THE CAPE CHARLES MIRROR OCTOBER 23, 2022
Op-Ed: On Joe Biden’s Dangerous Demagoguery
This Op-Ed was written and submitted by Paul Plante.
A “demagogue,” according to the Reader’s Digest Great Encyclopedic Dictionary, is “one who leads the populace by appealing to prejudices and passions; an unprincipled politician.”
It is my premise herein that Democrat Joseph Robinette Biden, Junior, is just such a “leader,” especially on the issue of abortion, leading his portion of the populace by appealing to their prejudices and passions, as we see in a Reuters article titled “Biden to codify abortion rights in January if Democrats keep Congress” by Jeff Mason and Nandita Bose on October 18, 2022, as follows:
“I want you to remember that the final say does not rest in the Court now.”
“It does not rest with extremist Republicans in Congress.”
“The final say about your right to choose.. rests with you.”
“And if you do your part and vote, Democratic leaders in Congress I promise you will do our part.”
“I’ll do my part.”
The president also cited a part of the Supreme Court ruling that said women are not without electoral or political power, suggesting they could mobilize and elect lawmakers to guarantee abortion rights.
“Let me tell you something.”
“The court and extreme Republicans who spent decades trying to overturn Roe are about to find out,” Biden said.
end quotes
With those words of Joe Biden in mind, that same source, the Reader’s Digest Great Encyclopedic Dictionary, then defines the term “demagogic” as “pertaining to or like a demagogue; given to unprincipled political agitation,” and “demagoguery” as “the spirit, method or conduct of a demagogue.”
It is my premise herein based on those words of Joe’s in that Reuters article above, with regard to abortion, specifically, that Joe Biden is indeed engaging in “unprincipled political agitation” which marks him out as a modern-day demagogue.
“Demagogue” is a word that seems to have fallen out of our political lexicon, probably because it is hard to spell and has so many characters in it that it would play hob with composing a TWEET on TWITTER, although for a time, the term was being applied, rightly or wrongly, to Donald Trump,
Before that, in my memory, we have to go back to George Wallace to find an American politician branded as a demagogue.
According to an article in The Bulwark titled “Demagoguery in America” by Pejman Yousefzadeh on August 30, 2020, which article is a review of a book titled The Demagogue’s Playbook – The Battle for American Democracy from the Founders to Trump by Eric A. Posner, we have this American history to consider, as follows:
Andrew Jackson, the earliest American demagogue Posner identifies, “was able to win the presidency because by his time the original constitutional bulwarks against populist demagogues had eroded.”
Under Jackson, “the new populist ideology could justify destruction of the institutions, not just reform, including institutions that constrain, or lie outside the power of, the executive.”
“Only the president himself was powerful enough to lead this assault.”
In short, the new ideology justified “a leader who derives his power from the people rather than from a set of political institutions, a demagogue.”
Notwithstanding the creation of a technocracy — and the administrative bureaucracy that preceded, grew with, and enabled it — Posner tells us that populist demagogic impulses returned with a vengeance with the arrival on the scene of Wisconsin senator Joseph McCarthy, to whom the press “flocked” because he was (here Posner borrows from historian David Oshinsky) “bizarre, unpredictable, entertaining, and always newsworthy.”
Despite the fact that McCarthy was ultimately repudiated by his Senate colleagues, the demagogic strain remained, and found at least some resonance in the public career of Alabama governor George Wallace and the presidential candidacies and presidency of Richard Nixon.
end quotes
So we have had presidents before Joe Biden who have been deemed to be demagogues, which takes us back to that article for this, which is directly relevant to the times we are in today and the dangerous demagoguery of Joseph Robinette Biden, Junior, to wit:
The Demagogue’s Playbook is a well-written and -sourced work of pop-scholarship, with a narrative style that moves briskly without skimping on important historical and cultural details.
Posner’s historical judgment, however, is sometimes lacking.
For example, in discussing the presidency of Franklin Roosevelt, Posner concedes that Roosevelt “used some demagogic tactics,” but argues that those tactics were justified:
First, [Roosevelt] acted during a serious emergency — actually two emergencies, the Great Depression and the start of World War II.
end quote
And think about today, and the excuses Joe Biden is using for his demagoguery – the economy and “a war raging,” as Joe was just quoted as saying in a Reuters article titled “U.S. sells oil reserves as Biden tackles pump prices ahead of elections” by Nandita Bose, Jarrett Renshaw and Steve Holland on October 19, 2022.
Going back to the article for more similarities between the demagoguery of FDR and the demagoguery of JRB, we have:
The creaky American constitutional system inhibits executive action, and while that may be tolerable in normal times, in a national emergency a timid executive may spell doom.
The Great Depression was already three years old when Roosevelt took office, and a new banking crisis had begun just months earlier.
Hoover was not up to the task.
Roosevelt also faced an extraordinarily complex situation in the run-up to World War II, when he sought to signal to Germany that America would come to the aid of the Western alliance while avoiding a domestic political backlash that could have hamstrung the eventual war effort.
One will not find many people nowadays who will deny that Roosevelt faced extraordinary challenges during his presidency, and that an extraordinary response was necessary.
But it is more than a little unsettling to read Posner claiming that those exigencies justified “some demagogic tactics.”
Were we to confine the use of judicious demagoguery to Roosevelt’s presidency and his response to the likes of massive global recession and another world war, perhaps we would not have much to fear from the prospect of demagoguery at the presidential level.
The obvious problem, however, is that while few presidents may encounter twin crises like the Great Depression and World War II, the emergency powers of the president are vast, and the combination of presidential demagoguery and the exercise of presidential powers at the merest suggestion of an emergency is frightening to contemplate.
end quotes
Think about how many “merest hints of emergencies” there have been under Joe Biden that are requiring him in his own view to keep expanding his powers through executive orders.
Going back to that article, it continues with this following warning, to wit:
It is worrisome enough that the powers of the presidency have considerably expanded through the decades and show no sign of lessening.
It would be worse still if we turned a blind eye to the unbounded ability of a president to engage in demagoguery in any circumstance he labels an emergency — even if no real emergency exists — because in part we are occasionally given to excusing “some demagogic tactics.”
end quotes
And with that in the record, let me pause here for all of that to sink in, and most certainly, if we do turn a blind eye to the unbounded ability of a president, in this case, clearly Joseph Robinette Biden, Junior, to engage in demagoguery in any circumstance he labels an emergency — even if no real emergency exists — because in part we are occasionally given to excusing “some demagogic tactics,” then we are asking for serious trouble as a nation and as a people!
http://www.capecharlesmirror.com/news/o ... magoguery/
ON JOE BIDEN'S DANGEROUS DEMAGOGUERY
Re: ON JOE BIDEN'S DANGEROUS DEMAGOGUERY
THE CAPE CHARLES MIRROR OCTOBER 23, 2022 AT 11:04 AM
Paul Plante says:
So, picking up where we left off as the clock counts down to November 8, 2022, and election day, when the fate of OUR Republic and OUR Constitution and Separation of Powers, and especially the Tenth Amendment, wherein is clearly stated, although not heard or even acknowledged by Joe Biden and the Democrats, that “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”
From the demagogic rhetoric of Joe Biden concerning him overruling the Supreme Court with an executive order and thereby transferring control of abortions from THE PEOPLE in the states and their elected leaders to the Democrats in the federal government, it is that amendment that is clearly under threat here, people, and make no mistake about it.
