Obama's Orwellian Use of Cognitive Dissonance

Cognitive Dissonance is the uncomfortable feeling caused by holding two contradictory ideas in your mind simultaneously.  It causes people to change their beliefs or behaviors, or to somehow justify the contradictory ideas...in order to achieve some peace of mind.  In crude, common parlance, it "fucks with your mind".  Obama appears to be a master of this technique.

EXAMPLE---
His ideas and actions regarding the concept of Perpetual War are a prime example.  He says one thing, then does the opposite.  For instance, he claims that the Afghan War essentially is over... that our "combat mission" there is done, finished.  The facts are:  according to the NYT, Obama wrote a secret memo authorizing the remaining 10,800 U.S. troops to engage in combat.  The Afghan War is not over for us.

He supposedly ended the second Iraq War... but now we're back in Iraq with 2600 ground troops and war planes.  He makes a big deal out of the fact that the troops are trainers and advisors.  The number of them started out as 300; very quickly that became 1300.  Now it's 2600.  Is this a pattern?  He says they don't have a combat mission, but holding true to that will be almost impossible.

Obama's Drone Wars pretty much have institutionalized Perpetual War.  That's because "terrorists" will always exist, especially given that U.S. actions continually are creating them.  He claims that we must not accept the concept of Perpetual War, but his actions virtually guarantee that the highest levels of Gov't already have accepted it.  Regarding war, Noam Chomsky made this comment about Obama, "He's worse than Bush."... I agree.

EXAMPLE---
His ideas and actions regarding the U.S. Constitution are another example.  He sometimes reluctantly points out that he's a Constitutional scholar; but anyone with even a cursory knowledge of the Constitution readily can see that he violates it more than Bush-Cheney did...and that's quite a feat.  Obama, like Dubya Bush (and others, including Bill Clinton), thinks that because he's Commander-in-Chief he can ignore Article I of the Supreme Law of the Land, especially Article I, Section 8.

Article I, Section 8 ENUMERATES the responsibilities of Congress, the duties of Congress.  Those responsibilities do not belong to the Executive or the Judiciary.  They include:  the power to put us at war; the power to issue assassination orders (Letters of Marque and Reprisal); the power to make rules concerning captures on land and water; and several others.

Even IF one accepts the unconstitutional premise that Congress does not have to "declare war" for us to be at war, that instead, Congress can issue a "Resolution" giving the Executive permission to go to war at some point in the future, at a time of his choosing... even IF all that, Obama still has violated the Law.  For his current ISIS War, he has been using a Congressional Resolution from the second Iraq War (over ten years ago).  Common sense should tell anyone that's ridiculous--- that was an entirely different situation from today.  That "Authorization" has expired.  The fact is:  he's currently at war without a Declaration of War OR a legitimate "Authorization" from Congress.  [Not only that, currently he's not asking Congress to issue an "Authorization"; instead, he's giving them one written by the White House.  That's not how it works---Congress is supposed to construct the document and determine the conditions.]  At the same time, he has planted the subtle idea in our minds that he's a Constitutional scholar.  If he is that, then he's ignoring Article I, Section 8 of that document... particularly, the war-making clause.  Just because other Presidents have done the same thing in the past does not excuse Obama one bit.

Barack Obama, more than any other President in my long memory, not only says one thing and does the opposite... but additionally, he does more to blatantly make it appear as if those actions are logical and not contradictory.  He's the unapologetic King of Cognitive Dissonance, hands down.  He beats out Dick Cheney... and that's quite an accomplishment.

Not just my opinion.  Be Well

High-Ranking Repubs & Dems: Keep Spitting on the Constitution

That way, soon it will be so soaked in sputum that you'll be able to tear it up and throw it away much more easily.  You've all been spitting on it for so many decades that most of you have a fairly good aim by now, so perhaps before long it simply will dissolve of its own accord... you won't even have to tear it up.  I can't find half of it already.  I think some of you in DC are cheating:  you're not just spitting on it, you're pissing on it as well.  What gets me is that some people, perhaps most, don't seem to notice.  Kudos to you high-ranking politicos on your excellent use of distracting Propaganda.

OPEN LETTER TO REPUBLICAN AND DEMOCRAT POLITICAL OLIGARCHS

The Constitution is exceedingly CLEAR on the following points.

1.  As enumerated in Article I, Section 8:
    a.  only CONGRESS is charged with regulating the value of our money (no other entity has been delegated that power by We the People...furthermore, no law, such as the 1913 Fed Reserve Act, over-rides the Supreme Law of the Land);
    b.  only CONGRESS is charged with the power to put this Nation at war (being Commander-in-Chief of the Military does not mean that the President gets to ignore Article I... furthermore, no law, such as the War Powers Act, over-rides the Supreme Law of the Land);
    c.  only CONGRESS is charged with the power to issue assassination orders, otherwise known as Letters of Marque and Reprisal (that power was not delegated to the Executive Branch by We the People);
    d.  only CONGRESS is charged with the power to "make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water" (that power was not delegated to the Executive Branch by We the People)...who made the Rules for Gitmo, CIA Black Sites, and "enhanced interrogation"?...  not Congress;
    e.  the final clause of Article I, Section 8 does not mean that Congress gets to ignore the duties with which CONGRESS has been charged to perform.  In other words, Congress may not delegate its powers to some other Branch of Government... or any other entity.  Only We the People are allowed to delegate Constitutional Powers.  We did not delegate power to Congress to turn over the duty of regulating the value of our money to an un-elected group known as the Fed Reserve Board of Governors.  It's the duty of CONGRESS to regulate the value of our money... no one else may do it.  [The former Chairman of the Fed, Alan Greenspan, once stated on the PBS News Hour, "No one has control [or perhaps he said "power", not "control"] over us."... the problem with that should be obvious.]

2.  We the People are to be secure in our "persons, houses, papers, and EFFECTS" [emphasis added].  The so-called PATRIOT Act (like any other law) does not trump the Constitution.  Neither does any part of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA)... or any other law.  The Executive Branch acts as though those laws do trump the Constitution.

If you political Oligarchs don't like parts of the Supreme Law of the Land, you are charged by the People to try and change them.  That can be done legally only two ways:  by Amendment; or, by means of a Constitutional Convention.  No other methods are permitted; plus, you are not legally permitted to ignore those parts and then contravene them.  We did not delegate that power to you.  Finally, I don't want to hear any whining about how difficult it is to change the Constitution.  As you know, it purposely was constructed to be that way.  Live with it, or get out of politics.  As things are now, virtually all of you are violating your Oath of Office to support and defend the Constitution of the United States of America.  If you can't obey your Oath, then get the hell out.  We don't want you.

Constraints of time and energy prohibit me from enumerating ALL of the ways in which you high-ranking Democrats AND Republicans have been spitting and pissing on the Constitution for decades.  [I've been a keen observer of American politics since 1956; 1956---that's not a typo.]  The few examples above should suffice to illustrate the point.  It's no wonder to me that politicians at the highest levels (especially in DC) have become despised by the People.  The effectiveness of the Distract-Divide-Conquer Propaganda constantly put out by the Oligarchy is beginning to fade.  People finally are stirring... so far, just a bit... but stirring.

Not just my opinion.  Be Well