On Myths and Fairy Tales: The Sad State of Political Knowledge

Recently, right here in Carson City, I was asked to sign a “Petition to Impeach President Obama”. I was told to “impeach” meant to remove a sitting President from office and that by merely signing this petition, President Obama and his wife Michelle, would be leaving the White House because “the people have spoken.”

As a classical conservative, I am constantly amazed at the ignorance of the people of the state of Nevada, and their total lack of understanding of how their government works. Regardless of whether one is politically “liberal or conservative”, there appears to exist a Neanderthal type of mentality that relies on self -delusional and manufactured ideas, cheap slogans, myths, and repetitive unsubstantiated political fairy tales, which are reinforced by the idiotic ramblings of talk-show hosts.

People who are not aware of the facts, which are antagonistic to what they want to believe seem to become even more sophistic when confronted by the truth and undisputed facts.

What is even more unfortunate is that when this thinking is used and it fails, it leaves the individual or group more cynical and withdrawn, and produces a stronger reliance on their self -delusional and manufactured ideas, cheap slogans, myths, and unsubstantiated political fairy tales.

The right to impeach public officials is secured by the U.S. Constitution in Article I, Sections 2 and 3, which discuss the procedure, and in Article II, Section 4, which indicates the grounds for impeachment:” The President, Vice President, and all civil officers of the United States shall be removed from office on impeachment for, and conviction of, treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors." an official from office requires two steps: (1) a formal accusation, or impeachment, by the House of Representatives, and (2) a trial and conviction by the Senate.

Impeachment requires a majority vote of the House; conviction is more difficult, requiring a two-thirds vote by the Senate. The Vice-President presides over the Senate proceedings in the case of all officials except the President, whose trial is presided over by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.

Since 1797, the House of Representatives has impeached sixteen federal officials. These include two presidents (Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton) a cabinet member, a senator, a justice of the Supreme Court, and eleven federal judges. Of those, the Senate has convicted and removed seven, all of them judges. Not included in this list are the office holders who have resigned rather than face impeachment, most notably, President Richard Nixon. Please take note, Johnson and Clinton were “impeached” but not removed from office.

Signing some useless petition based on ignorance, and motivated, sponsored or endorsed by some “patriot group” or promulgated by some cheap howler who infects our airwaves, will not under any circumstances result in the removal of Obama from the White House. It is that simple!

Research into cognitive thinking seems to suggest and “highlights the disturbing reality that once an idea has been implanted in people's minds, it t can be difficult to dislodge. Denials inherently require repeating the bad information, which may be one reason they can be paradoxically reinforced…indeed, repetition seems to be a key culprit. Things that are repeated often become more assessable in memory, and one of the brains subconscious rules of thumb is that easier recalled things are true.” See: Shankar Verdantam, Washington Post, 2007. Propagandists (read that as politicians) are masters at exploiting this inherent flaw in human rationalization that passes as critical thinking. In effect, the masses are being played by a host of false mystics on both sides of the political spectrum.

To assert our rights as self-governing people we must rely on education and knowledge, not on the aforementioned self -delusional and manufactured ideas, cheap slogans, myths, and repetitive unsubstantiated political fairy tales.

Oh! By the way, Betsy Ross didn’t design or sew the first American Flag!