If Joe Biden and the Democrats get their way come November, that will be the DEATH of OUR Constitution as we once knew it, and we will enter a new era where the meaning of the Constitution changes on a daily basis depending on the moods, passions, emotions and feelings of the Democrats that day as to what they would like the Constitution to mean that moment, and there will be chaos, as a result.
And that takes us back to this statement from The Bulwark article titled “Demagoguery in America” by Pejman Yousefzadeh on August 30, 2020, to wit:
The obvious problem, however, is that while few presidents may encounter twin crises like the Great Depression and World War II, the emergency powers of the president are vast, and the combination of presidential demagoguery and the exercise of presidential powers at the merest suggestion of an emergency is frightening to contemplate.
end quote
And while we contemplate that, let me go to this from the The Bulwark article titled “Demagoguery in America” by Pejman Yousefzadeh on August 30, 2020, for some background history, something we become more and more devoid on a daily basis it seems, where there is absolutely no fact-checking of claims made by the Democrats and the Biden regime, to wit:
Andrew Jackson, the earliest American demagogue Posner identifies, “was able to win the presidency because by his time the original constitutional bulwarks against populist demagogues had eroded.”
end quote
Now, people, and yes, I do sincerely believe that the readers of the Cape Charles Mirror are mature adults who wish to be presented with facts or opinions for them to consider, as opposed to being told what it is they must think, or in too many cases, what it is they must not think if they want to be considered by Joe Biden and the Democrats as “GOOD AMERICANS,” an ironic term deriving from the term “Good Germans,” referring to German citizens during and after World War II who claimed not to have supported the Nazi regime, but remained silent and did not resist in a meaningful way, I want to pause the narrative here with this phrase from The Bulwark article before us to ponder for a moment, to wit: “the original constitutional bulwarks against populist demagogues had eroded.”
WHAT were those original constitutional bulwarks against populist demagogues that had eroded by the time of Andrew Jackson and his Jacksonian democracy?
WHY did those original constitutional bulwarks against populist demagogues erode in the first place?
And what does that mean for us in our times today, heading into an uncertain tomarrow?
And here let me leave you with this quote by Alexander Hamilton from FEDERALIST No. 85, Concluding Remarks, from MCLEAN’s Edition on 28 May 1788 to the People of the State of New York to consider the meaning of in relation to those supposed original constitutional bulwarks against populist demagogues, to wit:
These judicious reflections contain a lesson of moderation to all the sincere lovers of the Union, and ought to put them upon their guard against hazarding anarchy, civil war, a perpetual alienation of the States from each other, and perhaps the military despotism of a victorious demagogue, in the pursuit of what they are not likely to obtain, but from time and experience.
http://www.capecharlesmirror.com/news/o ... ent-710279
Paul Plante says:
So, picking up where we left off as the clock counts down to November 8, 2022, and election day, when the fate of OUR Republic and OUR Constitution and Separation of Powers, and especially the Tenth Amendment, wherein is clearly stated, although not heard or even acknowledged by Joe Biden and the Democrats, that “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”
From the demagogic rhetoric of Joe Biden concerning him overruling the Supreme Court with an executive order and thereby transferring control of abortions from THE PEOPLE in the states and their elected leaders to the Democrats in the federal government, it is that amendment that is clearly under threat here, people, and make no mistake about it.
If Joe Biden and the Democrats get their way come November, that will be the DEATH of OUR Constitution as we once knew it, and we will enter a new era where the meaning of the Constitution changes on a daily basis depending on the moods, passions, emotions and feelings of the Democrats that day as to what they would like the Constitution to mean that moment, and there will be chaos, as a result.
And that takes us back to this statement from The Bulwark article titled “Demagoguery in America” by Pejman Yousefzadeh on August 30, 2020, to wit:
The obvious problem, however, is that while few presidents may encounter twin crises like the Great Depression and World War II, the emergency powers of the president are vast, and the combination of presidential demagoguery and the exercise of presidential powers at the merest suggestion of an emergency is frightening to contemplate.
end quote
And while we contemplate that, let me go to this from the The Bulwark article titled “Demagoguery in America” by Pejman Yousefzadeh on August 30, 2020, for some background history, something we become more and more devoid on a daily basis it seems, where there is absolutely no fact-checking of claims made by the Democrats and the Biden regime, to wit:
Andrew Jackson, the earliest American demagogue Posner identifies, “was able to win the presidency because by his time the original constitutional bulwarks against populist demagogues had eroded.”
end quote
Now, people, and yes, I do sincerely believe that the readers of the Cape Charles Mirror are mature adults who wish to be presented with facts or opinions for them to consider, as opposed to being told what it is they must think, or in too many cases, what it is they must not think if they want to be considered by Joe Biden and the Democrats as “GOOD AMERICANS,” an ironic term deriving from the term “Good Germans,” referring to German citizens during and after World War II who claimed not to have supported the Nazi regime, but remained silent and did not resist in a meaningful way, I want to pause the narrative here with this phrase from The Bulwark article before us to ponder for a moment, to wit: “the original constitutional bulwarks against populist demagogues had eroded.”
WHAT were those original constitutional bulwarks against populist demagogues that had eroded by the time of Andrew Jackson and his Jacksonian democracy?
WHY did those original constitutional bulwarks against populist demagogues erode in the first place?
And what does that mean for us in our times today, heading into an uncertain tomarrow?
And here let me leave you with this quote by Alexander Hamilton from FEDERALIST No. 85, Concluding Remarks, from MCLEAN’s Edition on 28 May 1788 to the People of the State of New York to consider the meaning of in relation to those supposed original constitutional bulwarks against populist demagogues, to wit:
These judicious reflections contain a lesson of moderation to all the sincere lovers of the Union, and ought to put them upon their guard against hazarding anarchy, civil war, a perpetual alienation of the States from each other, and perhaps the military despotism of a victorious demagogue, in the pursuit of what they are not likely to obtain, but from time and experience.
http://www.capecharlesmirror.com/news/o ... ent-710279
Re: ON JOE BIDEN'S DANGEROUS DEMAGOGUERY
THE CAPE CHARLES MIRROR OCTOBER 24, 2022 AT 6:09 PM'
Paul Plante says:
It is interesting as we talk about the dangerous demagoguery of Joseph Robinette Biden, Junior, the first appointed president of the United States, that Vanderbilt University on its website has an article titled “Civics 101: Keep Demagogues Out of Democracy” dated April 7, 2021, by Eli Merritt, Visiting Scholar at Vanderbilt University, which article begins as follows, to wit:
SUMMARY
UNIFYING THEME: To Keep the Republic: Strengthening Democratic Principles at Home and Abroad
Political philosophers from the Greeks to the framers of the U.S. Constitution to Abraham Lincoln all warned of the mortal danger that demagogues pose to democracies.
Vital to their understanding of that danger was their familiarity with Greek and Roman history and political philosophy.
These foundational principles of democracy should not only be taught to students in Civics 101 but deserve continued emphasis to Americans of all ages.
end quotes
As a LOYAL AMERICAN who was educated in an America in a different century and millennium than today, when things education-wise in America were vastly different from what they have degenerated to in our present time today, especially with regard to familiarity with Greek and Roman history and political philosophy, I have to wholeheartedly agree with that statement that foundational principles of democracy deserve continued emphasis to Americans of all ages, especially today when we hear modern-day demagogues going on about “sacred democracy,” while weeping and wailing and gnashing their teeth while turning puce with rage over the prospect of their political opponents “stealing” their democracy from them, as though it were a playground toy they were fearful of a playground bully taking from them after giving them a wedgie and a noogie and kicking sand in their faces.
