If and Then

The if/then construct is a conditional statement used in computer programming. It is very simple to understand. It simply looks like this.

If (set of conditions =true) Then (consequence)

This is a concept that is pretty simple. It merely means that if a set of conditions is true then a certain consequence is also true.

This construct is not limited to computer programming however. This is a law that should be evident in everything in life. Take the following examples.

If I eat a plate of donuts every morning I will get fat.

If I don't show up for work repeatedly I will get fired.

If I do not set my parking break on a big hill my car will crash through the neighbor's house.

The concept is fairly simple. If you do or do not do something then something else will or will not happen. We all live by these rules every day without thinking about it. Some things are just obvious. But sometimes people will use an if and then statement to attempt to make people believe there will be a result that actually is not going to take place. We call this a lie. Lets see if we can digest this next little gem from Comrade Obama's press conference of yesterday.

"It would be nice if we could keep every tax break there is, but we’ve got to make some tough choices here if we want to reduce our deficit. And if we choose to keep those tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires, if we choose to keep a tax break for corporate jet owners, if we choose to keep tax breaks for oil and gas companies that are making hundreds of billions of dollars, then that means we’ve got to cut some kids off from getting a college scholarship. That means we’ve got to stop funding certain grants for medical research. That means that food safety may be compromised. That means that Medicare has to bear a greater part of the burden. Those are the choices we have to make"

WHAT?

So lets take a look at this conditional statement and break it down a little more.

IF
We keep tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires
We Keep tax breaks for corp. Jet owners
We keep tax breaks for Oil and Gas companies (that make billions of dollars)

THEN
We're going to cut kids off from scholarships
Stop funding for medical reseach
Food safety may be compromised.
Medicare has to bear a greater part of the burden.


Again WHAT?

This is an example of an if and then construct that is used to attempt to fool people. It sounds almost believable at first glance, but when you begin to look a little closer it is absolutely insane.

The very idea that if we don't do away with this tax break and that tax break we're going to not have funding for medical research? Come on. Food safety may be compromised? Absurd. Cutting off kids from scholarships. Hmmm not sure that that's devastating. The Constitution doesn't pretent to make the federal government the great educator. I'm not overly worried about the scholarships.

The issue here is that we have a president who more than any other president in HISTORY is willing to demagogue issues and issue absurd statements about things with the simple attempt to divide. He employs repeatedly tactic to divide this country as much as possible. He does this for a simple statistical reason: there are more people who identify themselves as struggling. Logic would follow that if you attempt to show that you are the ally of those who are struggling and the other guy is the ally of those who are doing well and should be sharing more then you would have a very large section of the populous who would automatically generate votes for you.

There are some inherent flaws with this thinking and not the least of those flaws is that the tactic assumes that all the people who identify themselves as struggling attribute that to the evil people who are doing well. It also assumes that they believe it is the governments job to take from the rich and give to the poor.

Comrade Obama, or maybe we should call him Comrade Robin Hood, would have us believe that he is the Robin Hood figure who believes that the rich only get rich by stealing from the poor. He would have you believe that exploitation is the only way one gains wealth. The problem with this is that he and many others who would sell this nonsense are wealthy people. You can not have your cake and eat it too comrade.

I believe that this president is making an error that will likely cost him reelection. He is putting all of his eggs in one basket. The basket he's chosen is the age old basket of class warfare. To a great extent this tactic worked for him the first time around. It was packaged differently last time. (hope and change anyone?) This time he's setting up differently. He's setting up to run a campaign of extreme division. He's going with all out class envy warfare and I do not believe this is going to work.

The president's speeches have become less and less idealistic and polished and become more divisive and agitated. There are some people who will but his arguments that if we don't raise taxes on billionaires we won't have medical research funding. The problem is that that demographic would be voting for him anyway. It's a waste to target them.

What about the free thinkers. What about those of us who will not simply take him at his word. What about those of us who don't just eat what we're fed and clean our plates. I don't think he's going to get us. I think he's going to lose quite a few that he gained last time. After all If you lie Then you will be found out.