No One Is Going To Save You Fools

[FourScore]

No One Is Going To Save You Fools
by thereisnospoon
Wed Dec 16, 2009 at 04:28:17 PM PST

Before I explain the generic insult, let me first make something perfectly clear: I am your enemy. That you don't know this is understandable: after all, people like me prefer it that way. But until you understand just what you're up against and why, you're going to continue to lose, and look like fools in the process.

Barack Obama has indeed sold you out. He and many of his Democratic colleagues have sold you out on healthcare, and they've sold you out on financial reform. You were looking for a savior, and you've been had--not an altogether atypical result for those looking for a strong leader to "save" them.

He hasn't done this because he's a bad guy. In fact, he's a great guy. I think he's doing pretty much the best job he can. He's sold you out because he's not afraid of you. And really, if I may be so bold, he shouldn't be afraid of you. You don't know who really runs the show, and you're far too fickle and manipulable to count on.

The first thing you need to understand about healthcare reform is what Jane Hamsher identified long ago: nothing--absolutely nothing--is going to trump the White House's deal with PhRMA and the insurance industry. The question you need to ask yourselves is: why? If you're intellectually mature enough to get past "personal betrayal" as your best answer, you'll be on the right track...

MORE AT:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/12/16/815429/-No-One-Is-Going-To-Save-You-Fools

[natrat]

1. i got a pretty good feeling about just how shitty they are, i'm not sure i want to know more

[FourScore]

2. You should read this entire diary at the link.

It is eye-opening and makes sense.

[defendandprotect]

73. Yes .... but the numbers are on our side . . . what the right has is FAKERY . . ..

lots to be thought over along those lines --

from individual computers to the large computers used by MSM --

from the "Southern Strategy" and whether it ever existed --

to right wing religious movement in America and who financed it --

on and on --

FAKERY --


I think we should find out what a real liberal/progressive voting bloc looks like!!

As long as the only competitition that the Democratic Party faces is from the near-fascist

GOP, then the Democratic Party will continue to move to the right.


AND, never to be overlooked, the right also has political violence and theft working

for it!!! Never forget that!!

[dixiegrrrrl]

3. Required reading....... REQUIRED.

[upi402]

41. lol, i love it. PBS' Frontline; The Betrayal of Democracy

That for-told what has happened. "The people are easy to fool" and "there ain't a dime's bit of difference" (between the two parties) - lines that have stuck with me for years.

[Parker CA]

4. Great read. Thanks for the link.

[AllentownJake]

5. The White House is madder at Howard Dean than Joe Lieberman

Wonder why that could be.

[dflprincess]

7. And that really says it all, doesn't it?

I noticed another thread where it was mentioned Obama wants "reform" done in time to brag about it in his SOTU speech in January. If he does that, someone from the Democratic side of the aisle should yell "liar" this time.

[AllentownJake]

11. It is about the media narrative

I don't really know how many DUers have been "back stage" at any of these events.

[johnnie]

6. Good post

As I have said before on here, after reading here (at DU) the last few weeks I am surprised so many people don't get it.

I don't know about the "Obama has sold you out" part because he is just another politician with his hands tied. Even if the pukes win in 2012 things will stay relatively the same. bush had 9-11 to use in the game, but that's all he had. It's politics as usual in the forefront and the real manipulating of the country is going on in the background.

[glitch]

19. "the real manipulating of the country is going on in the background"

This Obatomy should make that bloody apparent. Bush/Cheney were so gleeful about their usefull toolishness, they obscurred the reality:

"the real manipulating of the country is going on in the background"

But Obama is bringing some kind of transparency to the process, just not exactly the one he campaigned on...

[whathehell]

63. Thom Hartmann just told an interesting story that I think relates..

He said that Clinton ran a populist, somewhat progressive campaign. When he got nominated (or elected, not sure when) Alan Greenspan sat him down and said "look..You think you can govern as a progressive?..You can't. You don't understand, Bill..It's not the politicians who run this country, it's the Banks".

Clinton, of course, won the presidency and went on to run his presidency essentially as a ConservaDem. As Michael Moore said "The best Republican president we ever had".

This may have happened to Obama as well...That, or he was always a ConservaDem.

[glitch]

69. They certainly don't appear to have a problem being corporatist, whether they started out that way

or not.

