Politics of Perception: How Our Views can be More Damaging than Reality

I’ve tried to write this for what feels like a million times in a million different ways. I had too many thoughts to sort out, too many goals I told myself I could accomplish. In the end, I landed on one major issue. I’ll start by stating it plainly: the biggest problem that America faces today is a perception problem. Obviously that seems like an absurd statement, but that is what I intend to prove. The basic reason perception is such an issue is it has immobilized us. The perception problem by itself cannot really harm us. People are entitled to believe what they want and feel how they choose. The root problem, however, is the perception of anger and fear. It has created a culture of distrust of our own government and our own fellow Americans. This is truly at the highest levels I have seen in my lifetime, I would argue and will argue that the state of this country is simply not nearly as bad as many of believe and we have all been told. I’m going to attempt to keep this as free from bias as possible, which will not be completely possible, but I will attempt to simply focus on facts and my own analytical observations.

One thing I cannot deny is a deep division among our population, but who is to blame for that? Do we really want to blame one person? One president? One congress? Many aspects make up this nation, and our government is only a portion of that. Are we not supposed to be a nation that believes in personal responsibility? To that end, can we blame one presidential candidate or another for that division, for what we believe in our hearts and minds?

I would, instead, think it critical to look to our society and what has changed within it. The reasons for the increased division are incredibly complex, and that is largely the problem. Many feel so frustrated in trying to find a solution that they may turn to the simple answer, even when the simple answer doesn’t truly provide a solution. What I would look to more specifically is the change in how we conduct our political discourse, not just our elected officials, but every one of us.

First of all, there was never a time in this history of this country where division did not exist, where we did not have incredibly complex issues with no perfect solutions. However, what we have in 2016 as opposed to other times in our history are 24-hour news cycles, alternative media, social media, streaming videos, high speed internet, political talking heads in the hundreds.

I believe one could write a novel on how these factors have shaped and changed not only our nation, but the entire world. We have the entire wealth of human knowledge at our fingertips, the vast problem is that within that knowledge, are the largest levels of misinformation the world has ever seen.  It’s the (now) old adage: “I saw it on the internet, so it must be true”. This is a sad side effect from one of the greatest tools ever seen by both this nation and the world. Fringe politics used to be exactly that, on the fringe. There were no means of mass communication for such odd and unconventional political beliefs. And on the surface, it seems like a great thing that everyone had such powerful means to communicate ideas; however the way it has been shaped has been tragic. What has come forth is not a shared forum for thoughts, facts, opinions and beliefs, but rather the validating and mainstreaming of conspiracy theories. There was a time when people understood that conspiracies do exist in the world, however they are rare, and take a small, well controlled group of people to run successfully. Now, we live in a world where there is an answer to any event or story that does not specifically fit within your political belief system, that the powers that be either created the story, or the government rigged the system to benefit the political candidate you dislike, or that the facts themselves somehow contain some kind of bias.

I’ll say again, conspiracies exist, they happen at multiple levels and in multiple ways. The problem, however, is that conspiracy theories have absolutely no burden of proof. People are so convinced of an absolute culture of conspiracy that they have a total distrust of any source of information that does not support their preconceived notions. Confirmation bias has become so strong that the political discourse, that is critical for advancement in a society, has broken down at every level. The problem is that even though this is a country whose population has endless shared values of loving our friends and families, wanting good schools for our children, wanting safety and security in our daily lives, etc. is that so many among us are more concerned whether a person will be voting R or D in the next election.

One of the biggest contributors to politics of the fringe and conspiracies is the 24 hour news cycles and all of their offshoots. I cannot stress this enough, the political news that is being watched, read, commented on, and debated is not news, it is infotainment. I will evidence this by pointing out one simple fact, productive policy discussion is boring as hell. Don’t believe me? Look at the ratings of CSPAN vs Fox News. Almost no one would watch five hours of 24 hour news cycles a day if it was not entertaining, it’s the simple truth. I will be blunt in this statement; it is exciting to be angry and fearful. Are these the emotions or reactions we would actively choose for ourselves? Likely not, and yet here we are, accepting these emotions daily. It’s not all that dissimilar to any other program we watch, there is generally a protagonist and an antagonist, and boy does the antagonist make us angry. Or maybe we’re watching The Bachelorette, and boy do we hate the obvious jerks on the show, but don’t we just love to hate them? The problem is, this is the real world, it’s not black and white, and the solutions take more than an hour or two and a hero with a sexy hero to solve. The problem is Harrison Ford is not the president. The problem is that liberals want what is best for this nation, but so do conservatives, and either side (half of this entire nation) claiming the other is purposefully and systematically attempting to destroy all we hold dear weakens us all.

