The Grand Illusion
We have an acquaintance whom everyone would call a good person, and he is. He and his wife are retired, and they live comfortably, but not extravagantly. They’re churchgoers, and are very supportive of the community initiatives, not only those religious and charitable, but also those involving education and other fields.
But what I couldn’t understand was how someone like him could support all the lies, misinformation, and corruption coming from Trump and his campaign. That is, until I recalled that our acquaintance had been a very effective and successful salesman and sales executive… and then the pieces fell into place.
Good salespeople believe in the product, and to be good, they have to believe in the product. Therefore, almost anything that sells the product is useful, and if they believe in the end product, the end justifies the means.
The problem that “good” salespeople tend to forget is that, especially in the political field, lies, misinformation, and corruption have side effects, often disastrous ones. J.D. Vance’s lies about Haitians in Springfield, Ohio, resulted in bomb threats and more unrest that continues to unsettle every facet of civic life there. Trump’s latest lie, about Kamala Harris’s purported misuse of FEMA funds (to which NO vice president has access to, directly or indirectly) vilifies FEMA and makes its mission even harder at the time of one of the greatest natural disasters in the south, particularly when FEMA is already short of funds (thanks to Trump’s Republican supporters in the House). Trump’s lies and misinformation on January 6th resulted in not only a riot, but police deaths and injuries to hundreds of people. Trump’s encouragement of neo-Nazis in Charlottesville led to more unrest and death.
What all the “good” salespeople who believe in what Trump promises, and more often than not fails to deliver, do not seem to understand is that, especially in politics, you cannot separate the ends from the means, and inciting violence through ever more blatant falsehoods foreshadows exactly how Trump will govern. Equally important, he’s made no secret of it – he’s said that he’ll govern like a dictator and seek revenge on his political opponents by all possible means as President.
I just wish those with the “sales” mindset would take a closer look at the “product,” the real product and not all the deceptive promises and “sales brochures.”
Is this a problem which is emphasised by a very strong two party system? Those who have voted for the same party all their adult lives may feel that they cannot vote for the “others”. In my county in England the Conservative Party had been elected for over 100 years. In the last election people didn’t want to vote the same way, but rather than voting for the traditional opposition, the Labour Party, there was a third alternative. The Green candidate got in with a big majority. Is America in need of a strong third party so that those honest basically good people have a valid choice?
Rather than being too wedded to a particular party, I think the problem is much more cultural divisions. Religious vs. secular, reactionary vs. open to change, rural vs. urban.
That last is probably pretty alien to a lot of people who don’t live in the US, but you can see it if you look at a map. Huge swathes of this country are nowhere close to an urban center.
I had a friend who lived in a small town, and she kept a shotgun beside her front door. When she told me years later, in regard to a health emergency, that it takes 20 minutes after a 911 call for anyone to get there, I could see why she kept the gun there.
Gun control makes sense anywhere (I shouldn’t be allowed to own my own ICBM), but much more in urban areas than rural.
The Democrats are starting to reach more for middle ground with the people outside the cities. Thank goodness.
The flaw there is that it’s not really a 2 party system. History shows that.
Humans default to binary choices. Plus Politicians want to stay relevant.
We didn’t start with Republicans and Democrats. We started with Federalist and Democratic Republicans.
Each time a new party rises to prominence the party closest in alignment with them will shift and migrate and eventually we have 2 parties again.
Oh yes, anyone who has met more than a couple Very Serious Christians knows that the “ends justify the means” deeply infects that culture. Your friend knows about all the terrible things that come from carrying on those lies. They don’t care, because those negative externalities don’t fall on their group. None of the parade of horribles you mention harmed people in their group. I’’m sure they think it’s too bad, of course, that bad things fell on people outside their group, but the ends justify the means…