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| Anthony Freda Art |
Activist Post
A writer’s greatest disappointments are readers who have knee-jerk responses. Not all readers, of course. Some readers are thoughtful and supportive. Others express thanks for opening their eyes. But the majority are happy when a writer tells them what they want to hear and are unhappy when he writes what they don’t want to hear.
For the left-wing, Ronald Reagan is the great bogeyman. Those on the left don’t understand supply-side economics as a macroeconomic innovation that cured stagflation by utilizing the impact of fiscal policy on aggregate supply. Instead, they see “trickle-down economics” and tax cuts for the rich.
Leftists don’t understand that the Reagan administration intervened in Grenada and Nicaragua in order to signal to the Soviets that there would be no more Soviet expansion or client states and that it was time to negotiate the end of the cold war. Instead, leftists see in Reagan the origin of rule by the one percent and the neoconservatives’ wars for US hegemony.
In 1981 curtailing inflation meant collapsing nominal GNP and tax revenues. The result would be budget deficits–anathema to Republicans– during the period of readjustment. Ending the cold war meant curtailing the military/security complex and raised the specter in conservative circles of “the anti-Christ” Gorbachev deceiving Reagan and taking over the world.
In pursuing his two main goals, Reagan was up against his own constituency and relied on rhetoric to keep his constituency on board with his agenda. The left wing heard the rhetoric but failed to comprehend the agenda.
When I explain these facts, easily and abundantly documented, some of leftish persuasion send in condescending and insulting emails telling me that they look forward to the day that I stop lying about Reagan and tell the truth about Reagan like I do about everything else.
“Knee-jerk liberal” is a favorite term of conservatives. But conservatives can be just as knee-jerk. When I object to Washington’s wars, the mistreatment of detainees and the suspension of civil liberties, some on the right tell me that if I hate America so much I should move to Cuba. Many Republicans cannot get their minds around the fact that if civil liberties are subject to the government’s arbitrary discretion, then civil liberties do not exist. The flag-waving element of the population is prone to confuse loyalty to the country with loyalty to the government, unless, of course, there’s a Democrat in the White House.
Rationally, it makes no sense for readers to think that a writer who would lie to them about one thing would tell them the truth about another. But as long as they hear what they want to hear, it is the truth. If they don’t want to hear it, it is a lie.
Both left and right also confuse explanations with justifications.
When a writer writes about the perils that we as a society face and the implications, it is very discouraging for the writer to know that many readers will not listen unless it is what they want to hear. This discouragement is precisely what every truth-teller faces, which is why there are so few of them.
This is one reason I stopped writing a couple of years ago. I found that solid facts and sound analysis could not penetrate brainwashed and closed minds seeking vindication to keep the mind locked tightly against unsettling truths. Americans want to have their beliefs vindicated more than they want the truth. The success of print and TV pundits is based on allying with a prominent point of view or interest group and serving it. Those served make the writer or talking head successful. I never thought much of that kind of success.
But success as a whore is about the only kind of success that can occur in Washington or in the media these days. Those who refuse to prostitute themselves arouse pity and denunciation, not admiration. A couple of years ago an acquaintance from a university in the northeast called me to say he had recently had lunch with some of my former associates in Washington. When he inquired about me, he said the response was, “Poor Craig, if he hadn’t turned critic, he would be worth tens of millions of dollars like us.”I replied that my former associates were undoubtedly correct. My acquaintance said that he hadn’t realized that he was having lunch with a bunch of prostitutes.
The incentive to speak the truth and the reward for doing so are very weak. And not just for a writer, but also for academics and experts who can make far more money by lying than by telling the truth. How else would we have got GMOs, jobs offshoring, the “unitary executive,” and a deregulated financial system? It is a very lucrative career to testify as an expert in civil lawsuits. It is part of America’s romance with the lie that experts purchased by the opposing sides in a lawsuit battle it out as gladiators seeking the jury’s thumbs-up.
