One thing is abundantly clear right now, the professional political class of pundits, advocates, and the media are all trying to frame manipulate your opinion with increasing urgency.
Everywhere you turn there is a subset of ideological narratives about every single candidate. The ones that stick out, and seem to last the longest, are the negatives. It is a natural condition for people to remember the negative more than the positive, and if ‘they’ can place a negative thought in the mind of a voter while simultaneously advancing the appearance of a positive one their mission is accomplished. No-one was better at this strategy than Karl Rove, no-one.
It is diligent and good to pause and think of exactly what you want to see in the future for our nation. I don’t know who will win the battle of optics, but I do know in my heart that next summer I hope President Obama is compared against a candidate with clearly defined differences between him and them.
This goes back to my original context of choice. Obviously the Obama Machine wants a candidate standing next to him that is most similar, or without great divergence, because they want to rely on ‘personality’ to carry the day. This is why you see a concerted effort on behalf of the professional media, who support Obama, to place him with a Huntsmanesque GOP contender. The Obama people who are career level skilled in obfuscations, clouds of grey area and semantics, want nothing more than to have their guy standing on stage next to someone of like-minded objectives.
If they can manipulate the electorate into placing a candidate on that stage who draws little distinction between Obama and themselves they will have won. Because the contest will come down to talking points and personality. It is that simple.
Personally, I want a candidate who draws maximum distinction between the Obama view of all things progressive/liberal and the ideology of freedom, personal responsibility, personal accountability, and self-determination. We all know this administration is based upon the belief that government can provide the solutions, the dependency state. This is antithetical to freedom and common sense.
Sure, it is a lot easier to blame a system for your outcome in life, it avoids the pesky recognitions of self. It is much easier to look out a window than to look in the mirror when things are not going they way you want. It is a natural human tendency. It is also the tendency that provides President Obama and his cohorts with a leg up in the race.
I want a bold candidate who will challenge the people, challenge me and my neighbors, to look into that mirror and force us to take measure of the ultimate truth that we are the sole arbiter of our outcomes.
Perhaps you agree, and maybe not, but ultimately each of us must be responsible for our own choices along the path of liberty. If we are not, then we might as well just admit the easiest path is to take a tray and proceed down the ideological food line allowing the professional elitist crowd to put the food on our tray they determine to be in our best interest. Freedom would be lost.
