Thinking is hard. FEELING is EASY

The Democrats' mistake in recent years has been so simple they keey overlooking it, even as the Republicans polish their marketing skills:

You CAN'T make people THINK.

But you CAN make them FEEL.

The Democrats try to persuade people through facts. Figures. Logic. They tell people to think about what's best for them. It just doesn't work.

Meanwhile, Republicans come right out and tell people: facts don't matter, ignore the numbers, logic is for "intellectuals." Their message is always simple: FEEL. FEAR. HATE. EASY.
Republican marketers have been pressing the right buttons in an almost Speilbergian way. It works.

So always remember:

• You CAN'T make people THINK.
• But you CAN make them FEEL.

The problem with Presidents

Last week on NBC’s brilliant TV drama, The West Wing, representatives from a new Eastern European nation came to the White House to meet with a constitutional scholar who was going to help them write their own constitution.

The scholar wanted them to have a presidential democracy, but Toby Zeigler, the White House Communications Director, explained that other than the U.S., no presidential democracy in history has lasted more than 30 years.

The U.S. is the only exception. The danger is that too much power can be put in the president's hands, and the checks and balances are too easily defeated.

He urged them to choose a Parliamentary democracy where the Prime Minister was under much more direct control of the members of Parliament and therefore less likely to seize control.

We’ve seen how easy it’s been the Ws to break the system of checks and balances and put all power in their own hands. What's amazing 1) the press has not only gone along with it, it’s helped create it and 2) the members of the House and Senate didn't realize that they gave away their power and became redundant, down to the point where the White House was talking about "what will we do if the Congress is all killed?" Yes, let's plan for that with a shadow government of our own choosing...

The question now—what are we going to do with the president we have? How are we going to make him accountable to the people, not just the corporations? How are we going to stop the march into total fascism, turn around, and head back towards democracy?