Political Gymnastics

There are questions I have been asking about the new administration:

There is something that I have always been amazed at those who have the linguistic skills of salesmanship and politics. I am not sure I really am the proficient at either. When I trained with the best reputable company in the business, they are Mormon if that helps, in timeshare. I learned it is not what you say but how you say it that seems to have most people buying timeshares in droves. My wife says often....I have no problem with what you are saying....but how you are saying it. Might be just a man thing but ....there were some timeshare guys who I would not trust any farther than I could throw them across a river but they sold timeshare. Does your client, customer, owner, whatever you were going to call them that day, trust you? The counsel was it was all how you asked the question. So many bright, intelligent and financially secure timeshare veterans would seem to know all the tricks, "When did you stop beating your wife", as an example of the power of framing a question properly. It is the perfect "gotcha" question of all time. Most of us today see through such framework but not all of us. You can fool all of the people some of the time and some of the people all of the time but not all of the people all of the time.....famous guy said that not me.

Those who are fans of the Sunday News shows of Foxnews Sunday and Meet the Press know that how one frames the question is substantial in getting the proper response. These are lessons glean from years and years of watching 60 minutes pummel their guests with the microphone in their face as they ran down the street. By the way, Chris Wallace and Mike Wallace...yes, Father and Son. So when did you stop beating your wife?

Health care professionals have learned it is imperative to ask the proper questions if you MUST have the truth. Dr. Kevin Fiscella found it matters a great deal medically,
The first question was, “How long has it been since you’ve had a mammogram?” Most women of all races and ethnicity's tend to underestimate how long it’s been: They’ll circle 1 year, for example, when in fact it’s been 18 months or 2 years since their last mammogram. Indeed, the responses showed no significant differences in mammogram rates among black, white and Hispanic women.

But the responses changed to the question, “What health care services have you received in the last four months?” Fiscella found that when he looked at an entire year, 28 percent of white respondents versus 15 percent of black respondents reported receiving a mammogram. He believes the 13-percent disparity gives a more accurate picture of mammography rates.

Even the election of last year has its very unique and different views. Of course Barack Obama who won the electorate by a 52-48% margin has a "mandate" and has turned the world around according to some TV moderator types who are wondering how the Republican party is ever going to recieve one more vote.....Ever! While at the same time California rejected same sex marriage by 52-48%...and the comments by the same TV moderator types is that it passed by the "narrowest of margins". It is not only how you frame the question but sometimes how you frame the answer. Did anyone notice this small but significant inconsistency? Does the guy have a mandate? More than that.....does he really know the right questions to ask. He is a bit of a newby when it comes to making anything work. And making things REALLY work is what this fellow is going to need to do.

I teach US History and am just about to embark into a discussion and trapse through the mess known as the Stock Market Crash and the New Deal......did you know the New Deal did not work. Take out employment provided by the federal government and the worse year for unemployment, prices and a down economy was 1937. Most knowledgeable History types easily say, "Well, it was World War II that brought us out of the depression". And it was. So why do Democrats wistfully remember Franklin Roosevelt as the cure all, savior and Icon for the Democratic Party. There were all kinds of solutions and the ABC's of any government plan. Most have gone away but a lot stay FOREVER!!! Well, you can fool some of the people....and they were and are.....and well, now we have Barack Obama. But all of the people all of the time?? More government does not help business. Where is it the easiest in the world to set up and get a business going? Try Hong Kong...one of the business centers of the world. Might take me two months in Orlando but could take two hours to get up and running in Hong Kong. Government knows what makes that Island work. Do we? How does government create one job. And if there do it is temporary at best. What is the definition of a government employee? Bureacracy, red tape and worse...incompetant.




What concerns me most is this. The bad guy for the last eighty years in the Stock Market Crash and Depression was Herbert Hoover. Know what he did? Support and give money to banks and insurance companies, try to fix the home loan business....YIKES. Mr. Obama...the New Deal did not work. The Moment Roosevelt was out we saw the next fifty years dominated by Republicans. Why? You can't fool all of the people ALL of the time. We do not need more government! I do not trust the government. I remember walking the freeways of Seattle in 1970 knowing not that I did not trust anyone over thirty, my Dad was over thirty and I trusted him, but that I did not trust government. I do not trust anyone who does not understand and know history as well.

We need regulation...Teddy Roosevelt was right! I want my environment clean (thank Nixon for EPA), I want my food clean (thank Teddy for FDA) and I want people to get hired and work and to be prosperous.....(does this administration know how that is done)????? That is the Question isn't it! Or are you ready for fifty more years of Republican Rule?