And look at Congress. The two members of the House who stood up for the Constitution and truth in government will soon be gone. Ron Paul is stepping down, and Dennis Kucinich was redistricted out of his seat. As for the Senate, these thoughtful personages recently voted 90-1 to declare war on Iran, as the sole dissenter, Rand Paul, pointed out. The Senate is very much aware, although only a few will publicly admit it, that the US has been totally frustrated and held to a standoff, if not a defeat, in Afghanistan and is unable to subdue the Taliban. Despite this, the Senate wants a war with Iran, a war which could easily turn out to be even less successful. Obviously, the Senate not only lies to the public but also to itself.
Last week the Pentagon chief, Panetta, told China that the new US naval, air, and troop bases surrounding China are not directed at China. What else could be the purpose of the new bases? Washington is so accustomed to lying and to being believed that Panetta actually thinks China will believe his completely transparent lie. Panetta has confused China with the American people: tell them what they want to hear, and they will believe it.
Americans live in a matrix of lies. They seldom encounter a truthful statement.There is no evidence that Americans can any longer tell the difference between the truth and a lie. Americans fell for all of these lies and more: Saddam Hussein has weapons of mass destruction and al Qaeda connections. Saddam Hussein’s troops seized Kuwaiti babies from incubators and threw them on the floor. Gaddafi fed his troops Viagra to help them rape Libyan women. Iran has a nuclear weapons program. Change–yes we can! The US is “the indispensable country.” America is broke because of food stamps and Social Security, not because of wars, bankster bailouts, and a failing economy. Russia is America’s number one enemy. China is America’s number one enemy. Iran is a terrorist state. Jobs offshoring is free trade and good for the US economy. Israel is America’s most loyal ally. The US missile shield surrounding Russia is not directed at Russia. The South China sea is an area of US national interest. Financial markets are self-regulating.The list is endless. Lies dominate every policy discussion, every political decision. The most successful people in America are liars.
The endless lies have created a culture of delusion. And this is why America is lost. The beliefs of many Americans, perhaps a majority, are comprised of lies. These beliefs have become emotional crutches, and Americans will fight to defend the lies that they believe. The inability of Americans to accept facts that are contrary to their beliefs is the reason the country is leaderless and will remain so. Unless scales fall from Americans’ eyes, Americans are doomed.
This article first appeared at Paul Craig Roberts' new website Institute For Political Economy. Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy and associate editor of the Wall Street Journal. He was columnist for Business Week, Scripps Howard News Service, and Creators Syndicate. He has had many university appointments. His Internet columns have attracted a worldwide following.
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11 comments:
Reality will eventually show the lies. I talk to many folks about different subjects. People are catching on slowly but there are some really confused humans who are waiting for some miracle to happen. They don't seem to realize that it is all falling apart. The environment,economy and the society. Peace to all who seek it.
Paul Craig, you should be experienced enough to realize, that the phenomena you are witnessing, the preservation of positively perceived delusions, is chemical in origin. An illusion can only be overcome through disenchantment or cognition; the first is, again, chemical, and the latter is reserved for only a few. Secondary delusions like amassing pelf can blur any moral objections to professing the existence of a falsehood!
The effects of chemistry helps maintain peace within any "normal" creature society. The intelligent, like the cretin, are aberrations and are isolated and/or ignored.
Happy days are here again! Hum, hum, ...., hum!!!
I would suggest if someone wanted to know the true story of Reagan, the Teflon president to read Murray Rothbard here: http://www.lewrockwell.com/rothbard/rothbard60.html.
He was an ACTOR plus part of the communist party also.
PCR said: The beliefs of many Americans, perhaps a majority, are comprised of lies. ... The inability of Americans to accept facts that are contrary to their beliefs is the reason the country is leaderless...
I feel your pain (ha, ha, had to say it) but your summary there belies the "reason" we can't get out of this matrix of lies. It blames the victim. How can Americans understand the facts when they have been fed nothing but lies? Isn't it the system of manipulation that deserves more scorn?
There is a line of reasoning on the internet that ALL Americans are dumb, lazy, fat, indoctrinated jingoists that do nothing but watch American Idol and eat hamburgers. These are not the people I meet in ordinary life. The Americans I see may be partisan and operating in a lie matrix, but they would make good choices if real choices were available. I trust the common man's common sense IF given a healthy diet of real information and a politics that made rational choice possible. I am angrier at the system than those it has disenfranchised.
