Home | Business

The Martian's Guide To American Politics

Indulge me for a moment while I veer off into the world of fantasy for a moment. The world of make believe, our crazy political world from a martian's perspective.

Put yourself in the head of an anthropologist from Mars. Let's pretend we're a team of anthropologists and we've taken on human form and landed in Washington DC, circa 2007.

From this perspective, what conclusions will we come to about American politics?

We would understand immediately that there are purported to be 'two sides' (the validity of which is up for debate), and the two sides are represented by colors and animals--red or blue, elephant or donkey.

Two sides. . . how can so many people be divided into just two groups of thought? They can't. There are many philosophies, but only the most powerful are given voice.

The people are given two options because three or four options would confuse them. The fringe candidates/parties aren't allowed to compete with various reasons given why they should not be allowed.

So while these sides may appear to vehemently dislike each other, they are sort of in cahoots to keep numbers three, four, or five out of the running. Common ground.

Here's where things start to become interesting. . .

They have an even bigger common enemy: the media. The media supposedly reports the activities of both sides so they make more money from advertisers.

'The Media' claims to be unbiased, but it isn't true. They are loyal to whomever is in power and whomever owns the media outlet.

What's even more exciting for us explorers to discover is that there are even more enemies these two sides have.

Prostitutes. Louisiana Senator David Vitters had a little problem with this recently when both the DC Madam and the Canal Street Madam identified him as a client. This is sort of ironic as he is a big time advocate of abstinence only sex education which excludes information on birth control and safe sex.

Under aged boys. Well. . . boy might be a bit of a frame, they were not yet eighteen, let's put it that way. Recently US Representative Mark Foley, once considered a crusader against child abuse and exploitation, got caught sending dirty e-mails and instant messages to boys who were almost eighteen. . . doesn't that count?

Women. Specifically wanton women. There was this one time, the woman was wearing a blue dress. He liked cigars. . . . At least Bill Clinton had the sense to make sure the woman was over the age of consent.

Other noteworthy enemies include. . .

Closeted homosexuality. This has turned out to plague a number of people lately. There's Larry Craig and the foot tapping incident ("misunderstanding"). And Democratic Governor of New Jersey Jim McGreevey. At least he's no longer in the closet.

Extramarital affairs. The list is too long. And really, is this even an issue people care about anymore?

Women who don't like being groped. What's the problem? (California Governor/former actor. . . NOT Ronald Reagan. The Terminator.)

Miscellaneous enemies: crack cocaine, voter fraud, blah, blah, blah.

Blue, red, elephant, donkey, they seem to want to make all the laws and then break them.

In our research as Martian anthropologists, we'd have to conclude that some form of perversion or criminal record is mandatory for political candidates.

We'd also have to conclude that the non-politicians, the ones who vote (or don't vote), have such a short attention span that really, it doesn't much matter. It's football season and there's a new season of "The Biggest Loser" and it's back to school time and the kids need new backpacks. And before you know it, it's the holidays again.

Jumping into this little fantasy world sometimes gives us a fresh perspective. It's all about framing. Putting a new lens on life.

Try it with your life and your persuasion. See how it goes. Tell others about it, tell me about it on this blog. Create a discussion, invite your friends and colleagues to join the discussion here. Lord knows we need to step back from the craziness every once in a while and talk to each other intelligently about what we observe.

Article Source: http://www.uberarticles.com/articles

Kenrick Cleveland teaches strategies to earn the business of wealthy prospects using persuasion. He runs public and private seminars and offers home study courses and coaching programs in persuasion strategies. This article is available as a unique content article with free reprint rights.

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License, which means you may freely reprint it, in its entirety, provided you include the author's resource box along with LIVE VISIBLE links (without "nofollow" tags).