I had hoped Obama would be one of the world's re-imaginers, not one of the re-trenchers. This hope was not based on his campaign at all, just on his youth, humor and intelligence. But now that he has made it very clear where he is coming from and exactly who he is fighting for, I no longer find him interesting. Just another (in his case pre-maturely) old man doubling down on a past-its-use-by-date, utterly corrupted political economic ideology.

If he is not going to lead it is time to move past him and focus our energies on the ones who will. Fortunately we still have a few Democrats (and Bernie) that are fighting very hard against some powerful, deeply entrenched and ruthless foes. They need our support now more than ever, since they can't count on their own party's President offering any. If this system is still functional at all, they are where our hope lies.

:toast:

[sendero]

8. Good stuff..

....food for thought and maybe someday, action.

[natrat]

9. things were simpler in fdr's time

[defendandprotect]

76. Whaat . . . ??? They were trying to work a coup on FDR . . . !!!

Allen Dulles and Prescott Bush were also setting up networks to finance and re-arm

Germany . . .

Simpler?????

[anigbrowl]

10. That's about the best single Kos link I've ever clicked on.

People should pay attention to this guy instead of wibbling about guillotines, devices they've probably never even seen in real life.

[tranche]

12. Well worth the read. Thank you for posting.

[whatchamacallit]

13. Check out this video!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZyQjr1YL0zg

[FourScore]

17. That was unbelievable! Thank you so much for the link.

That video was perfect for this thread.

[Blue_Tires]

27. thanks for this...

[CoffeeCat]

14. I completely agree with this person...

...that Republicans have an amazing message machine. They truly can get average idiots to rally against their own
interests--through very orchestrated messaging campaigns. These messages are repeated on right-wing talk radio. I'm
surprised the author didn't mention right-wing radio more, because it is the primary delivery mechanism of the bloodthirsty
neocons.

I used to be in PR--for high-tech companies. The right has perfected a lie-based form of manipulative public relations.

The teabag movement was born out of right-wing PR. In the days and weeks that led up to the first teabag meetings, every
right-wing lie jockey had their listeners amped up on verbal crack. They had all of the soundbytes down and they repeated
them often, "This is socialism!" and "this is a government takeover of healthcare!". The right wing convinced their
idiotic listeners that the world would end if healthcare reform was passed. Those idiots went to meetings with signs
that read "Socialism!" and "No government takeover!" and the MSM happily repeated the soundbytes while giving credibility
to their 'side' of the argument. They really are good at this stuff.

The entire run-up to the Iraq war was a giant PR coup. Position anyone against the war as unpatriotic. Make a connection
between Iraq and Al Queda (even if one didn't exist) and tie Iraq to 9/11.

I've seen these bastards demonize unions and position people who care about global warming--as wackaloons. The Swiftboat
disaster was nothing more than a PR coup. They've convince little old church-going ladies that war is wonderful and
that the Republicans are the party of God and morals--even though they murder, torture, lie, cheat, steal and are decimating
our democracy.

Problem is--they lie and they do these things--to enrich corporate power. The Repubs are not helping the people that they're
manipulating. The average Limbaugh and Hannity listener is not helped--even though they are being used to further this
warmongering and corporatist agenda. Dems really do want to help people--give them decent healthcare, help the poor, stop
warmongering and torture, foster equality, save the planet. Our intentions are noble. Their intentions are nefarious.

We must get better at PR--or else we lose. It simply comes down to that. We have the truth on our side. We must
craft our own plans and simultaneously call them out for their lies and blatant manipulations.

[ldf]

29. unfortunately

democrats insist on "taking the high road", which can't compete with these types of tactics.

fire must be fought with fire.

it doesn't mean we have to LIE, because we could do just as well with the truth. but our leaders, and molders of opinions, refuse to do so.

i'm beginning to think they just want plausible deniability. they don't really want to win the war, just the battle, so they can continue in power within the democratic party, without hurting their corporate masters.

[Raster]

61. Fuck the high road! The only thing you get from taking the high road is a nose bleed.

[conscious evolution]

44. The mindfuckers have been busy

The media machine they built has done its job very well.Too bad so many cannot see it for what it is.

