Henry+A's+OpEd+Article

//**Demagogue Photo Shoot**//





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//**by Henry C. Ashworth**//
 * "Demonic Destructive Demagogues"**

Recently our country has suffered a recession, unemployment is hovering around 10%, we are involved in three overseas conflicts, the national debt is at 14,262,726,976,437 and increasing by the 10,000’s every second. This is not the time for shallow sophomoric political hatreds and conflicts. This is instead a time of great need where we must rally as a nation around the common goal of rebuilding and reforming. Although I feel as if our country is divided more, it is as if someone as thrashed a ragged schism between our two political parties.

The effect of this schism can be seen trickling down into my circle of friends, one of my best friends Luke had a sticker on his binder that portrayed a picture of Obama with a Hitler mustache next to Stalin and Hitler with a caption that read “Democratic Socialism”. While president Obama’s health care plan may be on socialist side, I find it juvenile to compare him to the men responsible for millions of murders. I went home upset at Luke for the hatred he felt towards Obama and “Obama Care”. Later that night I turn on Countdown with Keith Oberman and watched a whole segment about how republicans were filibustering in congress to stop the movement of the health care bill. I felt zealot fiery hatred towards all republicans that flushed my face and made my carotid arteries pulse to the pentameter of Oberman’s voice. How could the republicans hijack the democratic process for their selfish desires?

Looking back on this situation I feel extremely moronic and childish, I allowed myself like many of my fellow Americans to fall under the fanaticism of a demagogues rhetoric. Keith Oberman, Rush Limba, and Glen Beck all use fact and fiction to play on our prejudices and emotions rather than using logic and sound reasoning. These demagogues have helped foster a society that has dug itself a giant whole and is more interested in slinging filth at the other than trying to climb out of the whole. This type loathing schism between our two political parties has also created an America with extreme conservatives such as the birthers and tea partiers.

Also, a lot of what these demagogues preach is complete lies, yet astonishing amounts of Americans believe them. Hitler, disputably one of the best demagogues, once said, “If you tell a big enough lie, and tell it frequently enough it will be believed”. For example does if really seem plausible that Obama would not have a United Sates Birth Certificate? Or that because of his middle name Hussein, which is the most common name in the world, Obama secretly wants to destroy America? This may seem idiotic to most of us but over 16% of Americans believed that Obama did not have a United Sates Birth Certificate.

I am fed up and done with all demagogues; I am tired of seeing my fellow American’s and myself being lead by our callow emotions into unnecessary political strife. I implore my fellow man to use their heads to see through the flowery rhetoric from the plethora of demagogues looking to pray upon our hearts. Instead let us put aside our hatreds and bring our differencing opinions to the table were a democratic compromise can be made.