Going back to the Vanderbilt article, it continues as follows, to wit:
The preservation of a healthy constitutional democracy in the United States in the coming decades hinges critically on whether Americans heed a golden rule of this free form of government as taught throughout the ages by democracy experts like Plato, Aristotle, Thucydides, Livy, Edward Gibbon, Alexis de Tocqueville, Abraham Lincoln and especially the framers of the U.S. Constitution.
The golden rule is that demagogues destroy democracies.
In their writings and speeches, these incisive political philosophers teach us that demagogues, especially those serving as heads of state, are to the body politic of democracy what cancer is to the human body.
If the cancer is not kept out, or removed, it eviscerates critical organs and eventually kills the democracy.
end quotes
Think of that, people, as we head into the November midterms with the dangerous demagogue Joseph Robinette Biden using the bully pulpit of the presidency of the United States to engage in dangerous demagoguery intended to sway the election over to his supporters by vilifying and demonizing his political opponents.
And the problem we have here, is that we are using terminology that has gone out of the political lexicon, so we lack a cultural perspective and context that would help us understand the danger Joe Biden represents to our future and the future of our Republic, of which Joe Biden is a clear and present danger with his toxic demagoguery.
For that context, let us take a trip back in time to this nation’s beginnings, to see how the term was used in the America of that time.
Now, before we go back in time, by way of review, we have our modern definition of a “demagogue,” according to the Reader’s Digest Great Encyclopedic Dictionary, being “one who leads the populace by appealing to prejudices and passions; an unprincipled politician.”
Is that a description of American autocrat Joseph Robinette Biden, Junior, people?
Does American autocrat Joseph Robinette Biden, Junior lead the populace by appealing to the many prejudices and passions of his political followers, such as calling his and their political opponents “DREGS OF SOCIETY,” and “semi-fascists,” and “MAGAtards,” and “MEGA MAGA Republicans?”
Going back to the definition of demagogue, while we have Joseph Robinette, Biden, Junior before us as a perfect text-book example of one, Wikipedia informs us as follows on that subject, to wit:
A demagogue or rabble-rouser is a political leader in a democracy who gains popularity by arousing the common people against elites, especially through oratory that whips up the passions of crowds, appealing to emotion by scapegoating out-groups, exaggerating dangers to stoke fears, lying for emotional effect, or other rhetoric that tends to drown out reasoned deliberation and encourage fanatical popularity.
end quotes
Is that Joseph Robinette Biden, Junior they are talking about there, people?
Think carefully about it, because our collective future depends on it.
As we head into the November midterms, is Joseph Robinette Biden, Junior out there on the campaign trail trying to gain popularity for himself and for his faction by arousing the common people against elites?
Be truthful with yourselves, people – is Joseph Robinette Biden, Junior out there on the campaign trail right now as I type these words trying to gain popularity for himself and for his faction through inflammatory and incendiary oratory that whips up the passions of crowds, appealing to emotion by scapegoating out-groups like the Republicans, while exaggerating dangers to democracy, and “who you love,” and the supposed right to an abortion on demand to stoke fears?
Is Joseph Robinette Biden, Junior out there on the campaign trail right now trying to gain popularity for himself and for his faction by lying for emotional effect, while using rhetoric that tends to drown out reasoned deliberation and encourage fanatical popularity, as in the Cult of Joe?
Going back to Wikipedia, we have this to consider as well, to wit:
Demagogues overturn established norms of political conduct, or promise or threaten to do so.
end quotes
Think about American autocrat Joseph Robinette Biden, Junior telling his followers on 18 October 2022, as follows:
“I want you to remember that the final say (on abortion) does not rest in the Court now.”
“It does not rest with extremist Republicans in Congress.”
“The final say about your right to choose rests with you.”
“And if you do your part and vote, Democratic leaders in Congress I promise you will do our part.”
“I’ll do my part.”
end quotes
With that rhetoric before us, going back to Wikipedia, we are told that historian Reinhard Luthin defined a demagogue as “…a politician skilled in oratory, flattery and invective; evasive in discussing vital issues; promising everything to everybody; appealing to the passions rather than the reason of the public; and arousing racial, religious, and class prejudices – a man whose lust for power without recourse to principle leads him to seek to become a master of the masses.”
Ask yourselves while there is still time, people – is that Joseph Robinette Biden, Junior he is talking about there?
Is Joseph Robinette Biden, Junior a man whose lust for power without recourse to principle leads him to seek to become a master of the masses, and Joe is doing as I write these words in here?
And now we take a break for station identification to give you an opportunity to get to the fridge for some munchies to fortify you as you ponder that question and after a solid, uninterrupted three hours of your favorite commercials, we will be right back, so don’t touch that dial!
http://www.capecharlesmirror.com/news/o ... ent-710279
Paul Plante says:
It is interesting as we talk about the dangerous demagoguery of Joseph Robinette Biden, Junior, the first appointed president of the United States, that Vanderbilt University on its website has an article titled “Civics 101: Keep Demagogues Out of Democracy” dated April 7, 2021, by Eli Merritt, Visiting Scholar at Vanderbilt University, which article begins as follows, to wit:
SUMMARY
UNIFYING THEME: To Keep the Republic: Strengthening Democratic Principles at Home and Abroad
Political philosophers from the Greeks to the framers of the U.S. Constitution to Abraham Lincoln all warned of the mortal danger that demagogues pose to democracies.
Vital to their understanding of that danger was their familiarity with Greek and Roman history and political philosophy.
These foundational principles of democracy should not only be taught to students in Civics 101 but deserve continued emphasis to Americans of all ages.
end quotes
As a LOYAL AMERICAN who was educated in an America in a different century and millennium than today, when things education-wise in America were vastly different from what they have degenerated to in our present time today, especially with regard to familiarity with Greek and Roman history and political philosophy, I have to wholeheartedly agree with that statement that foundational principles of democracy deserve continued emphasis to Americans of all ages, especially today when we hear modern-day demagogues going on about “sacred democracy,” while weeping and wailing and gnashing their teeth while turning puce with rage over the prospect of their political opponents “stealing” their democracy from them, as though it were a playground toy they were fearful of a playground bully taking from them after giving them a wedgie and a noogie and kicking sand in their faces.
Going back to the Vanderbilt article, it continues as follows, to wit:
The preservation of a healthy constitutional democracy in the United States in the coming decades hinges critically on whether Americans heed a golden rule of this free form of government as taught throughout the ages by democracy experts like Plato, Aristotle, Thucydides, Livy, Edward Gibbon, Alexis de Tocqueville, Abraham Lincoln and especially the framers of the U.S. Constitution.
The golden rule is that demagogues destroy democracies.
In their writings and speeches, these incisive political philosophers teach us that demagogues, especially those serving as heads of state, are to the body politic of democracy what cancer is to the human body.
If the cancer is not kept out, or removed, it eviscerates critical organs and eventually kills the democracy.
end quotes
Think of that, people, as we head into the November midterms with the dangerous demagogue Joseph Robinette Biden using the bully pulpit of the presidency of the United States to engage in dangerous demagoguery intended to sway the election over to his supporters by vilifying and demonizing his political opponents.
And the problem we have here, is that we are using terminology that has gone out of the political lexicon, so we lack a cultural perspective and context that would help us understand the danger Joe Biden represents to our future and the future of our Republic, of which Joe Biden is a clear and present danger with his toxic demagoguery.
For that context, let us take a trip back in time to this nation’s beginnings, to see how the term was used in the America of that time.
Now, before we go back in time, by way of review, we have our modern definition of a “demagogue,” according to the Reader’s Digest Great Encyclopedic Dictionary, being “one who leads the populace by appealing to prejudices and passions; an unprincipled politician.”