Above all, ensure the safety of your precious bodily fluids!
Anonymous @ September 27, 2012 8:55 AM, said:
"The Americans I see may be partisan and operating in a lie matrix, but they would make good choices if real choices were available. I trust the common man's common sense IF given a healthy diet of real information and a politics that made rational choice possible."
That's clear and unambiguous prose typed by an informed and intelligent person. I salute you!
Too bad you don't have a name.
PCR, like many others, 3new up in state of depression: we are doomed.
And within that depression, he once again defends his former boss (that would explain why he is, on this one topic, upside down) Reagan. The defense is that I didn't mean what he said, that in Machiavellian style, his speech was intended to fake out various elements, in order to create a robust economy and show the USSR their influence in Central America was over.
In order to do this (so the defense runs), Reagan had to say one thing and do another, triple the national debt, by far the worst example of profligate spending of any President (PCR was asst. Secy of Treasury so this reflects direct on him. No amount of economic jargon (supply side is NOT trickle down, etc) can ignore that the economic growth Reagan created was done on the credit card.
And the intervention in Central America not only broke the law (a high crime) but sponsored massacres of civilians. The arms buildup, all done with borrowed money, was for the purpose of bankrupting the USSR, claims PCR. Well, this is 1) not what dissolved the Soviet Union and
2) more of the Bush program: cut taxes on the rich (drastically), borrow huge amounts to build up the Military/Industrial Complex, and carry on many stealth wars, in violation of the law.
PCR ignores all this and his defense therefore must be excused as the loyalty a former employee of Reagan feels. He thinks anyone who criticizes Reagan is a brainwashed lefty. It does not occur to him, tho lucid on many issues, he is personally invested in defending Reagan and therefore not objective at all.
PCR is simply blind to the reality of Reagan's acts of treason (subverting Carter's hostage negotiations) and impeachable crimes (violating the Boland Amendment). The Machiavellian the end justifies the means is used to justify lying to the public.
Reagan greatly expanded the defense establishment, supported death squads in Central America, and engineered a tax structure, along with a laissez=faire deregulation policy (combined with huge subsidies to powerful corporations) that has resulted in 30 years of growing inequality, as the median wage has declined (also because of Reagan's destruction of the unions) over 30% while the rich have tripled their wealth.
PCR wants to blame the consequences of Reagan's policies (many were controlled by members of his cabinet and staff) on those who followed.
In this regard, he is in denial and must be forgiven, since his opinions of his old boss
do not really matter.
I worry about his level of gloom. He is increasingly isolated and contemptuous of those like me who, disagree with him and yet value his blunt honesty on matters of state.
Dale
Dale, excellent summation on Reagan. I have researched the same information.
I would like to add that a good portion of American families are now operating in 'survival mode' rather than performing due diligence on the issues. You better believe that the inside-the-beltway crowd knows this as well, and even counts on it to maintain a sense of power.
Ours is not the only government that perpetuates a survival mode among its underlings while its ruling class maintains the attitude, "Let them eat cake!"
We just better hope that the results of this sorry charade of a 'democratic' election doesn't come back to bite us in the tush.
Many people have serve in Presidential administrations that failed to fulfill what their people expected.
How many men who were associates with Cabinet members of presidents found the facts and courage to reveal the truth about the government origins of human confusion?
Few of us would know the truth, if it were not for the honesty of a rare few who have politically shared the experience of Saul of Tarsus. Thank God for their warnings!
Dale, I agree. PCR does his credibility no favors defending Reagan. PCR has rightfully criticized Obama for his lawless presidency, but it was Reagan set the precidents.
Haynes Johnson lays it all out in "Sleepwalking Through History: America in the Reagan Years." He says Reagan "privatized foreign policy" and documents the creation of something called the Enterprise, which was a private CIA for the NWO. Not much has changed.
Reagan privatized defense. Under Reagan the American economy was hollowed out, sold to the likes of Milken and Boesky.
A highly recommended read for anyone wanting a more honest accounting of Reagan.
My people perish for lack of knowledge- Jesus Christ
And he would say to you Mr. Roberts. Well done my faithful servant.
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