{"id":225,"date":"2025-02-03T06:25:56","date_gmt":"2025-02-03T14:25:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.barrybriggs.com\/blog\/?p=225"},"modified":"2025-02-03T06:25:56","modified_gmt":"2025-02-03T14:25:56","slug":"politics-explained","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.barrybriggs.com\/blog\/policy\/politics-explained\/","title":{"rendered":"Politics, Explained"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Politics, explained in a nice 2×2 matrix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Look carefully. The x-axis is labeled \u201cstupid, average, smart.\u201d The y-axis \u201cevil\u201d and \u201cgood.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the top left are the mostly good-intentioned people who, by and large, are just about getting by: people like you and me. We don\u2019t have time for all the shenanigans that the politicians engage in \u2013 we have bills to pay, children to raise, eggs to buy at the grocery store. We don\u2019t time to learn about the complex issues facing us (although I somewhat blame the media for this \u2013 who remembers the great documentaries of the 70s and 80s, like \u201cCBS Reports\u201d on \u201cHunger in America\u201d and \u201cThe Defense of the United States?\u201d These multi-hour docs were important and relevant!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In any event it\u2019s us, the normal people, that the other three quadrants vie for in elections, or coups, or revolutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the bottom left \u2013 the Stupid-Evil are politicians who simply say they can solve everything, end of story. Leave it to us, they say. And they spread lies and disinformation (\u201cthe foreigners are taking all our jobs,\u201d \u201cthey\u2019re grooming our kids in school!\u201d) to make sure we vote for them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the bottom right are the Smart-Evil. They\u2019re about raw, unbridled power, pure and simple. And they get it and keep it by eliminating those who aren\u2019t with them. It\u2019s us and them and you better not be one of them, a kulak or a Jew or a Uighur because one night we\u2019ll be knocking on your door! And don\u2019t show any sympathy to those people either, because we\u2019re coming for you too!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And on the top right are the good guys, those who recognize that progress for all the people, all of us, takes time, takes thought, and takes work. They know they might not have all the answers right now\u2026but they ask you to have some faith in their good intentions and focus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sometimes we get tired or impatient with how long it takes and with the setbacks that inevitably occur. Frustrated, we allow someone on the bottom to take power, and shame on us for doing so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You may not agree with the names I\u2019ve put in the matrix (it\u2019s my matrix and I\u2019ll put in whomever I want.) Feel free to do your own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But that\u2019s it. That\u2019s the grand cycle. Like it or not.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Politics, explained in a nice 2×2 matrix. Look carefully. The x-axis is labeled \u201cstupid, average, smart.\u201d The y-axis \u201cevil\u201d and \u201cgood.\u201d On the top left are the mostly good-intentioned people who, by and large, are just about getting by: people like you and me. We don\u2019t have time for all the shenanigans that the politicians … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Politics, Explained”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","filesize_raw":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[6],"class_list":["post-225","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-policy","tag-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.barrybriggs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.barrybriggs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.barrybriggs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.barrybriggs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.barrybriggs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=225"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.barrybriggs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":227,"href":"http:\/\/www.barrybriggs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225\/revisions\/227"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.barrybriggs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=225"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.barrybriggs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=225"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.barrybriggs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=225"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}