Is that a description of American autocrat Joseph Robinette Biden, Junior, people?
Does American autocrat Joseph Robinette Biden, Junior lead the populace by appealing to the many prejudices and passions of his political followers, such as calling his and their political opponents “DREGS OF SOCIETY,” and “semi-fascists,” and “MAGAtards,” and “MEGA MAGA Republicans?”
Going back to the definition of demagogue, while we have Joseph Robinette, Biden, Junior before us as a perfect text-book example of one, Wikipedia informs us as follows on that subject, to wit:
A demagogue or rabble-rouser is a political leader in a democracy who gains popularity by arousing the common people against elites, especially through oratory that whips up the passions of crowds, appealing to emotion by scapegoating out-groups, exaggerating dangers to stoke fears, lying for emotional effect, or other rhetoric that tends to drown out reasoned deliberation and encourage fanatical popularity.
end quotes
Is that Joseph Robinette Biden, Junior they are talking about there, people?
Think carefully about it, because our collective future depends on it.
As we head into the November midterms, is Joseph Robinette Biden, Junior out there on the campaign trail trying to gain popularity for himself and for his faction by arousing the common people against elites?
Be truthful with yourselves, people – is Joseph Robinette Biden, Junior out there on the campaign trail right now as I type these words trying to gain popularity for himself and for his faction through inflammatory and incendiary oratory that whips up the passions of crowds, appealing to emotion by scapegoating out-groups like the Republicans, while exaggerating dangers to democracy, and “who you love,” and the supposed right to an abortion on demand to stoke fears?
Is Joseph Robinette Biden, Junior out there on the campaign trail right now trying to gain popularity for himself and for his faction by lying for emotional effect, while using rhetoric that tends to drown out reasoned deliberation and encourage fanatical popularity, as in the Cult of Joe?
Going back to Wikipedia, we have this to consider as well, to wit:
Demagogues overturn established norms of political conduct, or promise or threaten to do so.
end quotes
Think about American autocrat Joseph Robinette Biden, Junior telling his followers on 18 October 2022, as follows:
“I want you to remember that the final say (on abortion) does not rest in the Court now.”
“It does not rest with extremist Republicans in Congress.”
“The final say about your right to choose rests with you.”
“And if you do your part and vote, Democratic leaders in Congress I promise you will do our part.”
“I’ll do my part.”
end quotes
With that rhetoric before us, going back to Wikipedia, we are told that historian Reinhard Luthin defined a demagogue as “…a politician skilled in oratory, flattery and invective; evasive in discussing vital issues; promising everything to everybody; appealing to the passions rather than the reason of the public; and arousing racial, religious, and class prejudices – a man whose lust for power without recourse to principle leads him to seek to become a master of the masses.”
Ask yourselves while there is still time, people – is that Joseph Robinette Biden, Junior he is talking about there?
Is Joseph Robinette Biden, Junior a man whose lust for power without recourse to principle leads him to seek to become a master of the masses, and Joe is doing as I write these words in here?
And now we take a break for station identification to give you an opportunity to get to the fridge for some munchies to fortify you as you ponder that question and after a solid, uninterrupted three hours of your favorite commercials, we will be right back, so don’t touch that dial!
http://www.capecharlesmirror.com/news/o ... ent-710279
Re: ON JOE BIDEN'S DANGEROUS DEMAGOGUERY
THE CAPE CHARLES MIRROR OCTOBER 25, 2022 AT 6:32 PM
Paul Plante says:
And as we collectively consider in here why it is so important to the future of OUR Republic and our grandchildren that we strip American autocrat and demagogue Joe Biden of raw political power by taking control of the House of Representatives and the Senate away from him in the November 2022 midterms, The Blue Review, a project of the Boise State University School of Public Service, embracing the university’s state-mandated public affairs mission, the mission of which is to promote scholarship in the public interest, had an article titled “Demagogues and Democracy” by Gregory A. Raymond, Distinguished Professor of Political Science Emeritus at Boise State University and a former Pew Faculty Fellow at Harvard University, as well as a past recipient of the Idaho Professor of the Year award from the Carnegie Foundation, on February 11, 2019, where we are given this important background information on demagogues to give us a better cultural context to understand the threat Joe Biden represents to our American way of life, and our values, and especially OUR Constitution and the fate of OUR Republic, to wit:
When the delegates to the Constitutional Convention gathered in Philadelphia during 1787 to craft a new system of governance for the United States, they drew upon their knowledge of history to identify potential dangers that might one day undermine the republic.
The founding fathers believed that understanding the problems that marred previous experiences with citizen-centered rule would alert them to the perils that America could face in future.
Foremost among their concerns was the threat that demagogues posed to civil discourse and democratic norms.
end quotes
Now, think about that for a moment, the threat that demagogues pose to civil discourse here in America, and then think to yourself, my goodness, could that be Joe Biden?
By denigrating LOYAL AMERICAN CITIZENS and by dismissing them as “DREGS OF SOCIETY,” and “semi-fascists,” and “MAGAtards,” and “MEGA MAGA Republicans,” is Joe Biden a clear threat to civil discourse here in America?
Going back to the Blue Review, the article continues as follows:
The term “demagogue” (dēmagōgos) arose in Greece during the fifth century B.C.E. to describe a new breed of charismatic politicians who sought to lead the masses by arousing their passions and appealing to their prejudices.
end quotes
That is back in the beginning, when the term “demagogue” essentially meant a “popular leader,” which takes us to our times today, and a CBS News article titled “Joe Biden breaks Obama’s record for most votes ever cast for a U.S. presidential candidate” by Sophie Lewis on December 7, 2020, where we had as follows:
In 2008, Barack Obama earned 69,498,516 votes in the presidential election, the most ever.
Now, Mr. Obama’s former vice president, Joe Biden, has far surpassed that tally, setting a new record with more than 81,284,000 votes (51.3% of the total) in the 2020 election.
end quotes
So, people, based on that, is Joe Biden a popularly elected charismatic politician who seek to lead the masses by arousing their passions and appealing to their prejudices?
Consider this Reuters article from October 24, 2022 titled “Biden says Republicans would cause ‘chaos’ in U.S. economy” by Steve Holland, where we have Joe Biden clearly seeking to lead the masses by arousing their passions and appealing to their prejudices, as follows:
WASHINGTON, Oct 24 (Reuters) – Under pressure over his handling of inflation, U.S. President Joe Biden took aim on Monday at opposition Republicans, warning their economic plans would cause chaos in the world’s largest economy if they won control of Congress in Nov. 8 elections.
Biden appeared before a young, energetic crowd of Democratic National Committee workers at DNC headquarters, who greeted him with chants of “Let’s go Joe!”
end quote
Note the “Cult of Joe” atmosphere, there, people, which marks Joe Biden out as a charismatic leader.
As to Joe seeking to lead that young, energetic crowd of Democratic National Committee workers at DNC headquarters by arousing their passions and appealing to their prejudices, the Reuters article continues as follows:
With 15 days before the midterm elections that will determine the course of the final two years of Biden’s term, polls give Republicans a decisive edge in the U.S. House of Representatives and are showing the Senate a toss-up.
Biden seized on Republican congressional leaders statements that they may refuse to approve an increase in the U.S. debt limit next year, which could throw the United States into default unless they can scale back some of Biden’s spending priorities.
“Republicans are determined to hold the economy hostage,” said Biden.
“There is nothing that would create more chaos …”
“Republicans are going to crash the economy.”
end quotes
That, people, is hysteria-mongering, plain and simple!
