And the simplest answer is…

This just in:  “It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.” – Upton Sinclair

Yes, there are two sides to every story and every coin.  Yes, we have differing opinions and you are certainly welcome to yours.  Yes, they all do it.

However, don’t be fooled into a false equivalency.  Both sides of an issue are not necessarily equal in merit.

For example, if I point at a rock and say, “That is a rock” and you point at the same rock and say, “That is the Eiffel Tower,” one of us is wrong.  Just because we are equal in number and welcome to our own perspectives, we are not necessarily equal in the truth of what we say.

This, and the opening quote, are all intended to set up the following statement…

Congress and the president are offering convoluted explanations to justify their actions; explanations that fall far short of the lowest believability threshold.

My belief is not that they are stupid.  My belief is that they pretend to believe certain things because their “salaries depend on it.”

Let’s take climate change.  The scientific community is in one voice about this.  It is real.  However, Republicans and the President, who are largely funded by the fossil fuel industry, find it hard to believe in it.  Big oil pays then to not believe in it.

How about “trickle down economics” which is the widely disproven idea that if you give tax breaks to the rich, they will create more jobs.  The Republican Party is a huge fan of unlimited campaign contributions from the very rich.  These “very rich” pay the Republicans to believe that tax cuts for the rich actually work.

The Russian funded NRA pays Republicans to believe that gun proliferation has nothing to do with the 35,000 annual gun deaths in the United States.  Republicans believe this because they are paid to believe it.

Now we get to Donald Trump.

Why does Trump have a hard time saying, “I believe Russia is continuing to hack our elections.”?  He has perfect information available to him.  He must have an absolute certainty that this is the case; and yet, he denies it.

Why?

Trump’s job depends on his not believing that Russia is interfering in our elections.

His job depends on it because Putin told him so.  Which, in turn, says that Putin has the ability to end Trump’s presidency.

I absolutely believe this.  However, if you pay me enough money, I might be convinced to believe otherwise. A lot of money…

Up, up and away…

Jim

2 thoughts on “And the simplest answer is…

  1. James. Interesting article today. Reminds me of Proud Mary. You try to start your opinion by being “nice and easy” but you immediately (analogy between rock and tower) you let everyone know that you plan to finish “nice and rough”.

    You start with a gentle “everyone does it “ as if you plan to be nice and fair but you immediately throw in the rock/tower analogy to justify your conclusions for the the blog. Interesting that iou spent the 1st 50 years of your life as a die hard GOP and you spend an inordinate amount of energy to try to disparate the GOP to justify your 10 year belief that the (farther) Liberal Left you can go is the “best answer” for all Americans. In others words, even if there was a rock, and you wanted everyone to see a tower, you would continue to make these things up

    Fact, NRA funnels money into Congress to support gun laws. Fact, more GOP favor gun laws so NRA funnels money to them. No different than PETA mostly supports Democrats in their contributions. Just a different soda straw for each issue.

    Not factual that you claim Russia funded NRA. SEC received an allegation from a Liberal group asking them to investigate 3 months ago. So far, crickets on that being true. But, to you- is a FACT as stated.

    Trickle down. You don’t like that but the economy is roaring and unemployment is at its lowest. You somehow don’t say that because it doesn’t support the view from the cheap seats.

    Big oil. They will give to ANY cause that allows them to continue. Again, they give to both sides but you don’t like to point that out.

    I think this platform just is something to justify that you used to believe in rocks and now you believe in towers. Therefore, everyone should believe in towers

I want your opinion...try to be nice...

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