{"id":1187,"date":"2016-09-27T08:12:16","date_gmt":"2016-09-26T19:12:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/?p=1187"},"modified":"2016-09-27T08:12:16","modified_gmt":"2016-09-26T19:12:16","slug":"so-why-disappoint-them","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/?p=1187","title":{"rendered":"So why disappoint them?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/?attachment_id=1166\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-1166\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-1166\" src=\"http:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/megaphone-285x300.jpg\" alt=\"megaphone\" width=\"285\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/megaphone-285x300.jpg 285w, https:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/megaphone.jpg 404w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 285px) 100vw, 285px\" \/><\/a>Even though the local body elections are still not quite done and dusted, I get the feeling that we are already being softened up for next year\u2019s general election.<\/p>\n<p>According to a professor of political science with whom I occasionally share a glass of wine, 99 percent of politicians have just one objective: to get elected.\u00a0 And then, once they are elected, most of them move on to a second objective: to get re-elected.<\/p>\n<p>A few years ago, a distant cousin of mine spent some time writing speeches for politicians seeking to get elected.<\/p>\n<p>Chris was \u2013 still is \u2013 a talented writer.\u00a0 And he has a great ear.\u00a0 He knows how to make scripted prose sound real and fresh and \u2026 well \u2026 almost convincing.<\/p>\n<p>I remember one speech that he wrote that had me almost feeling that I should get to my feet and cheer the speaker, a would-be politician whose politics were almost the antithesis of my own.\u00a0 For 20 minutes or so, I set aside our differences and let the fellow\u2019s rhetoric (well, Chris\u2019s rhetoric actually) wash over me.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018What do you think?\u2019 Chris asked me afterwards.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018Very good,\u2019 I said.\u00a0 \u2018Pretty persuasive.\u00a0 Pretty convincing.\u00a0 Although I suspect that most of the \u201cfacts\u201d quoted were not all that factual.\u00a0 In fact, I suspect that some were outright lies.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>\u2018You think so?\u2019 Chris said.\u00a0 \u2018If you are not entirely convinced, do your own research.\u00a0 Reach your own conclusions.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>\u2018Yeah, but most people won\u2019t,\u2019 I said.\u00a0 \u2018Most people \u2013 including most of the people who were here tonight \u2013 just want someone to confirm their own prejudices.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>\u2018Exactly,\u2019 Chris said.\u00a0 \u2018So why disappoint them?\u00a0 They\u2019re not worried about the truth.\u00a0 They just want to vote for someone who\u2019ll tell them what they want to hear.\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Even though the local body elections are still not quite done and dusted, I get the feeling that we are already being softened up for next year\u2019s general election. According to a professor of political science with whom I occasionally &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/?p=1187\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1187"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1187"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1187\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1188,"href":"https:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1187\/revisions\/1188"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1187"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1187"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1187"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}