Joe Biden has no rational basis for those statements, given he is talking about possible future events which he has no way of knowing if they will happen, or not, but he doesn’t need a rational basis because his cult followers, whose passions and emotions Joe is appealing to, do not need a rational reason for anything – it is enough for them that Joe Biden said it would be so.
And that is demagoguery in action, where “demagoguery” is defined as “the spirit, method or conduct of a demagogue,” where the demagogue, in this case, Joe Biden, a classic text-book example of an unprincipled politician, a political leader in a democracy who gains popularity by arousing the common people against elites, especially through oratory that whips up the passions of crowds, appealing to emotion by scapegoating out-groups, exaggerating dangers to stoke fears, lying for emotional effect, or other rhetoric that tends to drown out reasoned deliberation and encourage fanatical popularity.
And with that thought stated, let me pause here, to let that all sink in with this thought that I address myself, not to your passions, but to your reason; I speak as to wise men and women.
http://www.capecharlesmirror.com/news/o ... ent-709623
Paul Plante says:
And as we collectively consider in here why it is so important to the future of OUR Republic and our grandchildren that we strip American autocrat and demagogue Joe Biden of raw political power by taking control of the House of Representatives and the Senate away from him in the November 2022 midterms, The Blue Review, a project of the Boise State University School of Public Service, embracing the university’s state-mandated public affairs mission, the mission of which is to promote scholarship in the public interest, had an article titled “Demagogues and Democracy” by Gregory A. Raymond, Distinguished Professor of Political Science Emeritus at Boise State University and a former Pew Faculty Fellow at Harvard University, as well as a past recipient of the Idaho Professor of the Year award from the Carnegie Foundation, on February 11, 2019, where we are given this important background information on demagogues to give us a better cultural context to understand the threat Joe Biden represents to our American way of life, and our values, and especially OUR Constitution and the fate of OUR Republic, to wit:
When the delegates to the Constitutional Convention gathered in Philadelphia during 1787 to craft a new system of governance for the United States, they drew upon their knowledge of history to identify potential dangers that might one day undermine the republic.
The founding fathers believed that understanding the problems that marred previous experiences with citizen-centered rule would alert them to the perils that America could face in future.
Foremost among their concerns was the threat that demagogues posed to civil discourse and democratic norms.
end quotes
Now, think about that for a moment, the threat that demagogues pose to civil discourse here in America, and then think to yourself, my goodness, could that be Joe Biden?
By denigrating LOYAL AMERICAN CITIZENS and by dismissing them as “DREGS OF SOCIETY,” and “semi-fascists,” and “MAGAtards,” and “MEGA MAGA Republicans,” is Joe Biden a clear threat to civil discourse here in America?
Going back to the Blue Review, the article continues as follows:
The term “demagogue” (dēmagōgos) arose in Greece during the fifth century B.C.E. to describe a new breed of charismatic politicians who sought to lead the masses by arousing their passions and appealing to their prejudices.
end quotes
That is back in the beginning, when the term “demagogue” essentially meant a “popular leader,” which takes us to our times today, and a CBS News article titled “Joe Biden breaks Obama’s record for most votes ever cast for a U.S. presidential candidate” by Sophie Lewis on December 7, 2020, where we had as follows:
In 2008, Barack Obama earned 69,498,516 votes in the presidential election, the most ever.
Now, Mr. Obama’s former vice president, Joe Biden, has far surpassed that tally, setting a new record with more than 81,284,000 votes (51.3% of the total) in the 2020 election.
end quotes
So, people, based on that, is Joe Biden a popularly elected charismatic politician who seek to lead the masses by arousing their passions and appealing to their prejudices?
Consider this Reuters article from October 24, 2022 titled “Biden says Republicans would cause ‘chaos’ in U.S. economy” by Steve Holland, where we have Joe Biden clearly seeking to lead the masses by arousing their passions and appealing to their prejudices, as follows:
WASHINGTON, Oct 24 (Reuters) – Under pressure over his handling of inflation, U.S. President Joe Biden took aim on Monday at opposition Republicans, warning their economic plans would cause chaos in the world’s largest economy if they won control of Congress in Nov. 8 elections.
Biden appeared before a young, energetic crowd of Democratic National Committee workers at DNC headquarters, who greeted him with chants of “Let’s go Joe!”
end quote
Note the “Cult of Joe” atmosphere, there, people, which marks Joe Biden out as a charismatic leader.
As to Joe seeking to lead that young, energetic crowd of Democratic National Committee workers at DNC headquarters by arousing their passions and appealing to their prejudices, the Reuters article continues as follows:
With 15 days before the midterm elections that will determine the course of the final two years of Biden’s term, polls give Republicans a decisive edge in the U.S. House of Representatives and are showing the Senate a toss-up.
Biden seized on Republican congressional leaders statements that they may refuse to approve an increase in the U.S. debt limit next year, which could throw the United States into default unless they can scale back some of Biden’s spending priorities.
“Republicans are determined to hold the economy hostage,” said Biden.
“There is nothing that would create more chaos …”
“Republicans are going to crash the economy.”
end quotes
That, people, is hysteria-mongering, plain and simple!
Joe Biden has no rational basis for those statements, given he is talking about possible future events which he has no way of knowing if they will happen, or not, but he doesn’t need a rational basis because his cult followers, whose passions and emotions Joe is appealing to, do not need a rational reason for anything – it is enough for them that Joe Biden said it would be so.
And that is demagoguery in action, where “demagoguery” is defined as “the spirit, method or conduct of a demagogue,” where the demagogue, in this case, Joe Biden, a classic text-book example of an unprincipled politician, a political leader in a democracy who gains popularity by arousing the common people against elites, especially through oratory that whips up the passions of crowds, appealing to emotion by scapegoating out-groups, exaggerating dangers to stoke fears, lying for emotional effect, or other rhetoric that tends to drown out reasoned deliberation and encourage fanatical popularity.
And with that thought stated, let me pause here, to let that all sink in with this thought that I address myself, not to your passions, but to your reason; I speak as to wise men and women.
http://www.capecharlesmirror.com/news/o ... ent-709623
Re: ON JOE BIDEN'S DANGEROUS DEMAGOGUERY
THE CAPE CHARLES MIRROR OCTOBER 26, 2022 AT 7:48 PM
Paul Plante says:
Going back to The Blue Review article titled “Demagogues and Democracy” by Gregory A. Raymond, Distinguished Professor of Political Science Emeritus at Boise State University, we have further insight as to how the ancient Greeks, who gave us the concept in the first place, considered one to be a demagogue, to wit:
Following the outbreak of plague in 430 B.C.E., Athens fell under the spell of demagogues who flattered the common people and vowed to make them “winners.”
end quote
And following the outbreak of the plague COVID in 2021, America has fallen under the spell of the demagogue Joe Biden who has flattered the common people and vowed to make them “winners” in the Race for the 21st Century, as well as the war for the SOUL OF AMERICA!
Going back to the story of ancient Greece, it continues as follows, and at one time, this was all schoolboy/schoolgirl history, to wit:
Cleon, the most notorious of these individuals, was described by the biographer Plutarch as “a fellow remarkable for nothing but his loud voice and brazen face.”
end quote
Is our Joe Biden today a modern-day incarnation of Cleon, another fellow remarkable for nothing but his loud voice and brazen face?
