March 1, 2005
Karl Rove & Big Lie Assassinations
This post mortem may seem `old news,' but the dangerous consequences of the Big Lie technique deserve careful examination and consideration. Our future depends on it.
Fritz Hippler was a World War II German film maker and may have been Joseph Goebbels' most effective propagandist. Hippler believed that two steps were necessary to promote a Big Lie so that a majority of people would finally believe it. The first was to reduce any given issue to a simple black-and-white choice that even the most uneducated person could understand. The second step was to constantly repeat that simplified message over and over again. If these two steps were followed, Hippler argued, a majority of people would eventually come to believe and accept a Big Lie.
One of the better examples of Hippler's use of the Big Lie technique was his 1940 movie "Campaign in Poland." This movie argued that the Polish people were suffering under tyranny - a tyranny that would eventually threaten Germany - and that the German people could either allow that Polish cancer to fester or preemptively `liberate' Poland. As Hippler's movie suggests, Hitler naturally took the `strong and decisive' path to liberate Poland, even though after the invasion there was no evidence found that Poland represented any threat whatsoever to the powerful German Third Reich. It now seems historically clear that the movie was Hitler's way of saying that invading Poland was the `right thing to do,' and that, in retrospect, he would have done the same thing all over again. (Where have we heard that lately?)
Perhaps the most troubling aspect of the Big Lie technique is the basic premise that underlies its use, i.e., in order to use a Big Lie, a political leader or politician must first accept and truly believe that "the end justifies the means" (a proposition first advanced by Niccolo Machiavelli in The Prince, in 1532).
It seems (or it is at least argued) that the Big Lie method is alive and well used today in the America. Lee Atwater used the method in an early (1988) Bush I campaign to smear Michael Dukakis by running racist ads depicting a black convict that suggested Dukakis pardoned black rapists in Massachusetts. It has been reported that on his deathbed, Lee Atwater realized that the "the end justifies the means" methods he used on behalf of the Bush family were both immoral and harmful to American democracy. As quoted in the Washington Post (December 1, 1996) Atwater said, "Mostly I am sorry for the way I thought of other people. Like a good general, I had treated everyone who wasn't with me as against me." (I seriously doubt that Karl Rove will ever express such remorse.)
Lee Atwater's spiritual and political protégé, Karl Rove, has consistently used and improved the technique in all of George W. Bush's election campaigns. In 1994, there were Big Lie smears of former Texas Governor Ann Richards (anonymous whispers: "she is a lesbian"). In 2000, there were Big Lie smears of Senator John McCain (coded whisper: "he is the father of an illegitimate black child"). In 2002, there were Big Lie smears of triple amputee and decorated Vietnam veteran (and then Senator) Max Cleland (whisper: he is unpatriotic).
Sadly, there seems to be no way to combat such Big Lie methods in the short term. Until it can be proven decisively that the source of such Big Lie smears are directly linked to a specific candidate will the American public actually believe it. And that takes time - quite often too much time to make a difference in any given election cycle. Cynical political liars count on that time delay.
In the long term, it means we must do a better job of educating our children and at the same time reeducate an entire population on the fundamentals of logic and ethics in philosophical debate (once taught in college Philosophy 101). But an uneducated population may be adverse to being taught such concepts. Bombarded by conservative propaganda, many Americans have grown suspicious of higher education and many now consider professors and scholars to be `liberal elitists.' This is extremely unfortunate and ignores the centuries of progress civilization has made in expanding educational opportunities to more and more people.
Sadly, it is also true that many ordinary Americans seem to prefer simple black-and-white choices and simple sound bite solutions to complex problems. But somehow progressives must find a way to educate all Americans that there are no simple Cowboy solutions to complex problems - that such problems require brains, research, and consultation and careful deliberation with many experts. If we progressives cannot successfully help all Americans to understand this, then tragic consequences to our young republic will almost certainly occur as they did in Germany during the 1930s.
Adolf Hitler claimed that everything he did was based upon the noble goal of uniting Europe - and then the world - in a thousand-year era of peace as foretold in the Bible. If one believes that a `thousand years of peace' is a worthwhile end and that any means is justified to achieve it, it's a short step to preemptive wars, torture of dissidents and prisoners, the mass killing of innocents, and the loss of civil liberties at home - all in the name of defending our borders. To believe that "the end justifies the means" is the ultimate `slippery slope.' Such a morally corrupt political philosophy ultimately kills even the loftiest of goals, because a goal thus achieved will have been indelibly corrupted by the very means used to achieve it. Jesus, Buddha, and Gandhi all warned us about this. So did Tolstoy, Tolkien, Orwell, and Kafka. But many Americans did not listen, or have forgotten, or refused to learn. History will eventually record that George W. Bush also did not learn this lesson, even as the lies of his administration unraveled and his misadventures were crumbling around him.
