Did anyone else here read 1984?

If you didn’t, please do, then come back and finish reading this.

Imagine that you are a politician and wanted to get elected. On the surface, you might imagine that a good clean campaign might attract voters, and that would be one way to go. So you play it that way, and let the fortunes of democracy swing.

If you are like me, though, you probably think that politicians and their ilk are a lot smarter than Joe Citizen believes. If I were a politician, I might invent a plan in which I hire some people to run for office who look just foolish and ignorant enough that they seem to sincerely represent a party, but are in fact plants. Example: if I were Barack Obama and I wanted to get elected, I might hire someone to run against me who might be a little too old or a little too young, a little too dogmatic or a little too idealistic, a little too religious or a little too angry. Sound like anyone you remember?

Another scenario: if I wanted to United States to go to war against my foe, how would I do it? Not by asking them, certainly. But what if I orchestrated an attack on the United States that looked like the work of my enemy? What if I dressed up like an Arab and flew some jets into some American icons? What if I picked airlines named United and American? I could get the United States to attack and destroy just about anyone, couldn’t I?

Seriously, go read 1984.