In formulating your answer to that question, consider this article from The Daily Wire titled “Joe Biden Calls Trump Supporters ‘Virulent People,’ The ‘Dregs Of Society'” by Joseph Curl on September 17, 2018 where we had Joe Biden gaining popularity by arousing the common people through oratory that whipped up the passions of crowds, appealing to their emotions by scapegoating those Joe considered to be out-groups, exaggerating dangers to stoke fears, lying for emotional effect, or other rhetoric that tends to drown out reasoned deliberation and encourage fanatical popularity, to wit:
Joe Biden just had his “deplorables” moment.
Biden, who says he’ll decided in January whether to run for president in 2020 but who is making all the moves of a presidential candidate, used a pro-LGBT Human Rights Campaign annual dinner on Saturday to rip President Trump.
And in so doing, Biden had a moment reminiscent of Hillary Clinton, when she called Trump supporters “deplorables.”
Biden did his old act, starting off soft and avuncular before booming through his power points, punching the air and flailing about.
end quotes
That, people, right there, that starting off soft and avuncular before booming through his power points, punching the air and flailing about is classic textbook demagoguery, and if you watch and listen to his speeches today, it is readily apparent that Joe is a master at it, which takes us back to that article as an example of the demagoguery of Joe Biden in action, to wit:
“Despite losing in the courts, and in the court of opinion, these forces of intolerance remain determined to undermine and roll back the progress you all have made,” he said.
end quote
And there we have a textbook example of a demagogue exaggerating dangers to stoke fears.
Going back to the article, we have more as follows, to wit:
“This time they — not you — have an ally in the White House.”
“This time they have an ally.”
“They’re a small percentage of the American people — virulent people, some of them the dregs of society.”
“And instead of using the full might of the executive branch to secure justice, dignity, safety for all, the president uses the White House as the literal — literal — bully pulpit, callously — callously — exerting his power over those who have little or none.”
end quotes
And there is a classic case of Joe Biden lying for emotional effect, while engaging in rhetoric that tends to drown out reasoned deliberation and encourage fanatical popularity, which again takes us back to the article, to wit:
Biden got himself lathered up into a full froth as he waxed poetic about his and “Barack’s” thoughts on Trump.
“Barack and I agreed to remain silent for a while to give this administration the chance to get up and running in the first year,” Biden said.
“God forgive me,” he added, making the sign of the cross as the audience applauded.
“Those who try to excuse this kind of prejudice in the name of culture, I say, ‘Prejudice is prejudice and humanity is humanity — it is a crime,'” Biden said, urging those in the room to continue to oppose Trump.
“Our work is not yet done by any stretch of the imagination.”
“The stakes are much too high.”
And then he went even further.
“This is deadly earnest, we are in a fight for America’s soul,” Biden said.
end quotes
Which takes us back to the Blue Review article for more on Cleon, to wit:
Whereas Cleon was heralded by his supporters for speaking frankly (parrhēsía) — ostensibly, “telling it like it is” — Aristotle demurred that on the contrary bluster and bravado typified his oratory: “He was the first who shouted on the public platform, who used abusive language and who spoke with his cloak girt around him, while all the others used to speak in proper dress and manner.”
The historian Thucydides added that Cleon was the most violent man in Athens, someone prepared to brand those who disagreed with him as “enemies of the people.”
end quotes
Which brings us to a poisonous rant in Salon by a dude named Chauncey DeVega on 9 September 2022 titled “Joe Biden’s historic speech was too damn nice: No hand of friendship to fascists,” where we have Joe Biden, the most violent man in America, having those who disagree with him branded by one of his surrogates as “enemies of the people,” to wit:
Last Thursday in Philadelphia, Biden delivered a careful, statesmanlike and truly historic speech warning the American people that the Republican Party and the “conservative” movement have been taken over by Donald Trump and his MAGA-fascist followers.
For an American president to issue such a warning is virtually without precedent: Matters are that dire.
America, Biden said, was “at an inflection point” and must choose “to build a future or obsess about the past, to be a nation of hope and unity and optimism or a nation of fear, division and of darkness.”
In fact, today’s Republicans are not “semi-fascists,” as the president has said, but actual fascists, increasingly allied with a global authoritarian movement.
The examples are numerous: Today’s Republican Party is organized around the Great Leader principle and a political personality cult.
Joe Biden did not speak those truths without qualifications or exceptions.
Instead, he tried to create a political off-ramp, offering the Republican-fascists the hand of unity and the promise of shared “American values.”
Biden is extending the hand of friendship to sworn enemies who have not earned it and actually despise him and the Democratic Party.
There can be no negotiation or compromise with fascism or with those tainted by it.
Those people must be totally defeated and driven out of politics, government and public life.
Playing defense in the war to protect democracy simply will not work.
Now is the time for the Democrats to launch a robust counterattack against the Republican fascists and their forces, and to press whatever advantage they have before that window of opportunity slams shut.
Yes, it is certainly refreshing and good that Biden is acting as a president who wants to act in the best interests of the nation and the American people.
But in trying to save American democracy, President Biden must accept the harsh reality that tens of millions of Americans are now enemies of democracy, if not outright fascists.
end quotes
And there for the moment, I will rest.
http://www.capecharlesmirror.com/news/o ... ent-711514
Paul Plante says:
Going back to The Blue Review article titled “Demagogues and Democracy” by Gregory A. Raymond, Distinguished Professor of Political Science Emeritus at Boise State University, we have further insight as to how the ancient Greeks, who gave us the concept in the first place, considered one to be a demagogue, to wit:
Following the outbreak of plague in 430 B.C.E., Athens fell under the spell of demagogues who flattered the common people and vowed to make them “winners.”
end quote
And following the outbreak of the plague COVID in 2021, America has fallen under the spell of the demagogue Joe Biden who has flattered the common people and vowed to make them “winners” in the Race for the 21st Century, as well as the war for the SOUL OF AMERICA!
Going back to the story of ancient Greece, it continues as follows, and at one time, this was all schoolboy/schoolgirl history, to wit:
Cleon, the most notorious of these individuals, was described by the biographer Plutarch as “a fellow remarkable for nothing but his loud voice and brazen face.”
end quote
Is our Joe Biden today a modern-day incarnation of Cleon, another fellow remarkable for nothing but his loud voice and brazen face?
In formulating your answer to that question, consider this article from The Daily Wire titled “Joe Biden Calls Trump Supporters ‘Virulent People,’ The ‘Dregs Of Society'” by Joseph Curl on September 17, 2018 where we had Joe Biden gaining popularity by arousing the common people through oratory that whipped up the passions of crowds, appealing to their emotions by scapegoating those Joe considered to be out-groups, exaggerating dangers to stoke fears, lying for emotional effect, or other rhetoric that tends to drown out reasoned deliberation and encourage fanatical popularity, to wit:
Joe Biden just had his “deplorables” moment.
Biden, who says he’ll decided in January whether to run for president in 2020 but who is making all the moves of a presidential candidate, used a pro-LGBT Human Rights Campaign annual dinner on Saturday to rip President Trump.
And in so doing, Biden had a moment reminiscent of Hillary Clinton, when she called Trump supporters “deplorables.”
Biden did his old act, starting off soft and avuncular before booming through his power points, punching the air and flailing about.
end quotes
That, people, right there, that starting off soft and avuncular before booming through his power points, punching the air and flailing about is classic textbook demagoguery, and if you watch and listen to his speeches today, it is readily apparent that Joe is a master at it, which takes us back to that article as an example of the demagoguery of Joe Biden in action, to wit:
“Despite losing in the courts, and in the court of opinion, these forces of intolerance remain determined to undermine and roll back the progress you all have made,” he said.
end quote
And there we have a textbook example of a demagogue exaggerating dangers to stoke fears.
