Words

Words

Sticks and stones may break my bones,

But words can really hurt me.

            Words are the weapon of choice in the enduring contest for political power because words are the most efficient means to exercise political power over the willing, as well as the unwilling. Whereas in days gone by, Chairman Mao mused that political power grows from the barrel of a gun, today's Leaders in a modern voting society, muse that political power grows from the spigot of mass media that spews out the words to enable the willing and maneuver the unwilling, just like Mao's AK47s were used to spew out bullets to enforce his political will and maneuver the unwilling. Indeed, when Mao shot to death a political adversary, he charged the surviving family members with the cost of the bullet used to dispatch the political challenger. When today's leaders wish to dispatch a political challenger, they use words to destroy the person's life with the same effectiveness as Mao's bullet and then use the Government bureaucracy to charge the survivors with the cost of the effort. 

            What makes words so effective is the ease by which those in political power can use words to set the political argument and then manipulate the outcome. For example, the Government has deliberately chosen not enforce the immigration laws that have served this country of immigrants well for as long as we have been a country of promise and opportunity for all. By not enforcing the immigration laws, the Government then declares the immigration system "broken" and needs to be fixed. According to the manufactured Government narrative, the immigration system requires overhaul because it is obviously "broken." Mass media picks up the narrative and provides anecdotal evidence to support the narrative. Even astute political commentators, like Charles Krauthammer, unwittingly parrots the Government narrative that the immigration system is broken and professionally points out the pros and cons on how to fix the "broken" immigration system. He, and his talking head brethren, use the Government narrative as fodder for their professional needs rather than pointing out that the immigration system is not "broken" because the Government chooses not to enforce immigration law and broke it on purpose to serve their political needs.

   Many other examples exist, like the best medical system the world has ever seen does not serve all of the citizens and needs the Government to run the system in order to provide better and cheaper healthcare for all. Many more examples are available for examination, but why bother? We won't bother until words become the death of us all, in one fashion or another.