Carpe Datum

Confidence Game

I didn't watch the "State of the Union" address. Life is too short to purposely go out of my way to get irritated. But I've read enough of the text to know that it was just more of the same, which is to say more of convincing the majority of Americans to cheer loud and proud for things that fuck them over. You should go read The Rude Pundit's excellent review of the evening (shorter summary of the SOTU: "Suck it, fuckers."), which also puts the Democratic booing into perspective for all of the professionally offended Republicans out there. It's time for some perspective on just what makes their dishonesty so compelling for so many Moron Americans.

It's like a big confidence game. The secret to a good con is to not only make your mark feel like the final decision is his free choice but also to ensure your mark still feels good about the choice after having made it (at least until you can get away). The marks here are Moron Americans, and the con will last as long as it can, because every day it goes on, the rich get substantially richer, and it doesn't really matter if or when they are "found out" because they will never be held accountable (except maybe by history, which they don't give a rat's ass about). Digby talks about the success of the Republicans in framing the debate over government:

The Republicans have an economic framing model that's very successful and we can learn from it. They sell an optimistic, simple philosophy of "if only the government would get out of the way you can be successful." This means that if you aren't successful it's the government's fault. (And Democrats believe in government so they are actively working to keep you down.) Their frame is always, entirely, the frame of self reliance and self interest. They preach it as a moral good no matter what the situation. This is a notion that has a very long history in American culture and it's one that appeals to a very basic aspect of human nature. It has become the dominant strain in political discourse over the last thirty years.

Yeah, Reagan started this, but it has gotten a lot louder thanks to the Pill Popping ConservaBorg hypocrites of the talk radio world. It's not that self-reliance is a bad meme. Not at all. The libertarian part of my philosophy is very much in favor of it, but at the same time, I know that the whole idea of self-reliance is being abused by corrupt jackasses trying to convince people to agree to stupid things.

For example, they push the idea of self-reliance as a reason to reduce taxes. Ok, you want to reduce the tax burden on the average, hard-working American to reward their self-reliance, to starve the government, etc. I can sympathize, but then it's a bait-and-switch. 90% of the tax cut benefits go to the super-rich who don't need it (and are often decidedly *NOT* self-reliant, instead acquiring wealth through inheritance or good-old-boy networks). If you try to point that out, you get accused of being in favor of big gummint against the common man, etc.

So, sure, give me self-reliance, but don't use it as a mask to sell a steaming pile of shit to people.

However, they know that Americans are not that simple minded about their own personal self interest. Even if they sign on to the philosophy of self interest it doesn't mean that they don't understand that they have much to gain with a generous redistributional government. (Hence the "lucky ducky" strategy.)

The link points to a Krugman column in which he talks about how the ConservaBorg use the bait-and-switch to get taxes cut for the super-rich while leaving all the crappy regressive (payroll, property, sales, fees for licenses, etc) taxes and fees in place, when it is the regressive taxes that represent the lion's share of the burden on most people. When you're done reading this entry, you should do yourself a favor and go back to this link. It is a comprehensive and very readable summary of how the Republicans con people about taxes on a regular basis.

Americans like certain things the government provides. So, the Republicans hire guys like Frank Luntz and spend millions of dollars polling and focus grouping to find out how to market this "you're on your own" philosophy to make it sound as if they will be guaranteed a better result if they do it the GOP way. They choose words and phrases that denigrate government, make Democrats appear to be corrupt and enslaved by "special" interests and make it sound as if people will be giving nothing up and gaining much by signing on to the Republican philosophy.

But, even with all that they have not been able to completely destroy the liberal consensus. Therefore, they are forced to do things like sell social security destruction on two tracks. They are simultaneously trying to "save" something that poeple obviously value while at the same time convincing people that they will benefit far more if they sign on to the privatization bandwagon. But we have recently found out that after all this time they can't use the word "privatization" because people aren't buying it. People know enough to know "privatization" means they might lose money.

This is very telling It says that while the Republicans have been able to move self interest to the front and center of political discourse, displacing the values of community and altruism as things people feel they ought to say when quizzed about such things. But they haven't managed to make people believe that government is their personal enemy or that it is in their self interest to reject all redistribution of wealth so that they might have more "opportunity." Self-interested people aren't ideologues. They'll take the best deal from wherever it comes.

Therefore, I would submit that our rhetorical frames should begin to speak to the fact that properly run government is a good deal. Social Security is a guaranteed check that is always on time and comes every single month no matter how long you live. That's a good deal.

And I think that we have to acknowledge that the altruistic, moral case for government is (temporarily, hopefully) on the decline and we need to argue in a way that accomodates that. On a separate track we must enlist the liberal clergy and others to begin to build the progressive values arguments back up, just as the Republicans continue to build their case for laissez-faire. But in the meantime, we need to realize that we are in an era of marketing to people's individual wants and desires and needs. This is how they view the world.

I don't think we need to be dishonest, but I fear that we are going to be bulldozed over and over again, even if we win the battle for social security, if we try to hang our hats on the moral case for good government. Someday, perhaps, we can get there. But today I think that the singular success of the Republican era is persuading people that selfishness is a positive good. Little Aynnie Rand must be popping a Dexie and lighting a cig with satisfaction down in the third circle right now.

Unfortunately, as long as the media continues to cooperate with the ConservaBorg, we've got no chance. If the media reports "on the one hand, some say 2+2 may just equal 7" and the like, people are going to take from that whatever they want to hear, and talk radio/Faux news are going to make sure to push for the choice Republicans want. The best hope is for an expansion of things like Air America so at least people are exposed to some truth-based rhetoric instead of the mantra of the Hannitys of the world.

Posted by Observer at February 3, 2005 12:43 PM