Going back to the article, we have more as follows, to wit:
“This time they — not you — have an ally in the White House.”
“This time they have an ally.”
“They’re a small percentage of the American people — virulent people, some of them the dregs of society.”
“And instead of using the full might of the executive branch to secure justice, dignity, safety for all, the president uses the White House as the literal — literal — bully pulpit, callously — callously — exerting his power over those who have little or none.”
end quotes
And there is a classic case of Joe Biden lying for emotional effect, while engaging in rhetoric that tends to drown out reasoned deliberation and encourage fanatical popularity, which again takes us back to the article, to wit:
Biden got himself lathered up into a full froth as he waxed poetic about his and “Barack’s” thoughts on Trump.
“Barack and I agreed to remain silent for a while to give this administration the chance to get up and running in the first year,” Biden said.
“God forgive me,” he added, making the sign of the cross as the audience applauded.
“Those who try to excuse this kind of prejudice in the name of culture, I say, ‘Prejudice is prejudice and humanity is humanity — it is a crime,'” Biden said, urging those in the room to continue to oppose Trump.
“Our work is not yet done by any stretch of the imagination.”
“The stakes are much too high.”
And then he went even further.
“This is deadly earnest, we are in a fight for America’s soul,” Biden said.
end quotes
Which takes us back to the Blue Review article for more on Cleon, to wit:
Whereas Cleon was heralded by his supporters for speaking frankly (parrhēsía) — ostensibly, “telling it like it is” — Aristotle demurred that on the contrary bluster and bravado typified his oratory: “He was the first who shouted on the public platform, who used abusive language and who spoke with his cloak girt around him, while all the others used to speak in proper dress and manner.”
The historian Thucydides added that Cleon was the most violent man in Athens, someone prepared to brand those who disagreed with him as “enemies of the people.”
end quotes
Which brings us to a poisonous rant in Salon by a dude named Chauncey DeVega on 9 September 2022 titled “Joe Biden’s historic speech was too damn nice: No hand of friendship to fascists,” where we have Joe Biden, the most violent man in America, having those who disagree with him branded by one of his surrogates as “enemies of the people,” to wit:
Last Thursday in Philadelphia, Biden delivered a careful, statesmanlike and truly historic speech warning the American people that the Republican Party and the “conservative” movement have been taken over by Donald Trump and his MAGA-fascist followers.
For an American president to issue such a warning is virtually without precedent: Matters are that dire.
America, Biden said, was “at an inflection point” and must choose “to build a future or obsess about the past, to be a nation of hope and unity and optimism or a nation of fear, division and of darkness.”
In fact, today’s Republicans are not “semi-fascists,” as the president has said, but actual fascists, increasingly allied with a global authoritarian movement.
The examples are numerous: Today’s Republican Party is organized around the Great Leader principle and a political personality cult.
Joe Biden did not speak those truths without qualifications or exceptions.
Instead, he tried to create a political off-ramp, offering the Republican-fascists the hand of unity and the promise of shared “American values.”
Biden is extending the hand of friendship to sworn enemies who have not earned it and actually despise him and the Democratic Party.
There can be no negotiation or compromise with fascism or with those tainted by it.
Those people must be totally defeated and driven out of politics, government and public life.
Playing defense in the war to protect democracy simply will not work.
Now is the time for the Democrats to launch a robust counterattack against the Republican fascists and their forces, and to press whatever advantage they have before that window of opportunity slams shut.
Yes, it is certainly refreshing and good that Biden is acting as a president who wants to act in the best interests of the nation and the American people.
But in trying to save American democracy, President Biden must accept the harsh reality that tens of millions of Americans are now enemies of democracy, if not outright fascists.
end quotes
And there for the moment, I will rest.
http://www.capecharlesmirror.com/news/o ... ent-711514
Re: ON JOE BIDEN'S DANGEROUS DEMAGOGUERY
THE CAPE CHARLES MIRROR OCTOBER 27, 2022 AT 8:40 PM
Paul Plante says:
So why are demagogues like Joe Biden such a danger to America and OUR Republic and our future?
Because people too ignorant to know better, and lacking the ability to employ reasoning believe what they are saying without question, because they believe in the demagogue himself in this case, although there is no reason I am aware of as to why a woman like Hillary Clinton or Karmela Harris or Lizzie Cheney or Elaine Luria cannot also be a demagogue.
And with that said, let’s go back to The Blue Review article titled “Demagogues and Democracy” by Gregory A. Raymond, Distinguished Professor of Political Science Emeritus at Boise State University, where we have this further insight into the subject of demagogues like Joe Biden and demagoguery, to wit:
By rebuking would-be tyrants who manipulated the anxieties and resentments of the crowd, the historians, playwrights, and philosophers of antiquity have forewarned us of the dangers that demagogues pose to democratic governance.
end quotes
Focus on those words “would-be tyrants who manipulated the anxieties and resentments of the crowd,” because that, people, is exactly what Joe Biden is doing in America today – manipulating the anxieties and resentments of the crowd, and let’s face it, Joe Biden is a master at it – the demagogue’s demagogue!
Going back to the Blue Review, the article continues thusly:
Uppermost among these dangers is what demagogues do to civic life.
Although, as Plato observed in the Republic, demagogues portray themselves as “protectors of the people,” they widen social cleavages by peddling conspiracy theories, playing one group of citizens against another, and by singling out scapegoats to blame for both real and imagined problems.
end quotes
Consider Joe Biden’s “only I can save you” message that consistently underlies his speeches, with “The Biden Plan to Build a Modern, Sustainable Infrastructure and an Equitable Clean Energy Future” as an example, to wit:
At this moment of profound crisis, we have the opportunity to build a more resilient, sustainable economy – one that will put the United States on an irreversible path to achieve net-zero emissions, economy-wide, by no later than 2050.
Joe Biden will seize that opportunity and, in the process, create millions of good-paying jobs that provide workers with the choice to join a union and bargain collectively with their employers.
President Trump has a devastating pattern of denying science and leaving our country unprepared and vulnerable.
Just as with COVID-19, Donald Trump has denied science and failed to step up in the face of the climate crisis.
He has called it a hoax.
He has allowed our infrastructure to deteriorate and farmers’ fields to flood.
He has held back American workers from leading the world on clean energy, giving China and other countries a free pass to outcompete us in key technologies and the jobs that come with them.
Joe Biden’s Build Back Better plan ensures that – coming out of this profound public health and economic crisis, and facing the persistent climate crisis – we are never caught flat-footed again.
He will launch a national effort aimed at creating the jobs we need to build a modern, sustainable infrastructure now and deliver an equitable clean energy future.
end quotes
That, people, is a classic example of textbook demagoguery in action by a master!
Going back to the Blue Review:
They further degrade public discourse by hurling insults and spurious allegations at anyone who dares to challenge them, attempting to cow opponents into silence.
Demonizing the opposition, denying its legitimacy, and calling for its leaders to be locked up undermine the prospects for fair, inclusive, and competitive elections.
Within this toxic climate, political divisions become almost impossible to bridge, which dissuades elected officials with differing viewpoints from deliberating together.
end quotes
Sound like Joe Biden, anyone?
And what am I saying, of course it does!
That description fits Joe Biden like a well-made tailored suit!
Returning to the Blue Review, we have more, to wit:
When language is debased, and conventions governing honest discourse weaken, demonstrably false claims presented as “alternative facts” increasingly contaminate policy discussions.
“What you are seeing,” demagogues tell the populace, “is not what is happening.”
“Truth,” their apologists assert, “isn’t truth.”
