The Short and Sweet of Demagoguery
How about we just start with the definition and go to the plain English from there. According to my American Heritage College Dictionary:
demagoguery: The practices or rhetoric of a demagogue.
demagogue: A leader who obtains power by means of impassioned appeals to emotions and prejudices.
Why am I mentioning this at all? Because you’re going to hear a lot of it once Congress reconvenes and starts up the debates on their latest disasters. Basically, it will be all about “the children” and “the poor”. Of course, that’s a load of baloney.
Obama and the Democrats are only all about the three “P’s”:
- Power grabs for the party
- Pandering for new voters
- Payoffs to existing supporters
That’s it. But they just can’t come out and say this aloud. If they were to explain cap-and-trade, Disastercare, amnesty, or anything else they want to do for the reasons they actually want to do it, they wouldn’t be in power long. So one of the things they use to get around this is demagoguery. Statements like “It’s for the children” or “we need to help the poor” are examples of it.
How about a more practical example of what they’re really up to? Say a wife walks in on her husband and another women getting busy in her bed. The husband, who has no real explanation for what he’s doing, instead turns and says “But honey, I’m doing it for the children!”
His wife wouldn’t take it too well. But this is pretty much what the Democrats and the occasion Republican are doing when they use demogoguery. They know they can’t explain their positions rationally, so they torque your emotions in the hope that you’ll shut up afterwards. If you do, you’ll allow them to get away with something they shouldn’t or get something really destructive done.
That’s why I have a simple rule I recommend to you. If you hear a politician using demogoguery, immediately assume they want to do something monumentally bad or stupid. They know it, so they’re leading with a sound bite they hope will work. Don’t let them fool you with it.
Filed under: Maverick Commentary on September 1st, 2009
it scattered on beaches all over the world. Maybe you've seen some of it.
-- Steven Wright
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