[winyanstaz]

15. At last..a great post about how the public is manipulated by these people...

Every child should be learning about subliminal programing and how to think critically and logically.
Every street person knows a player when they meet one...they have to..just to survive.
We need Mr and Ms and Mrs. Average American to have a fully functioning brain and be at least as smart as a street person when it comes to Players....
Until people are taught how things work they will be played.

[defendandprotect]

81. This is interesting . . . but mainly we have been manipulated by rw political violence ....

from assassinations to stolen elections --

Yes, PR plays a role -- in fact, corporate/CIA control of our "free press"

also plays a role --

[varelse]

16. "Where, in effect, was the message campaign?"

It seems to have evaporated instantaneously with the announcement of the 2008 General election results.

If you want to win, you will ORGANIZE. You will organize in the same way the Right has done for the last 40 years, and you will spend money on persuasion, where it really matters. You will, in short, make the politicians as afraid of you as they are of them. The Right has built vast networks of think tanks, newspapers, periodicals, cable news channels, and political advocacy organizations to spread their finely tuned, well-honed messages. Their politicians may fail them, and their actual policies may be deeply unpopular, but their message machine nearly always works its magic to get them what they want, even when Democrats are in power.

That's quite the head start isn't it? The past 40 years... I was entering Kindergarten when the Right embarked on this adventure - as I recall, they started by taking over school boards.

[dgibby]

18. Excellent article!

A MUST read. Thanks for much for posting.

[Mira]

20. Critical thinking - critically important reading K&R Look into the diaries.

[dusmcj]

21. speak the gutter tongue of manipulation and perpetuate the gutter culture - speak truth instead /nt

[chill_wind]

22. I take issue with the idea that the Dem party

can't mount effective and sophisticated marketing and messaging. The DLC does it extremely well all the time.
And the Obama marketing campaign was incredibly savvy, sophisticated, organized and disciplined.


"… The Obama campaign was named Advertising Age’s marketer of the year for 2008 and edged out runners-up Apple and Zappos.com. Take it from the professionals. Brand Obama is a marketer’s dream. (...)"

http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/17984

We've seen it can be done, and how it's done.


It takes money, but more than that, desire and a much firmer sense of direction. The first thing we need to do is stop funding the organizations and politicians hostile to progressives and start putting it to better uses. We need to decide and begin agreeing on what those are.

[lumpy]

25. I'll go along with that

v

[tkmorris]

28. Trouble is, that ad campaign was NOT to promote Democratic ideals

It was to win the presidency. I was troubled throughout Obama's campaign by how light it was on any actual substance. It felt exactly like being sold a product, and not at all like being informed what the man believed in. I voted for him anyway of course, for the obvious reasons, and harbored hope that the reason his campaign was acting so coy in hiding the true Obama was because they wanted to disguise how Liberal he was. I couldn't really buy it, no one can be so calculating in pursuing the presidency and still be a Liberal I didn't believe, but I tried.

He is a consummate politician. He sells himself better than anyone since Clinton, and perhaps better than he. He will promote Democratic ideals I expect, because that's the packaging he has shrouded himself in, but in the end the politician in him will control the day.

[readmoreoften]

23. Absolutely true.

[tkmorris]

24. God DAMN that was a good read

I've been wondering where the hell our spinmeisters are as well. We aren't convincing anyone, because we aren't using the (admittedly) deeply manipulative tactics that accomplish that task. THEY are, and they are killing us out there.

[chill_wind]

40. That was part of my point

in my earlier post. It's not that we don't know how it's done, or how to find the best money can buy, it's that our own highly oiled, well-moneyed official party apparatus didn't. (I'm taking here about real HCR) And I don't think it's because the DLC doesn't like getting dirty.

Yes, THEY (pubs) did. And once again, we have this stupid typical miscalculation, beginning way back, and beginning with the first sentence:

May 11, 2009

SCOTT TAKES CENTER STAGE.... I'm going to guess that in the not too distant future, conservatives are going to regret letting Rick Scott lead the way on health care.

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_05/018120.php

[defendandprotect]

82. Silence is also an answer . . .. an answer which the public should understand ...

as silence bought!

[lonestarnot]

26. Read it, not impressed.

[starroute]

30. All very well -- but where's the money to come from?

The right-wing message machine has been built since the 1970's by donations from Scaife and Coors and the other right-wing foundations. There's nothing comparable on the left.