Maybe we watch this infotainment because we feel it’s our patriotic duty or maybe we do it because we feel we are being informed and derive a certain sense of satisfaction from that fact. Regardless, at the end of the day what we are viewing is not news, but specifically designed bias confirmation to keep us afraid, because fear sells better than sex. The proof is plain to see, profits from Fox in the last quarter alone were at $1.2 billion dollars.

To this point, I have given a lot of generalized observations, but few specifics. I will now cover a few hot button issues where many perceive either unprecedented failure or unprecedented success, when they reality generally lies somewhere more in the middle. Every single one of these topics could be discussed at considerable length, but I will attempt to keep them brief.

POTUS

I do not intend to cover many specifics of the President of the United States (POTUS) for the last eight years, or the eight preceding, but rather the change in perception. We all know the president was never designed to be a king, he or she or even their administration on the whole was never meant be solely responsible for national security, health care, energy, foreign policy, crime, education, race relations, social issues, infrastructure, or the dozens of other issues and realities we face. If it is not the expectation for the POTUS to ensure all of these aspects run smoothly, how can we then blame any one individual for the current state of each and every one of these segments of our society?

I am certainly not implying the president does not carry a heavy burden of responsibility, but societies shift constantly for countless reasons, it is important to think critically. I’ve said for many years the presidential powers have become too expansive, beginning decades ago, but perception has changed so drastically that any executive order written is an affront to the constitution, that virtually any move is a nefarious action, even if there’s long standing precedent of similar actions.  Getting specific, Obama has issued 242 executive orders as of June 2016, fewer than any two-term president other than Ulysses S. Grant (see “The number of executive orders by every U.S. president” http://www.dailydot.com/layer8/number-of-executive-orders-per-president/). Now maybe some might say it’s not the number, but rather what is in those orders. I would counter that with asking for some faith in the checks and balances built within our government, primarily in this case the Supreme Court. They have, for example, already put a stop to Obama’s immigration efforts (see http://www.politico.com/story/2016/06/supreme-court-deadlocks-thwarting-obamas-immigration-actions-224720). Whether or not one may agree with their decision, what is important is to know that measures are in place for executive overreach.  

To cover every perceived view or conspiracy related to the current administration would take an entirely separate post, so I will return to generalities. A president cannot be both feckless and an evil dictator, cannot be both lethargic and malicious, cannot be both an apathetic Christian and a radical Muslim, and cannot be both the best President in the history of the United State and the worst. I have heard the current President described in all of those phrases and terms over the last eight years. This alone should demonstrate the significant perception gap to which I speak.

There are 350 million people within this nation, people of different colors, creeds, religion, sexual orientation, gender identities, priorities, hope, dreams, goals, careers, monetary status, and social status. Despite all these differences, it is our share values that unite us. We love our families, friends, and God. We contribute to society in small, yet critical ways.  We all make the whole of this country, and most by in large are good people.

Now, more than ever, it is time we remember we do not elect a king, remember that the whole of a country is the sum of its parts. It’s time we be personally responsible for our own actions, and work as hard as we can to improve the areas we feel are corrupt, damaged, or broken. I am not, however, willing to admit that we cannot fix all the problems we face, if we face them together.

Immigration

There is a perception that illegal immigration is destroying this country and violently criminal illegal immigrants are roaming our streets looking for their next victims. First off, I doubt there are many that would wish millions would enter this country illegally, however most support immigration reform and a path to citizenship (see “More Republicans Favor Path to Citizenship Than Wall” http://www.gallup.com/poll/193817/republicans-favor-path-citizenship-wall.aspx).

What has been pointed out simply, is that illegal immigrants commit fewer violent crimes than American citizens (see “The Mythical Connection Between Immigrants and Crime” http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-mythical-connection-between-immigrants-and-crime-1436916798). Certainly this does not imply that these individuals are not inherently committing the crime of entering the United States illegally, it simply dispels part of the dystopian hellscape painted for us by one particular presidential candidate (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lj-XOJsHKsE), again going back to the perception issues when the reality is far more complex and requires intelligent debate on how best to proceed.

