~The Glass of Morning is unforgiving~~try as you like, smile as you like, youth flees, mixed memories alone remain.~~~ROVISM stands now, triumphant~~in full flower.
Photo credits: Mr. Thomas Hussey
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1935: The Founding Philosophy of Dr George Gallup:
As a pioneering pollster, company founder Dr. George Gallup determined that in seeking the truth, that is, the actual “will” of the people, his guiding principle would be independence. To ensure his independence, and therefore his objectivity, Dr. Gallup resolved that he would undertake no polling that was paid for or sponsored in any way by special interest groups such as the Republican and Democratic parties. Adhering to this principle, Gallup has turned down thousands of requests for surveys from organizations representing every shade of the political spectrum and with every kind of special agenda.
Dr. George Gallup trained his men to be assiduously non-sectarian. Today, his successor at the helm of Gallup, Mr. James Clifton, strictly adheres to the founder’s assiduous impartiality. Today, Mr. Clifton visits us and has this to say about the current state of political affairs in America. We thank him for coming and for his interesting observations.
*************We commence now to quote Mr. James Clifton of Gallup and do so until noted by us otherwise****************
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Is America In Permanent Decline?
Mr. James Clifton
CEO at Gallup
During a recent interview with a big Los Angeles-area newspaper, a reporter asked me, “Is America now in permanent decline?”
My answer was, “No.” Our country is not in permanent decline. But I’m concerned that our leadership is.
Actually, our leadership in Washington is failing miserably, and there’s little evidence they’re turning it around. Unemployment remains high and is basically stuck there, and GDP is growing at a pathetic 1% — so the country is failing on two of the most important economic metrics. The number of new business startups is alarmingly low, and the pace of startups is the one metric that foretells the rise or fall of America.
Here’s the problem: The very survival of America depends on job growth and GDP. But what are the White House, Congress, and all of the media and talking heads focusing on? Guns, immigration reform, and foreign affairs. Bluntly, none of these issues have much to do with the core drivers or root causes of America’s potential decline.
Worse, Washington and the media are totally out of touch with the public: When Gallup asked U.S. citizens to name the country’s most important problem, the top-of-mind answers were overwhelmingly either the economy in general or unemployment and jobs — 42% between the two responses. Just a paltry 4% named guns as the top problem, and another 4% said immigration. You read that right. And foreign affairs, namely concerns about North Korea, foreign aid, and “focus overseas” came in at 6% total.
What’s more, the vast majority of Americans want Congress and the president to prioritize jobs and the economy.
It’s no wonder. Nearly 20% of U.S. workers say it is “very likely” or “fairly likely” they will lose their job or be laid off in the next year, more than said so prior to the 2008 economic downturn. And more than two in five U.S. workers say that if they were to lose their job, they could go no more than one month before experiencing significant financial hardship.
Interestingly, the third-most important problem was “dissatisfaction with government” (16%). There’s a message in that finding. Our leaders are spending their time on the wrong things. When leaders have their priorities and basic assumptions wrong about what needs to be fixed, the more they lead, the worse things get.
Our founder, Dr. George Gallup, a man with a great sense of mission about democracy, understood this. He said, “If democracy is about the will of the people — then somebody should go find out what that will is.” While he didn’t say, “…and leaders should vote that will in Congress,” he did believe that leaders should be in touch with what 300 million American citizens want and need.
I’m worried right now. On a recent plane trip, I had time to read The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and The Washington Post in more depth than usual. This was an eye-opening experience. Turning page after page of all three great papers, I could barely find an article that addressed the current will of the people: jobs and the economy. There was plenty to read about immigration, even though as many Mexicans are now crossing the border back to home as are coming into the U.S. Plenty of articles on guns, even though the homicide rate in America is at a staggering 50-year low. And, of course, much on North Korea and Syria, neither of which has to do with America’s most pressing problems right now.
Washington politicians and media: We have a problem. The country’s citizens are on one page and you’re on another. You all had better get back fast to jobs, jobs, jobs, because if you don’t, the answer to the question, “Is America now in permanent decline?” will become a deadly “Yes.”
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*************We cease now to quote Mr. James Clifton of Gallup and thank him very much for stopping by today.****************
We have today gone to some lengths to explain to our guest, the assiduous Mr. James Clifton, that the elections of 2012 represented the complete political acceptance and dominance of ROVISM~~an attitude and a political practicum unknown to Mr. George Gallup~~perplexing to Mr. James Clifton~~and little noted outside the confines of our morning coffee klatch here.~~as, after all, we thought up the name of it~~ROVISM.
