***
(Alan...
continued)
At bottom, we are surprisingly ignorant of our political motivations so that
even when we assimilate some measure of factual knowledge, we tend to jettison
that knowledge with the passage of time.
The technical phrase for "forgetting" such
inconvenient partisan truths is that human beings lack "competent
retrospection."
In similar vein, we now know that partisans (on both
sides of the aisle) are quick to spot mendacity when espoused by members of
the other party... but become panicky when we catch our own
party leaders telling lies.
Remarkably, this panic is relieved when we devise
convincing ways to lie to ourselves, thus opening psychological pathways that
persuade us our own party leaders were not really lying in the first
place.
In fact, when we finally manage to tell ourselves
convincing, exculpatory lies, our brains are immediately drenched by massive
influx of dopamine, the same chemical surge that delivers cocaine's high.
In light of such political research, I would like
my résumé to
show that, personally, I am NOT subject to typical partisan
"biases" and therefore do not lie to myself as most Americans do.
Using the data set forth in "This
Is Your Brain On Politics," I
will note that, unlike most Democrats, I have always known that inflation
plummeted under Reagan: in fact it dropped from the highest level of my
lifetime to a low, single digit number.
On the "other side of the aisle," I have
always known -- unlike most Republicans -- that the rate of real income
growth for middle class families has been three times faster under Democratic
presidents than under Republican presidents. (Truth be told, I did not know
that the rate of real income growth for working poor Americans has been 10
times higher under Democratic presidents.)
The fundamental falsehood in American politics is
that Republicans are “the responsible guardians" of the economy.
This error is so vigorously defended, so incessantly represented,
that The Big Lie is believed by Republicans and
Democrats alike.
It is not particularly hard to determine what is true, although it
is necessary (as prelude) to believe that Truth exists and, furthermore, it
exists in its own right. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satyagraha
Because Truth is ontologically grounded in the nature of Universe,
clamorous opinionization and unexamined political ideology encourage
falsification.
Therefore, those who are most shrill voicing their opinions tend to
be the very people who are most wrong.
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