The right has fine-tuned a system for recruiting and training young conservatives in college, funding right-wing college newspapers for them to cut their teeth on, giving them impressive-sounding titles and positions right out of college, and building them up to the point where by the time they're in their late 20's they can be out spreading the right-wing message as "experts."

At the same time, their left-wing equivalents are working on regular college papers -- the kind people actually might pay to read -- struggling to get jobs in the real world, and having to claw their way up the ladder a little at a time.

There are advantages to this system in human terms. It tends to turn out actual reporters with an understanding of how the real world works, as opposed to the coddled equivalents of trust fund babies that the right generates. But it sucks if the objective is to produce well-disciplined troops who will parrot the message of the week and have the media access to match.

So if we want to fight back against the right's message machine, we have to think long and hard about just what it is we want to do and how to do it. And then, hopefully, do an end run around them rather than trying to imitate them without either the funding or the heart for the project.

[lonestarnot]

39. zactly, just somebody trying to sell something.

[defendandprotect]

77. Democatic voters gave Obama $800 MILLION . .. and more . .

That's a start --

HOWEVER, we cannot ignore that this right wing political movement has always

used VIOLENCE to get what it wants --

Sometimes they don't get it -- their coup on FDR misfired --

But their political assassinations in the OPEN beginning with JFK and the vast

political violence since then -- even still feared now re Obama -- is something

that we are still dealing with. While the Establishment keeps the cover ups going!!

[Octafish]

31. Edward Bernays

"Those who manipulate the unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country. We are governed, our minds are molded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of. This is a logical result of the way in which our democratic society is organized. Vast numbers of human beings must cooperate in this manner if they are to live together as a smoothly functioning society. In almost every act of our lives whether in the sphere of politics or business in our social conduct or our ethical thinking, we are dominated by the relatively small number of persons who understand the mental processes and social patterns of the masses. It is they who pull the wires that control the public mind." -- Edward Bernays, Propaganda, 1928.

[BeHereNow]

35. "Century of Self" should be REQUIRED viewing for all that post on DU.

Can I get a witness?
BHN

[deutsey]

47. I just posted a link below before I saw your reference here.

:thumbsup:

[Octafish]

49. Freud was Bernays' uncle through marriage or maybe they were cousins.

Whatever. Lots o' pioneering mind-muck going on back then that's been since refined by well-heeled heels.

[defendandprotect]

78. Two experts in misdirection . . .

[Octafish]

86. Did you see this thing?

The Big Con at Dealey Plaza

PS: Cool Universe... I checked the link and recognized an image of John Simkin, the great DUer and founder of SpartacusSchoolNet.

[defendandprotect]

87. Not specifically that link, but I'm with you on all of it --

They say that many in DC the night of 11/22/63 were whispering many of these names.

Undoutedly, they practiced all of this in Europe -- main direction keeping right wing

governments in place and then in '63, it was our turn.

We should all recognize that there are actually people who will spend their time studying

how to gain control over others. Most of us would not find it a way to spend our lives.


Every action begins on a spiritual plane -- something wrong with theirs, IMO.

But, it's also the very basis of capitalism -- control of a nation's wealth and natural

resources -- and control/exploitation of other human beings according to various myths of

"inferiority."


You can often read here about right wing control of our "free press" -- but I'm not really

sure that those saying it understand how deeply involved the CIA is in that mission.


This thread is interesting . . . but we have to remember that the only way the right wing

can rise is with political violence -- and stolen elections.


Yes -- there is immense fakery -- from their fake right wing religious movement -- to the

faking of the violent Islamic movement which US/CIA spread into the Middle East.

Religion remains a primary tool in the underming and takeover of other nations/peoples.

It continues to happen -- and we are as much the victims as any others were ... from

the Native American to Hawaiians and so on.


:)

[conscious evolution]

45. +1+

[BeHereNow]

32. Oh hell, that is the BEST post I have EVER seen on DU.

Nail meets hammer.

BHN

On edit: I think I have a really good idea who wrote that.

[Swamp Rat]

33. k&r

[saltpoint]

34. I believe Iron Man can save us.

And he will, too.

