama is using the same approach. The end results could prove to be catastrophic. But there may be a slight difference under the radar. Some of Obama’s own constituents do not seem to be on the same page as Obama. Even so, the “permanent campaign” advances.