Divide and Conquer
Tim Bean
8/14/2012
Holy Mary, Mother of God, I think this campaign has “jumped the shark,” and the thing is that it isn’t even close to being finished yet. The odds are better than good that there will be many, many more sharks jumped by both the Democrats and the Republicans before we even get dressed on Election Day, let alone set foot in the actual voting booth. What I am referring to are the comments by Vice President Joe Biden giving a speech in Danville Alabama today, and I think most of us know that VP Biden is known for saying some pretty outrageous things.
Before I get into what it was Biden said that I believe is pretty damn over the top, let’s look at the demographics and history of Danville Alabama. First and foremost it is the city from which one of America’s all-time greatest athletes hails from, none other than Jesse Owens, and that is certainly something that any town should be proud of. Second the city of Danville has a median income of around $40,000 dollars, which I guess isn’t too shabby for a town of about 6,000 residents; so it isn’t exactly a shanty town.
Now, let’s get to what Mr. Biden said there. In referencing the Republican Party’s shiny and new VP candidate, Rep. Paul Ryan, and his budget proposal – that calls for fewer corporate regulations, with Biden saying that the Romney/Ryan duo want to “Unchain Wall Street!” But that isn’t where he gets outrageous, he then, according to this article, dramatically lowers his voice and tells the audience, “They’re going to put you all back in chains.” You will also notice in that article that it says Danville Alabama is roughly 48% African American* according to the 2011 census. Umm, yeah, that is nothing other than a scare tactic and a pretty reprehensible one too.
When you continue on in that article you will see the Democratic spin doctors saying that the VP only meant it metaphorically, then going on about how Romney and Ryan’s economic plan will yield further/more/another financial Armageddon. Okay, fine, I am smart enough to know that Biden doesn’t actually believe that the GOP and their “dynamic” uno (I don’t think anyone could accuse Mitt Romney of being a dynamo) is out to enslave us all. I also believe that those in attendance, particularly those who are of African American heritage, don’t honestly believe that Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan, and the rest of the GOP are proponents of slavery (at least I hope they don’t). That being said, it is hard to ignore the intent of his words, metaphor or not; which is to scare the BeeGeesus out of people. Yes, it is a metaphor, but it is also propaganda; and like pretty much all propaganda, it is a lie.
Both the Democrats and the Republicans have mastered the art of divide and conquer. They use inflammatory and outrageous rhetoric (more commonly known as lies) to fragment all of us into little incensed groups pointing fingers at one another, blaming one another, and then they promise the world to each of the incensed groups that they created. Doing this keeps us all off of focusing on the bigger and deeper issues, making us all only focused on the rhetorical flames that these parties lit themselves. It is nothing more than a colossal game of “Three Card Monty,” using deceit and manipulation to con us out of our votes, and ultimately our money. I believe the Democrats are better at this than the Republicans, not because I think the Republicans are more honest, but because both parties have succeeded so well at conning the majority of us out of our money, that more and more of us are falling into the “eat the rich” demographic; which another of the Democrats divide and conquer strategies, to vilify those who have more money than we do. The Republicans are losing basically because while they talk a good game about fiscal conservatism, and smaller government, their track record belies the talk. However they (the Republicans) do have the religious right on their side, which they use to divide us into either God fearing patriots, or anti-Christian commie atheists. So, yay for Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech and all of us actually heeding that wise man’s words - yes I am being facetious, because few of us actually live by that dream.
*Just on a point of fact, I went to the US Census Bureau website to verify the NBC article’s demographic numbers of Danville Alabama, and the percentage of African Americans in Morgan County (where Danville is located) or Decatur Alabama (where Danville is an unincorporated suburb) and the percentage of African American’s isn’t even half of what NBC is quoting. Danville isn’t even selectable as its own city. Doing further research I went to www.city-data.com and found that Danville’s African American population doesn’t even come close to the 48% as that article puts forth. Despite this, I still believe there is a definite scare tactic message being directed to the African American community with what Joe Biden said, which again was, “They’re going to put you all back in chains.” Look at the italicized and bold words, those are not directed or intended towards the white community; metaphor be damned.
