The Psychology Behind Leftist Lies...

Dr. Gary R. Casselman

Liberals comprise only about 20 percent of the voting public. So, how has the left been so successful in swaying the majority of voters to believe what they feed them, when most often what the left says is not supported by the facts and what they do actually does harm to their voting constituents?

In mine and Tim Daughtry‘s recent book, Waking the Sleeping Giant: How Mainstream Americans Can Beat Liberals at Their Own Game, we discuss the issue of the misinformed and the uninformed voter typically voting for Democrats. Rush Limbaugh often refers to this voting segment as the “low information” voter. It is from this set of voters that the left is able to draw the additional 30 – 35 percent of the votes that they need to win elections, taking our country down the path of socialism.

How do they do this?

They lie.

The uninformed voter will not take the time to learn the facts.

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For example, Democrats have convinced the nation that people are poor because they have been treated unfairly and are victims of greedy capitalists. To address this purported social injustice, President Obama’s approach is to “re-distribute” the nation’s wealth. President Johnson pushed through “The War on Poverty” as part of his “Great Society” platform to rectify, supposedly, the “social injustice” committed by those “evil capitalists.”

The fact is that poverty levels in the United States since The War on Poverty was implemented are unchanged in 50 years – despite the re-distribution of literally trillions of dollars. Since President Obama’s first inauguration, poor people are notably poorer now than when he took office in 2009, only five years ago!

Household median income, since President Obama took office, is down $3,000. Since 2009 the poverty rate has risen from 14.3 percent to nearly 17 percent in 2013.  Additionally, 20 percent of the nation’s children live in poverty.

And the blunt force to the face of Obamacare hasn’t even hit yet. As has been said for years:  “If you think healthcare is expensive now, just wait until it is free!”

Example after example of this could be given, but the point is made. Democrats continue to win over public opinion despite the facts. People largely blame the Republicans for things like government shutdowns, as has been the case throughout recent history, despite the facts to the contrary.

The left must have a cadre of psychologists advising them. Let’s look at the deeper dynamics of how liberals are so effective at influencing the misinformed and the uninformed.  To do this, we must look to psychology – the underpinning of absolutely everything that happens in humankind.

The dirty little secret is that the left recognizes, at least de facto, if not deliberately, that the human mind is both logical (the left hemisphere of the neo cortex) and emotional (the limbic system). We are all pretty familiar with the linear logic of the left hemisphere of the human brain, but most of us are unfamiliar with the most powerful part of the brain – the limbic system.

It is the limbic system that has been the foundation of our survival as a species since time began. It is the center of the survival emotions, most powerfully of which are fear and anger: the flight and fight emotions.

These powerful survival emotions get triggered whenever the brain senses a threat to its survival, setting up a series of responses and reactions in the brain and in the body to prepare to run away from the threat, or fight it if escape is impossible.

The left uses this knowledge about how our brains work to garner massive support for their big government policy by painting a picture of Republicans as a threat.

The lies from the left about Republicans are designed to be threatening (e.g.., the Republicans won’t negotiate with us Democrats on the debt ceiling, threatening the country with default and catastrophic economic collapse). This in turn triggers the limbic system.

The misinformed believe it because it is consistent with the lies they have always been told and already believe. The continuous stream of lies from the left make them feel even more threatened and even angrier.

After all, in their mind, if the president is saying this, it must be true?  Right?

Currently, the left is blaming Republicans for the government shutdown, painting Republicans as uncaring, greedy, hateful and corrupt. According to Democrats, Republicans don’t care about children, veterans, seniors, African Americans and the poor.

They spew forth lie after lie about how Republicans want to push granny off the cliff, cut social security, school lunches, veteran’s benefits, welfare, etc., indeed wanting to keep the disenfranchised, well, disenfranchised.

One cannot listen to the news for more than a minute to see this reflected in the thinking of Republican politicians.

On Oct. 7, 2013 on the Kelly File on Fox News, Senator Ted Cruz said that the Veteran’s Administration was closed in the recent government shut down even though the House Republicans had put forth a bill to the senate to fund the agency. But, he goes on to say, Senator Harry Reid won’t bring the bill to the floor.

Senator Cruz’s analysis:  “This just doesn’t make any sense!”

Logically, he is right, it makes no sense.

But from a psychological, limbic perspective, it makes perfect sense.

By stopping the funding to the VA, Senator Reid and his fellow liberals can blame the Republicans for stopping the funding, and anger the voting public against Senator Cruz and the Republicans.

The uninformed voter will not take the time to learn the facts. They will listen to a sound byte from Senator Reid, which will be blasted all over the mainstream media, and that will define their understanding of the situation.

Score one for the limbic system.

Historically, polls will show that the voting public blame the Republicans for these things when that’s not entirely true.  But because the left has created a massive population of misinformed and uninformed voters (who are often angry, aggressive and attacking) these delusions prevail.

If Republicans don’t wise up to the tactics and manipulations of the left, and continue to appeal exclusively to reason, as Senator Cruz did, it soon will be too late. If we aren’t at the tipping point, can it be anything more than just around the corner?