In terms of `covert' Big Lies, Karl Rove is the master. As Bush's long time campaign `architect,' Rove artfully improved the technique to insure that his candidate could never be identified as the source of the Big Lies used in every Bush campaign. In every one of those dirty campaigns, Bush could plausibly deny any connection to the sources of the lies (e.g., the ads of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth). In each of his campaigns Big Lies would emerge as if by magic from Bush supporters and would be repeated almost daily on the Fox News Channel and right-wing talk radio - proving once again that if a lie is repeated often enough, people will finally begin to believe it.
It is also depressing to note that one of the major refinements that Rove made to the Big Lie technique was to attack an opponent's perceived strengths, rather than his weaknesses. He coldly and cynically calculated that if you can destroy the public's perception of a candidate's strength, the rest of the man will surely topple. In the case of John Kerry's outstanding war record, that proved sadly true. The Swift Boat Veterans for Truth launched a monumental Big Lie that brought Kerry down. Who were they working for? Who gave them direction? Who paid for their efforts? There is absolutely no hard evidence to link those lies to either Rove or Bush, but the historical pattern of all previous Bush campaigns would seem to suggest that the circumstantial evidence alone is overwhelming.
In the case of `overt' Big Lies, George W. Bush and others in his administration did their part. Bush and Cheney repeatedly assured us that we had to invade Iraq because of weapons of mass destruction and Iraq's ties to al-Queda - two very Big Lies. And in spite of all independent findings to the contrary, at least 50% of all Americans still believe that there was a direct connection between Iraq and 9/11 - more proof that the Big Lie method does indeed work. When friends of the Bush campaign launched their attack on the distinguished war record of John Kerry, Bush refused to address the specifics of the misrepresentations. With smug self-assurance, Bush instead called for "the end of all 527s" - a goal he cynically knew could not be achieved during the last election cycle. In other words, let the Big Lie proceed - we can discuss it later after the election (or more likely, America will just forget about it).
Many defenders of the Bush campaign suggested that there was a certain equivalence between the anti-Kerry Swift Boat ads and the many ads run by the anti-Bush PAC-527 organizations (e.g., MoveOn.org). But the Bush campaign never disputed the truthfulness of the facts contained in those PAC-527 ads (e.g., the loss of jobs, 40 million Americans without health insurance, a ruinous Iraq policy, environmental despoliation, etc.). In truth, there was no equivalence between the MoveOn.org ads and the Swift Boat ads, moral or otherwise. Truths and discussion of important issues - however unpleasant - cannot be weighed on the same scale with lies and character assassination, explicit or by innuendo.
The 2004 election was not only between a conservative Bush and a liberal Kerry. It was between those who would use any means to get and hold power, and those who are unwilling to employ such methods. Unfortunately, history will record that the Big Lie worked well again. Over the long term, the damage such lies do to the rest of society is incalculable. Progressives must constantly remind all Americans that any goal achieved by means that are inherently immoral and dishonest should not be tolerated by any true American patriot intent upon preserving the precious liberties we fought a revolution to obtain and have spent the last two hundred years protecting. Preserving those rights and liberties is a constant struggle requiring constant vigilance by all citizens so that both sides in a heated campaign play by the same basic rules of honesty and decency. Otherwise both sides lose, no matter who wins a particular election. We cannot allow elections to become a `Win/Lose' game in which candidates are permitted to use any method they find expedient to win. If we do not correct this growing trend, we will become a country even more deeply divided, embittered, and polarized.
Frankly, I don't know where such polarization will lead, but I worry a great deal about total anarchy.
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Floyd Johnson describes himself as a depression-born, unreconstructed FDR-Democrat. He moved to Phoenix from London in 1975 after residing several years in Brussels and London. He received a Masters Degree from Thunderbird - The Garvin School of International Management in Glendale, Arizona in 1981. After 35 years in the computer industry, he was a used and rare book seller in Peoria, Arizona until his retirement in 2002.
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