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Most voters I know, are indeed so easily beguiled. Whether that amounts to a almost half of those who voted or just over half (in the neighborhood of 50 million), is a question for Diebold and others who appear to have manipulated the numbers by some percentage.
Polls showing people, who still believe IRAQ has WMDs (and yes, many of these people did vote) despite authoritative reports to the contrary is just one of scores of examples of Americans who have been beguiled, misled or whatever you wish to call it.
Reports from Democrats who went door to door before the last election refer to depressingly common encounters with people (who fully intended to vote) who believed that Bush was doing everything possible to preserve the environment and fight pollution and likewise believed almost the exact opposite of reality on issue after issue (believing every claim by Bush and even extrapolating from general phrases to believe all sorts of nonsense).
In fact, the simple fact that fifty three million, give or take, apparently voted for Bush is proof enormous numbers of people have been taken in. Even without any possible voter fraud, which would amount to an extreme high of perhaps 8 million votes, that's still more than 40 million. Remember, these are people who believe that deficits/debt doesn't matter, that they've been being overcharged abusively in their tax burden (which, while debatable, is primarily not true; taxes represent the cost of having our government in all it's glory, some good, some not so good, but still necessary), who think that stem cell research and gay marriage amendments are of primary importance to the country's operation and future, who believe Democrats couldn't handle the responsibility for national security and that Republicans, for whom we have much evidence showing they can't handle it, are the only ones who can. The number of illusions matches the number of issues. There are many, many more, everything from 9/11, the Patriot Act, Tax Cuts, No Child Left Behind, to the honesty and trustworthiness of Electronic Voting Systems. By and large, they still don't realize they've been lied to--they may suspect, or even recognize a few instances, but they don't recognize more than a small fraction of the lies. Very few indeed would believe it if they were told that the MSM actually states and repeats outright direct lies (lies being intentional falsehoods that are utterly untrue/dishonest). That alone, in a sense, is a form of 'programming'; they still believe they get the truth (at least from some sources).
Now then, if you thought I meant everyone and in particular Democratic voters, you were mistaken. They represent the force of rational thought, of critical thinking and are not content with the absurdly dishonest version of reality we're fed through the mainstream media. They show that you cannot fool all the people all of the time. Still, there were far too many voters who were led astray--embarrassingly so for our country.
Happily, more and more people are realizing they've been lied to--and finally seem to be beginning to care; hence the drop in Bush's approval ratings. However, that doesn't by any means mean that those millions of voters aren't still harboring any number of false ideas and frames that preclude discussion of their alternatives.
My attitude, if anything, represents the reason we will win more elections; but only to the extent Democrats recognize the pervasiveness of the lies, the importance of the media (just as the Republicans have; and the reason they've plotted to dominate it--or have their surrogate selves, the Corporations, dominate it). If you mean by "un-trick" people, to present them with the truth in a way that they will give it fair consideration while showing how the Republican version was deceptive and convince them that even the MSM lies to them directly... you're right. However, it's also plainly evident that if you want to change a person's vote, you have to change their thinking. Their beliefs and attitudes are formed, on a basic level, in a similar fashion to our own; they're just more willing to accept what appears to be the popular, most supported and agreed upon answers (as presented in writing, on TV, on the Radio and by 'experts', and the apparent 'winner' of televised debates (ie. rigged roundtable discussions where one side is overwhelmed by the other).
If a majority of Democrats were to reject the well known and understood, almost obvious mechanisms by which people's thinking is manipulated (believe it or not, propaganda if done well and not called "propaganda", actually works), such as you apparently do--then we really are doomed to lose. Lose almost every contest from here on--except for cases in which the Republcans completely destroy themselves all on their own anyway. To continue to ineffectually wish people would somehow elect us, is pointless. Likewise wishing that somehow our message would strike Republicans as a "vision" they would prefer or hoping that somehow we could win back their "trust" doesn't do anything for us either. I'm not even sure it's not incoherent.
"People don't need to be deprogrammed to start thinking clearly, rationally and critically, they need a vision to follow after". You think not, well, you're free to think what you wish. However, I would suggest you give it a shot and try to get them to think clearly, rationally or critically. Better yet, try to get them to even consider a "vision to follow" without getting them to think, to give up their current beliefs. Perhaps "deprogramming" is too strong a word, but Republicans are very set in their beliefs and are not at all very open to considering anything new (at least that element of Conservatism remains unchanged). They are used to ignoring the facts (in the increasingly rare instances in which they're presented with them) that it must at least be considered a mental habit. Convincing them to or persuading them to or hopeing they will overcome that behavior on their own is not easy. Our ideologies do differ significantly, just presenting them with a "vision" doesn't mean they'll even listen, much less consider changing their stance. That's why I include the notion of "frames" in presenting our positions, our arguments, our 'vision'; because we have to get them to consider the assumptions that underly their beliefs and get them to question as well as actually think about how their vision may be flawed--while simultaneously making ours more acceptable (and yet still true to our ideology). None of this is easy.