[walldude]

51. It's gonna take more than one.. call the Avengers.

Cause we are royally fucked.

[saltpoint]

85. If Thor is involved, we will prevail.

I love Thor.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

36. Obama is a "politics as usual" centrist in a corrupt system. K&R

He's playing the game that the establishment demands. The good news is that, like JFK, he lit a fire with his slogans and speechmaking. And, the fire is just beginning.

[defendandprotect]

88. No one is going to make it to the Presidency w/o a clear understdanding that

he will be serving the corporate/elites --

[BeHereNow]

37. Kick this to the SKY!

Someone has NAILED THE TRUTH.
BHN

[BeHereNow]

38. KICK!!!!

bhn

[lib_wit_it]

42. Kick it!

[omega minimo]

43. I hate narcissistic post-Modern idiocy

[lib_wit_it]

90. Unless I'm misinterpreting your post, it seems your sig line is in direct contradiction to it. Ad-

mittedly, I'm not really even quite sure what post-modern means, so, I may be missing something.

[deutsey]

46. Everyone should watch "The Century of the Self"

It's a BBC documentary that, according to the host, "is about how those in power have used Freud's theories to try and control the dangerous crowd in an age of mass democracy."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/documentaries/features/century_of_the_self.shtml

[Jamastiene]

48. It's the truth...

the cold, hard truth. K&R

[dorkulon]

50. Problem is, we don't have the money to mount an equivalent message campaign.

The right has the corporations; we can't match their cashflow.

[Mojorabbit]

54. I think the ruling left does have the cash flow

and their message is not too much different than the right. It is all corporate. The populist left does not have the cash.

[dorkulon]

56. I meant the real left, not the Democrats.

[defendandprotect]

79. Not to be overlooked, the right wing has used political violence and election steals . . .

This is not a straightforward issue of strategy --

There is much more involved in the rise of the right!!

[rockymountaindem]

52. This guy is absolutely right. Giving up is not the answer.

We are actually pretty close to getting some of the things we want. On the House side, we got a fairly tolerable bill with a public option etc. On the Senate side we are within a few votes of success, and would be able to get lots of good stuff if they were to go with a 51-vote majority rule. So we're not far off from getting what we want, I think.

The problem is that we had thought we'd gotten across the goal line in terms of electoral success, and it's disappointing to realize that there are a few more steps to go. I guess it's kind of like when the Jamaican bobsled team crashed at the end of "Cool Runnings". That was a huge bummer. But, we can either quit, or be like them, pick up our sled and keep going. Giving up on the Democratic party now, when we are really close, is not the answer. Trying to make a concerted movement to make our voice heard, and increasing our power within the party is the way to go, IMHO.

[Vinnie From Indy]

53. Kicking

This is an excellent read and it explains, in my opinion, how America has been acquired by corporate interests.

[bvar22]

55. Brand Obama.

The selling of Brand Obama was a very successful marketing campaign.
Election 2008 was a crushing defeat for the Working Class.

As the healthcare debacle went on month after month, I didn't ask myself why the Democratic politicians weren't pushing single-payer or Medicare for all. I wanted to know where the Left-leaning organizations were. Where were the think tanks, the message machine, the newspapers, the whole infrastructure? Where were the national, well-tested ad campaigns pushing Medicare for All? Where were the free screenings of Sicko at major movie theaters across the nation, complete with sponsored food & drink for those who attended and signed up to take action? Where were the mid-cycle ads done by Madison Avenue professionals targeting specific Senators and making them deeply uncomfortable? Where, in effect, was the message campaign?"

I don't believe The Left can compete on that Playing Field, and I'm not sure I want to.
The RICH (and it IS a Class War) will always be able to outspend us.

I don't know what the answer is.

[Goldstein1984]

57. GREAT READ! And it hits home

And I think the people need to send a message that we're pissed off, but I don't see that happening. As the writers says in his article, they sell us everything, not just our political preferences. They like us docile and sitting in front of a good NFL game with a beverage in one hand and a fist full of potato chips in the other, while they use the game to persuade us to buy other things.