Deliberately employed to sow doubt about what to believe, incessant falsehoods overwhelm listeners and beget resignation, inducing people to live public life as passive subjects rather than as active participants.
In this environment of uncertainty and suspicion, civic trust erodes and the normative pillars of democracy — tolerance, forbearance, and compromise — crumble.
America’s founders recognized that modern demagogues, like their ancient predecessors, posed a serious problem for democratic governance.
Armed with beguiling words but bereft of realistic plans for solving social and economic problems, demagogues hope to capitalize on the chaos they provoke.
Writing in Federalist No. 68, Alexander Hamilton cautioned against any “man unprincipled in private life” and “bold in his temper” who would “throw affairs into confusion that he may ‘ride the storm and direct the whirlwind’.”
Rather than embodying what the Greeks called sōphrosunē — discretion and self-control — such a person, Hamilton feared, would act impulsively and “fall in with all the nonsense of the zealots of the day.”
The founders believed that the Hellenic world’s experience with demagogues was worth pondering because the ancients wrestled with questions about the advantages and drawbacks of rule by the one, the few, and the many.
Demagogues would occasionally gain power in democratic political systems, the Greeks acknowledged; nevertheless, no matter how entrenched such aspiring tyrants might seem, their footing remained insecure.
Deep-seated character flaws ultimately would trip them up.
Individuals who unendingly boast of their intelligence and wealth, who traffic in malice and divisiveness, and who bully and humiliate others, show symptoms of hybris — unbridled arrogance.
“All arrogance will reap a harvest rich in tears,” warned the tragedian Aeschylus.
Those suffering from hybris lack the capacities for empathy and introspection.
Callous and unreflective, they succumb to atē, the commission of an outrageous, morally blind act that leads to their fall, or nemesis.
“A man’s character,” concluded the philosopher Heracleitus, “is his fate.”
end quotes
And there for the moment with that description of where we now are as a nation and as a people under Joe Biden, I will again rest.
http://www.capecharlesmirror.com/news/o ... ent-711514
Paul Plante says:
So why are demagogues like Joe Biden such a danger to America and OUR Republic and our future?
Because people too ignorant to know better, and lacking the ability to employ reasoning believe what they are saying without question, because they believe in the demagogue himself in this case, although there is no reason I am aware of as to why a woman like Hillary Clinton or Karmela Harris or Lizzie Cheney or Elaine Luria cannot also be a demagogue.
And with that said, let’s go back to The Blue Review article titled “Demagogues and Democracy” by Gregory A. Raymond, Distinguished Professor of Political Science Emeritus at Boise State University, where we have this further insight into the subject of demagogues like Joe Biden and demagoguery, to wit:
By rebuking would-be tyrants who manipulated the anxieties and resentments of the crowd, the historians, playwrights, and philosophers of antiquity have forewarned us of the dangers that demagogues pose to democratic governance.
end quotes
Focus on those words “would-be tyrants who manipulated the anxieties and resentments of the crowd,” because that, people, is exactly what Joe Biden is doing in America today – manipulating the anxieties and resentments of the crowd, and let’s face it, Joe Biden is a master at it – the demagogue’s demagogue!
Going back to the Blue Review, the article continues thusly:
Uppermost among these dangers is what demagogues do to civic life.
Although, as Plato observed in the Republic, demagogues portray themselves as “protectors of the people,” they widen social cleavages by peddling conspiracy theories, playing one group of citizens against another, and by singling out scapegoats to blame for both real and imagined problems.
end quotes
Consider Joe Biden’s “only I can save you” message that consistently underlies his speeches, with “The Biden Plan to Build a Modern, Sustainable Infrastructure and an Equitable Clean Energy Future” as an example, to wit:
At this moment of profound crisis, we have the opportunity to build a more resilient, sustainable economy – one that will put the United States on an irreversible path to achieve net-zero emissions, economy-wide, by no later than 2050.
Joe Biden will seize that opportunity and, in the process, create millions of good-paying jobs that provide workers with the choice to join a union and bargain collectively with their employers.
President Trump has a devastating pattern of denying science and leaving our country unprepared and vulnerable.
Just as with COVID-19, Donald Trump has denied science and failed to step up in the face of the climate crisis.
He has called it a hoax.
He has allowed our infrastructure to deteriorate and farmers’ fields to flood.
He has held back American workers from leading the world on clean energy, giving China and other countries a free pass to outcompete us in key technologies and the jobs that come with them.
Joe Biden’s Build Back Better plan ensures that – coming out of this profound public health and economic crisis, and facing the persistent climate crisis – we are never caught flat-footed again.
He will launch a national effort aimed at creating the jobs we need to build a modern, sustainable infrastructure now and deliver an equitable clean energy future.
end quotes
That, people, is a classic example of textbook demagoguery in action by a master!
Going back to the Blue Review:
They further degrade public discourse by hurling insults and spurious allegations at anyone who dares to challenge them, attempting to cow opponents into silence.
Demonizing the opposition, denying its legitimacy, and calling for its leaders to be locked up undermine the prospects for fair, inclusive, and competitive elections.
Within this toxic climate, political divisions become almost impossible to bridge, which dissuades elected officials with differing viewpoints from deliberating together.
end quotes
Sound like Joe Biden, anyone?
And what am I saying, of course it does!
That description fits Joe Biden like a well-made tailored suit!
Returning to the Blue Review, we have more, to wit:
When language is debased, and conventions governing honest discourse weaken, demonstrably false claims presented as “alternative facts” increasingly contaminate policy discussions.
“What you are seeing,” demagogues tell the populace, “is not what is happening.”
“Truth,” their apologists assert, “isn’t truth.”
Deliberately employed to sow doubt about what to believe, incessant falsehoods overwhelm listeners and beget resignation, inducing people to live public life as passive subjects rather than as active participants.
In this environment of uncertainty and suspicion, civic trust erodes and the normative pillars of democracy — tolerance, forbearance, and compromise — crumble.
America’s founders recognized that modern demagogues, like their ancient predecessors, posed a serious problem for democratic governance.
Armed with beguiling words but bereft of realistic plans for solving social and economic problems, demagogues hope to capitalize on the chaos they provoke.
Writing in Federalist No. 68, Alexander Hamilton cautioned against any “man unprincipled in private life” and “bold in his temper” who would “throw affairs into confusion that he may ‘ride the storm and direct the whirlwind’.”
Rather than embodying what the Greeks called sōphrosunē — discretion and self-control — such a person, Hamilton feared, would act impulsively and “fall in with all the nonsense of the zealots of the day.”
The founders believed that the Hellenic world’s experience with demagogues was worth pondering because the ancients wrestled with questions about the advantages and drawbacks of rule by the one, the few, and the many.
Demagogues would occasionally gain power in democratic political systems, the Greeks acknowledged; nevertheless, no matter how entrenched such aspiring tyrants might seem, their footing remained insecure.
Deep-seated character flaws ultimately would trip them up.
Individuals who unendingly boast of their intelligence and wealth, who traffic in malice and divisiveness, and who bully and humiliate others, show symptoms of hybris — unbridled arrogance.
“All arrogance will reap a harvest rich in tears,” warned the tragedian Aeschylus.
Those suffering from hybris lack the capacities for empathy and introspection.
Callous and unreflective, they succumb to atē, the commission of an outrageous, morally blind act that leads to their fall, or nemesis.
“A man’s character,” concluded the philosopher Heracleitus, “is his fate.”
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And there for the moment with that description of where we now are as a nation and as a people under Joe Biden, I will again rest.
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