As I see the political posts and commentary online and on Facebook, and see the reaction to the Presidential Debate, it made me think about why things are as they are. At first, reactions did not make sense, until I took a step back.
When I was young there were only three channels – ABC, NBC and CBS. That is if your antennae and bunny ears on your set could get all three. There was no cable, dish, tivo, dvr, netflix, etc. In fact, there were not even beta or dvd at the time. You went to the movie theater or you could watch that movie three years later on the “world television premier.” Back then, the major networks had News programs that were left wing biased. On average, about 60-65% of them voted Democrat. However, the whole country watched them, so to keep complaints down, they had more balanced news. Their “commentators” were left, but their “news department” was only slightly left. Most people heard the same news. Radio was mostly AM and played music. Talk radio was mostly Christian channels. This led to a certain “shared basis” for debates. People were passionate left and right, but not polarized on facts.
Today, we have the Internet, cable, on demand TV, so, so many choices. We have talk radio, tons of stations. ABC, NBC and CBS, especially MSNBC are only watched for the most part by the left. A recent poll showed over 95% of the staff at their news departments support Democrat only candidates. With the right wing audience going to talk radio, the Internet, or FoxNews, the left biased has grown until watching those channels is impossible for right wingers. At the same time, FoxNews has dual programming. It has news – with maybe a 55% right bias, but it has commentators like O’Reilly and Hannity, that are 100% right wing. Most casual observers don’t distinguish between their news segments and their commentator segments.
Left Wing Propaganda
Right Wing Propaganda
Talk radio is mostly right wing. There is National Public Radio (NPR) called by the right wing national pink radio due to its left wing bias. However, most left wing politicos now get their news from far left Internet sites like Daily Kos, The Huffington Post, The Daily Beast or Moveon.org. Right wing politicos go to FoxNews, the Heritage Fund, The Blaze, Michelle Malkin, Rush Limbaugh, etc. The news coverage by these sites are night and day. They describe two entirely different realities.
So, the Presidential debate. Everyone agrees Obama faired poorly. My liberal friends had two chants – 1) Romney lied; and 2) Obama was not to blame. Although they said Romney lied and “acted” it did not seem that way to me, and they were short on specifics. Obama was either too tired, the air was too thin in Denver, Jim Lehrer did bad, Kerry did not prep him well, and so on. None said, Romney won and Obama blew it. So, I wondered, why?
When I was CFO for the Department of Health Services, our Chief Psychiatrist told me, when someone says something, no matter how much you disbelieve it, start with the premise that they think they are telling the truth. So, I put myself in a liberal’s life. If all I do is go to left sites for my news, then Obama is the second coming and is the most polished and brilliant speaker ever, very inspirational and smart. Romney is waging a war on women, wants to kill off old people by getting rid of Medicare, and wants to give banks and rich people tax cuts.
This explains it. In that environment, Obama had to have some outside reason for debating poorly, it could not have been his fault. Romney must be lying when he says he is not cutting rich taxes and not cutting Medicare. Because liberals have heard he is over and over.
As a conservative, I hear all the time about Obama’s mistakes and I hear Romney’s actual positions. I watch the debate and see a President who is not used to anyone questioning him or calling him a failure, so he does not know how to respond. After four years of adoration and a loving mainstream media, to be challenged by Romney is shocking and beneath him to respond. I don’t think Romney is lying, because Romney is saying the same positions I have heard for over a year. Not the ones my liberal friends were told by their news sources, but the ones Romney has posted on his own website and has consistently stated.
This I believe is a dangerous side effect to so many choices for information. We seek out those who only agree with us. I do not watch Sean Hannity or Rush Limbaugh. I agree with much of what they say, but they are propagandists for the right. For the same reason, I encourage my left wing friends not to listen to Kos, Daily Beast, MSNBC or Moveon.org. They are propagandists for the left. We all need to listen to the candidates themselves, to their websites, and make our own decisions. The polarization of information is making us into left and right wing robots unable to intelligently discuss items with each other. We no longer have any common facts or information. We each do a disservice to ourselves when we “brainwash ourselves” by listening to only one side.
I spent 20 years as a professional in politics. Seven years as a senior staffer for Democrats, seven years as a senior staffer, including Chief of Staff for the Speaker of the House for Republicans. Six years I spent as a lobbyist and campaign consultant for both parties. I know both sides well and have written talking points and made charts and graphs for both. I continue to look for information and try to make up my own mind, not let either side “spin me” as I have spun others for two decades.
Why am I right wing? I am a Christian Evangelical Fundamentalist (Church of Christ), I served in the military, and I have an advanced degree in Economics. I am inspired by the writing of Adam Smith, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, The Federalist Papers, Paine’s Common Sense, and Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged. I discard Keynesian economic theory and instead believe in monetary policy of Milton Friedman and supply-side economics, though I disagree with Art Laffer quite a bit. Growing up, the split between God believers in the Democrat and Republican parties was roughly 50/50. Today, over 90% of believers are conservatives, over 90% of atheists are liberal. Pro-military – again used to be split, now conservatives. Pro-capitalist, anti-Keynsian economics – now almost 100% conservative. I have been pushed over to be conservative by those three fundamental beliefs.
Still, I worked for Democrats as well as Republicans because I still believe in the individual politician, their viewpoints, beliefs and integrity over party. Please join me in always listening and learning both sides. Know why you believe what you do. Don’t just soak up the propaganda from those you agree with. Don’t demonize the opposition, say they are stupid, racists, or ignorant. The country is split roughly down the middle. I don’t for a minute believe half the people are stupid or racist. I do believe that about 80-90% ONLY get their news and information from propagandists on one side or the other. Don’t brainwash yourself.
Michael Bradley - Time Traveler 