> Kevin wrote: > I agree with the sentiment in general, but when you're in power you > generally do want a halt to polarizing ideas. They are the ones that > are counter to your power base. >
Getting power, however, seems to be all about polarizing ideas. Go back to Mr. Reagan's strategy of picking issues that may or may not be part of bigger issues. No matter what they are, you take the side that 80% of people will agree with and your opponent will have to take the other side or agree with you. If they agree, you win because you were talking about it first. If they disagree you call them "out of the mainstream". It's really just a clever way to manipulate people. For example, if a Democratic candidate wanted a better position about abortion she may choose to talk mostly about legal abortion in the case of rape. Or abortion when, without it, you endanger the life of the mother. If she really did a laser focus on this aspect of abortion she may be able to deflect any attacks on abortion as a whole. The Republicans did a great job of doing this with the "death tax". Nobody cared when it was called the "estate tax" so they polled people, found that "death tax" polled poorly, and then used the issue as an overall referendum on taxes. Further they created a "tax cut", but raised spending. Whenever they're asked about spending they talk about tax cuts or bettering the economy. So getting power seems to be about purposely polarizing people with false issues, rather than having a real talk about policy choices that includes metrics with which to judge progress. NOBODY does that except mavericks like Mr. McCain or Mr. Clark. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Find out how CFTicket can increase your company's customer support efficiency by 100% http://www.houseoffusion.com/banners/view.cfm?bannerid=49 Message: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=i:5:168524 Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/threads.cfm/5 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=s:5 Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5 Donations & Support: http://www.houseoffusion.com/tiny.cfm/54