I still believe the best message to send is an economic message. Consumption is 70% of the economy, and that is where "they" can be hurt. What did Bush/Cheney tell us to do right after 9/11?--go out and spend! What is the real purpose of the TSA?--to create the illusion of security so that we will fly. SO, what is the best way to strike at and get the attention of fatcats?--NOT SPENDING...BOYCOTTING

Yes, people employed in selling things will be impacted. There are casualties in any war, but right now it's only our side taking them.

Just my thought.

Rec

[Blue Owl]

58. Now we're talking

Good summary of our current situation -- one of the best I've read yet!

[mistertrickster]

59. It goes back to what Saul Alinsky famously said, "to hell with charity,

you only get what you're strong enough to get."

The Dean Democrats of which I am proudly one--those of us who stand for the "Democratic wing of the Democratic party"--aren't strong enough to get what we want. As Dr. Dean said, "voting is the LEAST you can do."

Until we successfully organize for power, we will forever be simply hoping for the crumbs that the powerful throw to us.

[theFrankFactor]

75. So True!

[Vidar]

60. K&R.

[chill_wind]

62. Move-On just raised $1 Million bucks in 2 days while we were talking

in abstractions.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x7255137

[slipslidingaway]

66. MoveOn got people to support the idea of a PO, I wish they had used their ...

money and organization to back Medicare for All.

:shrug:

:hi:

[MessiahRp]

64. WOW. This reminds me of JFK when Mr. X exposes Washington to Jim Garrison

An eye opening confessional from an insider... and worse it really shows why our side loses all the time. It's really time for the left to organize independent of the Democratic Party and unite based on our common shared principles and values. We could push people to do the right thing a lot more capably then we can if we worry about party branding tags next to a person's name and protecting a partisan based majority... a majority which is made up of people from the other side as well.

Rp

[defendandprotect]

80. Wait . . . yes, there is the deception of propaganda, but there is also political VIOLENCE . . .

Let's not forget that --

The only way the right wing can rise is thru political violence

and stolen elections --

We've had decades of political violence by the right here in America, alone -- !!

While right wing propaganda does work amazingly well, don't overlook how the

MSM has been taken over by the right/CIA and used for their purposes...

When you talk about the right, you have to include the CIA in that, as well --

they were financing right wing Senators and Congressional emembers using right

wing money from any sources .... including the KKK.

Two of the elected officials I'm aware of are Sen. Strom Thurmond and

Rep. Jerry Ford -- our first and only unelected VP who moved on to become an

unelected President!! Evdiently there is a longer list.

Pat Buchanan has also been supported by CIA money.

Meanwhile, I also understand that our Federal budgets for Education hid CIA funds --

50% of the Education budget!!!

[slipslidingaway]

65. One sentence helps to sum up what went wrong ...

"...As the healthcare debacle went on month after month, I didn't ask myself why the Democratic politicians weren't pushing single-payer or Medicare for all. I wanted to know where the Left-leaning organizations were..."

Too many people bought into the idea that a public option would be just like Medicare, many of the large and prominent groups and politicians pushed this idea without knowing or having any guarantees what the public option would be.

People abandoned a national, not for profit HC system for some vague idea.

:(

[David Zephyr]

67. At this point, here at the end of his first year, I can't argue with one word of this.

K&R.

[nadinbrzezinski]

68. Ah talking of POWER ELITES

and until people UNDERSTAND this reality, FORGET IT.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x7253377

[Mithreal]

70. One of the must read posts I have seen on DU

[defendandprotect]

71. And, Democratic Party is now giving aid and comfort to the anti-abortion fanatics . . .

where the issue is being weilded AGAINST women --

Nelson and Casey -- just to name two -- still at it!!

Organized patriarchal religion is alive and well in the Democratic Party!!!

Sickening!!

[fascisthunter]

72. too many love living in denial

somehow they believe that belief alone will change the outcome why ignoring the facts right in front of them.

[theFrankFactor]

74. Excellent!!! K&R

[RedCloud]

83. And Bill Gates loser of over $30,000,000,000 during Bush sits idly by.

He could teach these midget billionaires a thing or two about economic power, if he wanted to.

[depakid]

84. Sorry that I can only recommend this once

[lib_wit_it]

91. True, but we can kick it as many times as we want, no? This needs to be read and understood and

used as one of the key concepts progressives need to use to develop a long-term, winning strategy.

Am I wrong?

[conscious evolution]

89. Are you still being fooled?

Are you?