Propaganda and freedom

[GoodCallYouWin]

The purpose of propaganda is not to convince or to persuade but rather to render any independent criticism that is not part of the propagandist output seem outlandish and absurd. Noam Chomsky said it best, whenever you hear something stated very matter of factly, it's a good idea to take a step back and ask yourself, "is this really true?".

There's a saying that goes "if you do not stand for something, you will fall for anything" and I think that in political affairs there is nothing more true than this. Many people attempt to defeat this problem by hitching their wagons, metaphorically speaking, to a particular political party. The problem I find here is that, as Lord Acton famously quipped "Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely". In their lust for power, political parties inevitably shed ideology and adopt pragmatic policies. In 1992 Clinton adopted a strategy of 'Triangulation' to acheive the Presidency; by adopting many 'right wing' policies he was able to take many centrist or right of center voters away from Bob Dole and assume the presidency. In contrast, the two most ideological presidential candidates, Barry Goldwater on the right and George McGovern on the left, both suffered incredible defeats at the hand of more centrist candidates (LBJ and Nixon respectively). Indeed in the McGovern vs Nixon campaign Nixon himself used a form of triangulation against McGovern and carried 49 out of 50 states.

The solution I find then, is ideology. Ideology serves as an intellectual grounding for political beliefs and provides a roadmap for any future decisions you may have to make. Rather than simply following the decisions of a political party, which often has concerns other than 'what is best for the country' at heart, you can avoid many of the pitfalls of modern political thought. My particular ideology is Anarcho-Capitalism, rooted in the works of the Austrian school of economics. The writing of Ludwig von Mises, F.A. Hayek, Carl Mengar, Murray Rothbard and others. It is my sincere belief that at the heart of the greatness of man and the incredible technological and material advancement of the last 200 years is a single concept : freedom. Economic and political; social and physical freedom bring both peace and material well being.

There will always be men trying to take away our freedom (they're usually politicians or people who lobby politicians!) and there will always be a great mass of individuals willing to trade their freedom for 'a chicken in every pot'. Those who defend freedom must be ever vigilant; we must see conspiracies and plots at every possible opportunity because if we wait until our freedom is gone to fight for it, it will be too late.