To address the perception that the current administration has let the floodgates to open, allowing an unprecedented wave of illegal immigrants into the United States, the facts simply do not support this hyperbole (see 5 facts about illegal immigration in the U.S. http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/11/19/5-facts-about-illegal-immigration-in-the-u-s/ ) .

Another point that is important to address, is mass deportations. Aside from the massive cost to enact such a plan, illegal immigrants currently make up about 5% of the American workforce. To remove such a significant portion of the American workforce would create notable negative economic shifts (see “Trump's Deportation Plan 'Prohibitively Expensive'” http://www.forbes.com/sites/doliaestevez/2015/09/14/trumps-plan-to-round-up-and-deport-11-million-immigrants-within-24-months-prohibitively-expensive/#59520dc2b1ea)

Regarding the refugee crisis and general terrorism, please see another post if you would like my thoughts on that subject (see “A Non-Bleeding-heart Case for Syrian Refugees” http://moderatedispatch.blogspot.com/2016/09/this-is-something-i-wrote-shortly-after.html#links)  To recap, attacks from domestic radical Islamic terrorists are still statistically and incredibly rare in this country, and foreign radical Islamic terrorist attacks are virtually nonexistent.

PC Culture

What is PC culture? I reject the idea entirely, because what is politically incorrect to one can easily be correct to another. Such things can be debated, and should, with civility. The real issue is over sensitivity. I see it equally between conservatives and liberals; they simply are sensitive about different topics

From what I can tell, liberals go overboard with so called "bleeding hearts", and conservatives go overboard with complaints about "PC Culture". Again, in the days of social media everything is exaggerated. All you need to do is find 5-10 twitter posts and you've got a story. Do you think any rational person cares about Starbuck's Christmas/holiday/winter cups? Do you personally know anyone that was offended by it? I sure don't.

I no longer see it as PC Culture, what I see are social justice warriors fighting battles on both sides. Put a photo of a family with two dads on a girl's magazine? If you find yourself significantly concerned over something like that you're a conservative social justice warrior. Gays exist and we don't need to hide them from children. If you're mad that there happens to be a benign religious symbol on public land, you're a liberal social justice warrior and you need stop looking for reason to be mad and offended. Religion exists and it doesn't need to be hid from anyone.

And for anyone that talks about "slippery slopes", I guarantee nothing you're complaining about is a sign of a larger problem. There's no sharia law in the US, there is no war on Christianity, and most Christians respectfully keep their faith between them, their family, and their God. No matter how many anecdotal stories one reads on their news source of choice.

The issue is that social justice warriors rarely speak for the majority, because people have lives to live. We need to all calm down and try to regain focus on topics that actually matter.

The Economy

This is too extensive a topic to cover and grade the current state of the economy. Obviously there are countless measures (GDP, unemployment, home ownership rates, consumer confidence, stock market, etc). Rather than try to analyze and grade the complexities of the current US Economy, I will again go back to issue of perception.

Do we, as asked before, ever want one person or administration exclusively responsible for our economy? I support the free market system, as it is the best we have and gives citizens the most opportunities for success. However, we need to dispel the idea that it is a perfect system and that the only way a free market system can fail is through government intervention.  

The economy is no longer simply made up of the 350 million individuals and the incredibly complex economic systems we have in place, we also now compete in the global market. In the current presidential race many will say we need to refocus our efforts to our own nation’s goals. While I agree with that position in theory, the simple fact is that if we do not compete in the global economy, it will weaken our own economy. If we impose tariffs on trade partners, that will not magically result in outsources jobs returning to the US or piles of cash for our own economy.

If I had all of the answers to past, current, and future economic woes I doubt I would be writing this post, I would more likely be jet skiing off my private island in the Caymans. I am simply hoping to remind everyone that our economy is made up of our population, supply and demand, government regulation, stock market, energy concerns, infrastructure, personal responsibility, social program, education costs, innovation, international trade, tax rates, etc etc etc.

Regarding government spending, there's significant amounts of demonization that takes place, but let me remind everyone that Social Security, Medicare/Medicaid, and Defense spending make up two thirds of our entire spending on average. So if we're serious about budget and national debt concerns, we will be forced within the near future to take a hard look at programs that are incredibly unpopular politically to cut.

Gun Control

I'm always torn on this subject, but what bothers me the most is the view that the mere suggestion of additional gun control measures is an absolute attack on liberty, or that it's a conspiracy level gun grab.

