A few days ago, a Democrat handed me an Obama fundraising brochure even though he knows I never give political donations. I guess the guy wanted me to see what I'm missing. Anyway, the two-sided pamphlet extolled the president's record on, among other things, "women's rights," health care and the economy.
The economy? Yes.
According to the Obama for America organization, which paid for the pamphlet, Obama is responsible for "an economic recovery program (that) supported as many as 3.6 million jobs by cutting taxes, investing in clean energy, roads and bridges, keeping teachers in classrooms, and protecting unemployment benefits." Those claims were made under the heading: "Job Creation."
Wait a minute. "Protecting unemployment benefits" is directly tied to job creation? Who knew?
Now, I don't want to sound like a partisan here, because that's boring. As with all presidents, Obama has both good and bad on his resume. But the phrase "supported as many as 3.6 million jobs" is a masterful piece of propaganda. I mean, who counted those jobs? What does "supporting jobs" really mean? I don't want to brag or solicit donations, but I support billions of jobs worldwide simply because I want folks to work.
The Obama for America people also claim that the president "called for closing tax loopholes to ensure millionaires and billionaires don't pay less in taxes than the middle class." Notice the words "less in taxes."
High-income folks pay far more income tax than everyday Americans. What this is all about is the 15 percent tax on long-term capital gains and interest income. But in order to buy investments or deposit money in savings vehicles, you have to use "after-tax" money, take-home pay. So if you're lucky enough to make some money on an investment, then you're supposed to pay another big chunk of it in taxes? Yeah, that sounds good. That's the way to encourage investment and savings. Do the words "risk-reward" mean anything? Apparently not.
There's an old song called "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes." And that's what is happening in America right now. Political machines and parties are blowing so much smoke that it is almost impossible for fair-minded voters to know the truth. Gone are the days when a Teddy Roosevelt or Harry Truman could look the country in the collective eye and tell the absolute truth about what they wanted to accomplish. Now we have professional pamphlet writers who parse every word in their never-ending quest to deceive.
The upcoming presidential election is perhaps the most important since the Great Depression. It is shaping up as an epic class-warfare battle. And propaganda will be a big part of it.
