Please Tell Me What I Think . . . I Forgot

I was reading some online news a couple of days ago and saw an article discussing Obama’s stated reasons for not getting as much done in his first year in office as he would have liked (or anywhere near as much as he promised). In a nutshell, the reasons given were that he had become too focused on policy decisions and did not go to the people more to tell them their core values. (This, coming from the man that has “gone to the people” more than almost any recent president.)

Huh?? Say that again?? While I’m sure that I did not state it quite like he did, it does represent the meat of what I read. He didn’t sufficiently tell us what we really thought.

Now if he had meant to say that he had not managed to say that he understood us by repeating what we consider our core values back to us, then I would say that is an honest statement. But he seemed to say the equivalent of :

 “You need an opinion so I will give it to you.”

or

“You need to come to accept that what I say are your core values are actually your core values.”

or

“You will eat your turnips.” (Said by the waiter hovering over your table.)

Of course, “every thinking person knows that . . .” has always been a favorite of mine. We read that in High School English. I think it was something by Henry David Thoreau. His starting premise needed a little help, so he tried to fool the reader into accepting it by suggesting that they were not a thinking person if they disagreed. And since we are all thinking persons, then we must agree. Actually, only if you are not a thinking person but merely need the pretense of rational thought.

It is a little like those political polls that keep being published during the campaigns. They legitimately tell the candidates how they are doing with their message. But they are pointless for public consumption. Unless the goal is to sway even more based on the trends or sheer numbers of others. But I don’t determine my positions or preferences based on popularity. If I hold a position or preference, telling me that one percent of Americans changed their minds in the past week is not a reason for me to change. Make an argument for your position and/or against mine that is meaningful and to the point of the position. If you succeed, then I will be part of the next week’s statistics. But if you only tell me that more people think your way than did the week before, it does not speak to the reasons they changed their minds or why I hold the way I do.

Don’t even pretend to come and tell me what I hold as core values. Don’t try to tell me what the “founding fathers” held as core values. Tell me why I should change based on a discussion of the relevant facts. I will not be fooled by trends or bought like the guy in Swing Vote. And when someone starts to tell me what I believe, I will reject them even if what they are saying is exactly what I believe. The fact that they are telling me rather than asking me is sufficient cause to reject them.