You Can Fool Many People All of the Time

Take Obamacare. We were going to insure tens of millions of more people - at no additional cost. Remember "if you like your insurance you can keep your insurance?" And "if you like your doctor you can keep your doctor?" Then we heard the truth when video surfaced of comments by Jonathan Gruber. Gruber was a main architect of the deceptively named Affordable Care Act.

Gruber told us that the ACA passed because of its lack of transparency, and because of the "stupidity of the American voter." Gruber also told us how to really control costs - deny treatment. Gruber: "The real substance of cost control is all about a single thing: telling patients they can't have something they want." But, "you can have whatever you want, you just have to pay for it."

Or take global warming/climate change. You know, "it's settled." Like science is ever supposed to be settled. The White House loved telling us "97% of scientists agree." Except, it's not true. A 10/8/15 article in the National Review referred to a 2012 survey of 1862 people in the climate field. The American Meteorological Society conducted the survey and found that 51% of those surveyed agreed that human activity is the main cause of global warming. That is hardly 97%. But 23% said there was insufficient data to reach a conclusion, and 11% concluded warming was equally from natural causes as from human activity.

The article also told of a 2015 survey of 1868 scientists in the climate field. 30% said that less than half of global warming since 1951 is attributable to human activity or is of unknown causes. 97% agree? Not hardly. Or, how about the 1975 Newsweek article describing the possible beginning of a mini ice-age. The article described "a drop of half a degree in average ground temperatures in the Northern Hemisphere between 1945 and 1968." Reference was also made to the "bitter winters (in) much of Europe and northern America between 1600 and 1900."

I was just asked why we Republicans have to make everything political, such as global warming. Really? Because it is political. Because many of those pushing the fear of global warming do, in fact, have an agenda. One professor at Cal State University, Northridge has an ebook entitled "Capitalism and Climate Change, the Science and Politics of Global Warming." The online introductory comments tell us that "the climate crisis is the greatest threat humanity has ever faced." But then we get the real agenda - the political agenda - "clear evidence and compelling arguments are presented to demonstrate the impossibility of adequately addressing the climate crisis within the framework of capitalism." How's that for a political take on global warming - it's all about getting rid of capitalism!

You see, for the left it's always about economics and politics. Gruber told us that we'd have to take money from the wealthier people to cover poorer people. Of course that is political - how do we redistribute goods and services in society? Some global warming advocates have openly told us that their goal is to redistribute wealth from wealthier countries to poorer countries. And the Cal State professor tells us we need to get rid of capitalism.

So, what's the latest? Ben Rhodes is the Deputy National Security Adviser in the Obama White House. In an interview with the New York Times, Rhodes said "we created an echo chamber." He explained that with regards to the Iran nuke deal, the Administration used/manipulated "experts" so that "they were saying things that validated what we had given them to say." We were also told that after a so-called moderate was elected President of Iran, Obama saw an opening that might make a deal possible. Except, it turns out that the negotiations actually began when the hardliner was still in office.

We know the mainstream media is overwhelmingly left-wing. As such, they have already been predisposed to simply write whatever the Obama Administration tells them. In addition, Rhodes tells us how easily he believes the press can be manipulated. "Most of the outlets are reporting on world events from Washington. The average reporter we talk to is 27 years old, and their only reporting experience consists of being around political campaigns. That's a sea change. They literally know nothing."

The real issue is not that Republicans make scientific issues political. Democrats clearly do the same. The real issue is how so many people accept whatever this President and this Administration tells them, even though time after time it has been shown that so many things that they told us were simply not true. As Obama, Gruber, Rhodes and the rest have figured out - you can fool many people all of the time.