“The purpose of all propaganda is to mold the minds of the masses so that they will direct all of their efforts toward the desired ends of the shadow government, who use the powers of propaganda to gain approval from the people on issues they may have, at one time, disapproved of.” (Edward Bernays)
Things are moving hard and fast under the new Trump administration. The conservative base is cheering the president on as the common perception is that he and Musk are exposing “deep-state” corruption on unprecedented levels. Every day we are exposed to more stories detailing how DOGE has discovered billions of dollars of waste, fraud, and abuse. The problem here is that we have known about this long before the newly established Office of Government Efficiency got involved. Through the years we have listened to Senator Rand Paul detail the wasteful spending habits of our government — yet, nothing was done. Trump also made huge headlines by signing an executive order directing Pam Bondi, who is a known supporter of unconstitutional Second Amendment infringements like Red Flag Laws, to review all anti-Second Amendment actions taken by the Biden Administration. One of her first actions was to fire the ATF Lawyer, Pamela Hicks, who oversaw the implementation of Biden’s gun control initiatives. Finally, Trump is also causing conflict with blue-state Governors like Kathy Hochul from New York, and Janet Mills from Maine for interfering with issues that by all rights, are state’s rights issues no matter how the conservative base (or this writer) may feel about them. For example, where in the constitution does the president have the authority to dictate anything to a sports league? As disturbing as men pretending to be women in sports is, there is nothing in the federal constitution that grants the office of the executive to govern over how a sports league, or a governor for that matter, handles their affairs. The Tenth Amendment, for example, states that all issues not covered by the federal constitution are reserved to the states and the people. There are so many problems being exposed at a rate that is hard to keep up with. These problems are generating a demand for something to be done. The question is; can the American people keep up, and, can they ensure that these problems are solved within the confines of our constitutional system? Or, will they just accept whatever proposals are presented to them out of a potentially misguided sense of relief? The president recently signed an executive order dictating that only he and the attorney general can define what constitutes the law. Is that the direction we want to go?
Many conservatives believe that the Democrat party, and rightfully so, is attempting to undo our constitutional system and install a communist-style government. This writer, for one, has written extensively on how they are doing this. It is hard to argue against this notion as so many of them engage in hateful rhetoric aimed at discrediting our nation’s history, while also presenting our system as oppressive and favoring “white supremacy.” It is easy to understand then, how someone who promises to dismantle what they have done has earned the people’s loyalty. Watching the Trump administration issue executive orders targeting left-wing lunacy — and it is lunacy — while exposing corruption is exactly what the American people voted for. The problem is that everything is moving so fast, and many questions are going unasked, as it is just assumed that Trump has the power to do the things he is doing. Does Trump have the power to issue an executive order, for example, dictating that a sports league in an individual state can not allow transgender men to compete against women? Technically, the answer is no. Executive orders are meant to govern people who work in the executive branch of government. Would the federal government have the power to issue an executive order over school sports leagues in an individual state? Again, technically, the answer is no. Why? Because there is nothing in the Constitution that gives the federal government any power over education at all. The American people are accepting this because the transgender issue is disturbing. They feel a sense of relief that somebody is doing something, and they are accepting the action without questioning the possible consequences.
There’s another reason for working inside the system. Dostoevski said that taking a new step is what people fear most. Any revolutionary change must be proceeded by a passive, affirmative, non-challenging attitude toward change among the mass of our people. They must feel so frustrated, so defeated, so lost, and so futureless in the prevailing system that they are willing to let go of the past and chance the future. This acceptance is the reformation essential to any revolution. (Alinsky, Rules for Radicals)
If the conservative base is going with the belief of a communist takeover, they then have to accept the tactics of communism, which revolve almost entirely around deception. One such tactic is something called the Hegelian Dialectic — otherwise known as the problem-reaction-solution strategy. Most conservatives, this writer would argue, are aware of how this works. Behind every problem and demand for change, there is a pre-existing solution waiting to be implemented. This works exactly like the Alinsky quote above. The people, being brought to a point of desperation, can be brought to accept almost anything that promises a restoration of sanity. This is also based on a persuasive communications strategy called fear-then-relief. Research has shown, and this goes back to the work of Ivan Pavlov, that people can be brought to a mindless state of compliance when first presented with a stimulus that causes fear or discomfort, and suddenly having that stimulus removed and replaced with something more acceptable. In that moment of relief, according to the beliefs of the researchers, people can be brought to accept almost anything. In the book, Tragedy and Hope: A History of the World in our Time, Carol Quigley had something to say about strategy as well. He quoted the belief of the left — he calls them the Eastern establishment — that our government should be made of two parties that appear to oppose each other on issues that don’t matter but are working together to accomplish the larger agenda. Finally, and this is perhaps the most important, is the Communist’s expertise in using misinformation and controlled opposition as a strategy for transforming a sovereign nation into a communist state. This is the most important to consider, in this writer’s opinion, because Americans are behaving in a very short-sighted manner right now. Nobody is asking any questions. Anatoliy Golitsyn, author of the books Perestroika Deception and New Lies for Old, made some interesting observations that should be considered. First, the communist strategy is based on long-term objectives meant to advance the party’s position and power. Americans generally think of strategy as achieving short-term goals. Second, he stated in New Lies for Old that a deceptive strategy is always most effective when the deception itself aligns with what the targeted audience already believes. This is the same thing that persuasion researchers say about gaining compliance. Persuasion, or propaganda works best when it aligns with the preexisting biases of the audience. For example, the article, Psychological Targeting as an Effective Approach to Digital Mass Persuasion states that mass persuasion is more effective when tailored toward an individual or a group’s psychological traits, beliefs, and behaviors. What does that mean? It means they tell you what you want to hear to gain your compliance.
As stated earlier, things are moving fast and no one is asking any questions. For instance, If Trump is going after Kathy Hochul for the nine-dollar-a-day congestion tax she is imposing on her citizens, which he doesn’t have the power to do, why isn’t he pursuing her Second Amendment infringements and the way she snubbed her nose at The Supreme Court over the Bruen decision? Why isn’t the executive order he issued being leveraged against all of the states that are imposing unconstitutional gun bans on their citizens? The Supremacy Clause, after all, states that all federal law made in pursuance of the Constitution is the Supreme Law of the land. The Second Amendment is part of the federal constitution, making it illegal for any state to go against it. Why hasn’t Attorney General Pam Bondi used her authority under Trump’s executive order, which would be a legitimate use of it, by the way, targeted the VA’s unconstitutional Second Amendment infringements against veterans needing a fiduciary? Where in federal law does it say that needing help with financial problems is equal to being adjudicated incompetent? Didn’t the Supreme Court shoot down the use of Chevron Deference last year? This would mean that the VA’s gun ban is completely unconstitutional, yet, Attorney General Pam Bondi has not targeted it despite it being an obvious problem that could be solved with a legitimate executive order. Executive orders target those working in the executive branch of the federal government, which the VA is a part of. What the president doesn’t have the power to do, is issue executive orders that affect the rights of the people, or the states on issues that aren’t covered by the federal constitution. Why? Because of the Tenth Amendment. If we want to return to constitutional government, shouldn’t we demand, or expect, the government to act within its bounds and limitations? As discouraging as it may sound, it is the job of the New York people to hold their governor accountable for the fee she imposed on them, not the federal government’s. It is the responsibility of Maine’s citizens to demand their governor enact policies that respect biology, not the federal government’s. If the American people can be brought to accept this increase in presidential power, they can be forced to accept more, even when it doesn’t suit them. In short, we should be careful what we are cheering for.
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.