Still, your notion about presenting them with a vision they can follow, in some ways is consistent with what I was saying... that we must present our beliefs in such a way that it deflates their beliefs, catches and holds their attention... is very much the same thing as providing to them a "vision". Though I would claim it's a new way of thinking with it's own component elements of fact and understanding--a "frame" for understanding--and capable of breaking them free from their currently held "vision". The thing is, the people in question hold their current "vision" so firmly and without rational basis that it's been thus far, impossible to change--and while you might say presenting them with the best, most honest facts and analysis describing an issue is not the same as providing them a "vision" to follow; all I can say is we'd all welcome better framed arguments (presentations of "vision"); so feel free to provide examples.
We're all being manipulated every day and most strongly by the media. Between the Bush Administration's child-like speech and the media's parroting; I don't see how you can think we're not being treated like children. We've not been given the facts, and such information as we are given is provided as though pre-chewed, pre-digested--infant pablum. We're shown a little bit of the facts and alot of "what it all means" (provided conveniently by Republican talking heads/media personalities). There's no other way to describe it, well--some refer to it as the 'dumbing down' of the American citizen. Nevertheless, it is much like being treated as a child. Sadly, given that we are fed this from every direction (MSM), and since there really are millions of people who are conditioned to believe 'authority', it works. Now then, it's not really that all those people are imbeciles--it's just they've never been exposed to critical thinking (had no example), they're busy with making a living or attending to a wide range of distractions and aren't interested in politics. That people aren't interested in politics--is itself an intended result, a subtle manipulation to help keep the population from being troublesom--and, in a way, a way to keep people on an immature/childlike level. It's also a failing of education--so many people don't even know what their rights are, and so won't miss them, others simply don't know how the government is supposed to act, and yet others don't realize that politics itself is of supreme importance as it affects everything in their lives.
As for soul searching--it appears you haven't been bothering much to keep informed of what's in the Democratic Platform. We have searched our souls and considered and reconsidered our positions. As an individual, I might think we could or need to improve in various ways, but we already have a viable, rational and workable set of plans that generally reflect our ideology. No, more soul searching is not necessary.
Your own arguments, if they could even be called that, are so subjective and ungrounded in reality I would have to wonder if you've fallen for the Republican's efforts to paralyze the Democratic party. It sounds alot like the artificial, but unfortunately effective tactic the Republicans pulled off immediately following their unlikely victory in the 2004 election--to claim Democrat's had lost touch with "values" (when the truth of it was that the Republicans were plainly the ones whose behaviors had most strongly been devoid of "values"--even by their own definitions). Nevertheless, it caused millions of depressed Democrats to wonder--have we really lost touch with the values of Americans? Consider the enormous waste of time that resulted; all of which was just the end result of a Republican "trick". Anyway, if you want to blame someone for Democrat's lack of success at the polls, you should look in the mirror before pointing to others.
Nowhere did I suggest we expend any effort on Bush bashing or trying to drive his numbers into the ground. While satisfying, it doesn't achieve much. What we do need is very smart, well-formed arguments/frames (or to use your words, clear vision). Of course, we also have to find a way to have such arguments or vision reach everyone--and to do so in a competitive volume lest it just be ignored or be ganged up against (in which case they will no doubt distort and present falsehoods about our vision--negating it while ignoring and not reporting our complaints that they've done so). In some cases, however, the alternative of not voting would be desirable. That is, those who no longer like Congress/Bush enough to not vote, so long as the majority of them are Republicans, would be useful. It would always be better if they were to achieve enlightenment, but in many cases that's either very, very difficult or hopeless. The next best thing would be if they didn't vote. We however, cannot afford to not vote; given the level of distress we feel about our government, though, it's not likely many of us will choose not to vote (even if we fear the machines will discard our votes).
Absolutely true that Democrats have a great deal of frustration with their leaders. It's very disappointing that even under such dire circumstances our leadership can't present a united front. Alas, the basic issues of Americans being misled, misinformed, (beguiled if you will) and so on by a "ruling" party by means of a complicit media doesn't go away.
I don't think 2006 will be a 'cake-walk' at all. Even if Republicans continue to screw up, get caught and become more and more exposed, and even if Democrats are able to get their message out in an effective form as much as possible. Few Republicans will change their votes even if they've changed their minds; no matter how unhappy they are with their leaders or how they've come to distrust them (they still distrust us more and reject our beliefs out of hand and won't reconsider). Even if they did, I'm sufficiently convinced that voter fraud (electronic voting and counting, ballot tricks, voter disenfranchisement) both exist and will play a larger role than ever before. Few Republicans know the truth about such fraud--nearly all dismiss it as a paranoid fantasy; that's why so many leading Republicans are convinced they're in deep trouble. I doubt that they are. I dearly hope they are. We should all both hope so and do everything we can to ensure Democratic wins. Now is not the time for complacency.
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