We already accept gun control measures, we accept limits on all constitutional freedom with understanding that it's necessary for public safety. We accept that average citizens cannot own fully automatic weapons, tanks, RPGs, fighter jets, land mines, grenades, etc etc etc. The vast majority of citizens would think it's absurd for an average person to own these weapons, so at a minimum, owners of AR-15, Sig MCX, etc. should at least understand why the average citizen does not think they should own a weapon that can kill fifty people in minutes, even if they do not agree with the removal of said weapon.

America has around 4.5% of the world's population, but about a third of its mass shootings. It is hard to deny the correlation of the number of firearms that exist in this country. And gun sales have only skyrocketed after the NRA's absurd claims that the government was planning on removing all firearms from citizens. It should be noted that after Orlando night club shooting, stock in Smith & Wesson went up 8% and in Ruger up 10% the day following the shooting.

As the President said, if we want to accept that in the name of freedom, so be it, but it's clear that the solution is not "more guns" (again, 4.5% population, about 42% of all privately held firearms in the world), or arming teachers, or removing "gun free zones" or whatever other nonsense the NRA is selling in order to continue the increase in gun sales and their inexplicable influence in Washington.

Personally, I have never been a big supporter of increasing gun regulations, but I simply hope we can reach a point where civil debate on the subject is possible once again.  

Trump (if this section will make you mad, please skip, this is end)

Time to get specific. Let me make one thing clear, I will not be attempting to convince anyone to vote for Hillary Clinton. I will leave my thoughts on her silent except to say there is no one, third party candidate or otherwise, for which I look forward to casting my vote this election. However, I will state unequivocally I believe Trump to be the worst Presidential candidate to run for office in my lifetime, if not in the history of this great nation.

I am unlikely to convince anyone that is prepared to vote for him not to do so, and I could go on at length describing my feelings on the man. I thought I would instead provide a list of facts, not opinions, about Trump (please note I left out anything I thought to be remotely debatable as fact):

• There are 5 living former or current presidents. Trump does not have endorsement from a single one
• Trump mocked a disabled reporter
• Mocked a Vietnam POW
• Said he wanted to loosen libel laws to make it easier to sue reporters
• Trump has filed four company bankruptcies
• He won't release tax returns, first presidential candidate to do so in 30+ years
• Got in a feud with a gold star military family, who's son sacrificed himself saving other
• Promotes a foreign policy that is internationally illegal and are war crimes (torture and killing families of suspected terrorists)
• Promotes a Muslim ban that is most unquestionably unconstitutional
• Claims the NFL sending him a letter asking him to change the debate schedule, NFL denies this claim
• Claims he spoke with a member of the Chicago PD who claimed he could solve the violence and crime within one week, Chicago PD released a statement saying no high ranking members met with Trump
• Said if he wasn't the father of his daughter that perhaps he'd date her
• Claimed to be the only one to able to solve America's issues
• Promoted the wildly unverified claim that Cruz's father was involved in the JFK assassination
• Claimed Putin wouldn't go onto Ukraine, when he already had
• Current CIA director said he'd refuse torture orders
• CIA director under George W. Bush said he doesn't know how he could vote for Trump
• Michael Morell, who served in the CIA for 33 years, under Reagan, Bush, Clinton, W. Bush and Obama said "Donald Trump is not only unqualified for the job, but he may well pose a threat to our national security"
• 50 GOP Security officials issued a statement calling Trump "dangerous" and "would be the most reckless President in American history"
• Hundreds allege Donald Trump failed to pay his bills for contracted work; he has been sued 3500 times.

Despite ALL of this, I will say I do understand wanting to vote for Trump. I do understand there are millions that feel left behind, that feel that another establishment candidate is most certainly not the answer, and that do have the perception that things are getting worse. However, despite these common feelings, I have no doubt he is not the answer. His promises are either unobtainable, wildly costly (both from an economic standpoint and a moral one), or attempting to bring us back to a romanticized view of the past that never really existed on a grand scale.

I will conclude with this, me addressing perception issues does not imply that I do not know we have many problems in this nation, however I will never be convinced they can be solved by a petty, insecure bully, misogynist, grossly unintelligent, dangerously uninformed, hypocritical conspiracy theorist, egotist, and an incomprehensible liar. We will achieve our goals and solve problems by remembering we all want what is best, even when we do not agree on what that is. We will only move forward if it is together, even if that journey is difficult and imperfect.  Again, one man or woman will never define all of us.

Go America. Go Broncos.