Men are so simple and so much inclined to obey immediate needs that a deceiver will never lack victims for his deceptions. (Niccolo Machiavelli)
Hello TBean. I respectively disagree with your assessment that the Republicans have also mastered (or even sought to master) the art of “Divide and Conquer” rhetoric. The vast majority of this kind of tactic comes from the left. I could run circles around you with examples if you wanted to compare the sheer number and severity of comments made by Democrats vs Republicans. I have a brother who looks at every attempt of House Republicans to pass any bill that Harry Reid said is DOA as purely political. The House carries out it’s legal obligations to pass legislation and attempt to start any constructive debate with the Senate and it’s always viewed as partisan by him. I am not saying that this never occurs, but his perspective and I think yours, might be colored a bit by the prism you are viewing the Washington fiasco through. The Repubs were silenced from 2008-2010, and since then, the Tea Party (and a Republican party, that I believe in part, has learned some hard lessons about straying from their fiscal roots during the Bush years), has been turning national attention to the economic peril that our nation is heading for.
In like fashion, Romney and Ryan are the only ones constantly calling for the issues to be debated, but I am not going to fault them for telling the public about the Democrat strategy now being executed across the nation (fear and hate like I have never seen). But they still should be honest. Look, the nation better be scared of a second Obama term. After all, Obama told Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev in March of this year that he will have more flexibility after he wins re-election. More flexibility? God save us. He didn’t tell the American people that, did he? People better be scared. You can’t characterize what the Democrats are dong in a positive light. It’s about time we started fighting back. These calls about how Romney and Ryan are running the same kind of campaign as Obama/Biden are not accurate at all. Those remarks are being made now by liberal sources because they see their candidate on the defensive so when they start to lose the argument, they want to call a truce (but still won’t debate the issues, if you will notice).
Incidentally, I could be considered to be on the religious right. But I am also just as much as a objective realist. Both sides have made big mistakes and need to be held accountable if given power and if that trust is abused, whoever it is (including rhino Republicans or Tea Party), they need to go.
Stephen,
First let me say thank you for taking the time to read, and then respond to my article; I do truly appreciate it. I agree with you that the Democrats are the true masters of the universe when it comes to vitriolic, divisive, and outlandish scare tactics and rhetoric. I also agree with you that by and large Mitt Romney has tried to drag the discussion away from the Dem’s hyperbolic BS and back towards the issues of the day. That is why I said that the Democrats are winning this game of distortion and outright lies. In the spirit of full disclosure, I am not a particular fan of either the Dem’s or the GOP, but I guess you probably figured that out already, I am a Libertarian – Google it you might like it – and as you also might have figured out from reading my article, I am on the cynical side of things, which can and does make me look at almost everything, especially in politics, with an eye of skepticism, doubt, and distrust.
I appreciate the fact that you can look through the lens of realism and objectivity, the political landscape needs more people who aren’t afraid to call “horse hockey” on our government, even when the person we are calling out may be someone we usually defend. That is the part that just kills me, when people just march lockstep with the party that they are members of or identify with, whether they agree or not is irrelevant. Disagreement in government is good, it can and does lead to compromise – at least it used to – our country was founded through disagreement and compromise. I guess my point here is that I am not out to tell you that you are wrong and I am right. There is too much of that already, and it serves nothing and no one. As long as “We the People” can carry on a rational, intelligent discourse, without reverting to finger pointing, name calling, malicious rumor mongering (Harry Reid, I’m looking at you) then at least one of the important spirits of America will survive, and thrive (those spirits by the way are Truth, Justice, and the American Way – which I think is getting a little lost). If anyone gets anything from much of what I write here, I hope it is that they realize the days of being a Lay-z-boy participant in our republic are long since gone. We the People need to get up and work for the freedoms that are granted in our constitution, and stop leaving it up to the government to “fix” everything – it can’t. It only makes things worse.
Thanks again, I hope you will return and read more of my writings; and always feel free to leave a comment, whether you agree or disagree, I’m not here to serve as a censor.
Sincerely,
Tim