Karl Rove is unknown to the Americans. Unknown though he maybe to the Americans, Mr. Rove is, nevertheless, the one who gave the Americans young Mr. Bush and his successor~~both twice times.
How so, Sir?
Here so, Sir.
ROVISM~~doesn’t quite meet the standards of being a philosophy~~but is rather a political attitude~~one that is now biblical, nay, Sir~~A Code Of Canon Law~~in both American political parties.
Both, Sir?
Yes, Sir. Both.
ROVISM began in Texas when Young Bush chanced a meeting with Karl Rove and took him on to run his race for Texas Governor. The precepts are very simple~~and they formed the basis of the founding conversation that was, in itself, the founding of ROVISM:
“It’s a 50+1 game, kiddo.”
“Which is, Sir?’
“Politics is , Sir.”
“Oh?”
“Yes–and–you get to 50+1, by getting as many people as possible to hate you.”
“Hate me, Sir?”
“Aye, Sir~~despise and hate, Sir.”
“Explain, please, Sir”
“Gladly, Sir, closely attend”~~~
“Most American politics has, erroneously, been predicated upon getting more than a a majority of the Americans to like, or at least, not despise and detest, a particular politician.”
“Oh?”
“Oh, yes”~~
“And, plus which, you see, Sir, the real game today is to engender pure and implacable hatred in a core group of Americans that, in its’ own turn, is implacably hated by a slightly larger group of Americans.”
“I didn’t know that, Sir!”
“Yes, well–now you do, Sir!”
“You see Sir~~the trick is to concentrate on getting the ones who hate you to really hate you~~so that the ones who hate those who hate you will endorse you to punish the ones they themselves hate. You see, it’s not about you at all, Sir?”
“Did my Dad do this?”
“No, Sir, I just thought it up.”
“It sounds awful confusing to me, Sir.”
“It’s real easy, Sir~~leave it all to me.”
So began, innocently, nay, Sir, accidentally, enough, ROVISM. If, as with many others who have come to the coffee klatch perplexed, bothered and bewildered as to election outcomes since the wholesale adoption of the dictates of ROVISM in all of American politics, you now know the what-what. Wee Luckies!!
When you ask how the last 2 Presidents standing for re-election, despite their being rabidly detested by a large majority of the population, nonetheless won re-election, now you know the what-what.
ROVISM by now is Words Sacred from the Mountain Top. Commandments. Political Scripture. Immutable Political Code of Cannon Law.
ONE wins election by contriving to raise the basest of hatreds in the electorate~so that the OTHER ONES~~who hate the incensed ones~~themselves become incensed enough to vote for you. That’s it~~that’s all it is~~a 50+1 game predicated upon fanning hatred.
If this all sounds a rather crude way to run the American democratic republic~~you are not alone here in the morning klatch.
I know for a fact that Mr. George Gallup’s very able successor, Mr. James Clifton, our guest today, was aggrieved to find~~as very likely would be old Mr. Gallup himself~~yes, both would be sorely aggrieved to learn~~ that the reason that politicians and their handmaidens in Washington estate fourth have absolutely no interest in what the Americans think or want is down to ROVISM triumphant!!
That said~~get well used to it, Sirs~~it is here to stay.
ROVISM is here to stay and we now know why~~
It’s here to stay because IT WORKS!!~~both sides brag on the, admittedly most remarkable, success of it.
When you look at the glass tomorrow morning, expecting your old, weathered face~~discover instead peppy youth~~discover the peppy youth of ROVISM~~now transcendent.
My dears, ROVISM thus explained, works and it is not going anywhere until it stops working and that will be a long, long time.
There is no deception in the glass of morning~~what you see there~~ is there.
Its name is ROVISM~learn to love its face in the glass. You haven’t a choice, you see.
You see, dears, you see Mr Clifton, you see all others~~politics is now fully divorced of what the people think or desire~~in fact~~utterly ignoring what the Americans think and want is the path to political victory. It’s the path to fanning hatreds~~and to VICTORY!!
Amen.
John Daniel Begg
At
Washington DC
Thursday, 9th Mai, Anno Domini Nostri Iesu Christi, 2013
~The Glass of Morning is unforgiving~
Photo credit: Mr. Thomas Hussey
JOHN DANIEL BEGG 