Politics Is a Dirty Game
When we think of politics, we normally think about political propaganda and strategies on how politicians get people to vote for them. What we don’t usually see is the espionage going on behind the scenes. Remember that politics isn’t quite as selfless as the media and the politicians themselves have you believe. Sabotage, spying, and bribery among others are what push a politician into a seat of dangerous power.
Let’s take, for example, Richard Nixon. According to A. Smith from listverse.com:
“Nixon hired former CIA agents in order to fix classified document leaks at first. They then became known as the White House Plumbers. When the 1972 elections neared, the Plumbers began sabotaging Nixon’s political opponents. This led to the infamous “Watergate Scandal”, five of the Plumbers got caught stealing from the Democratic National Committee’s headquarters located at the Watergate office complex. This started investigations about the link of the Watergate burglars to the White House Plumbers (also known as Nixon’s Reelection Committee. The White House then resorted to lying and paying off certain people in order to stay safe. This eventually led to the downfall of Robert Nixon.”
A more recent example would be the 2016 presidential elections. Stakes were running quite high during this specific election period. As such, Republicans tried to ensure that Donald Trump won. According to D. Victor of The New York Times, “Images went around the internet falsely claiming that residents of Pennsylvania can vote online through Twitter. This and another ploy targeted the Democrats.
While malicious images have been circling the internet, more grave acts have been committed in real life. At the Republican Party Headquarters in North Carolina’s Orange County, a firebomb along with a spray-painted swastika on the outside of the building was found in October 2016. The firebomb rendered the office completely useless. A message accompanied the swastika that read, “Nazi Republicans leave town or else”.
Of course, along with politics come the social issues of the time. According to A. Love and W. Bergstrom of politico.com, “In the 1977 New York City mayoral primary, Ed Koch and Mario Cuomo ran against each other. Propaganda on Cuomo’s side read, “Vote for Cuomo, not the homo”. Ultimately, Ed Koch won.
Discrimination against minority groups went further back, however. In 1836, Davy Crockett wrote that presidential candidate Martin Van Buren was more like a woman than a woman. Degrading the opposing candidate has been a practice that exists until today.
Not every trick has to target the opposing party. Sometimes, politicians use tricks to get the people’s hearts. Take for example the death of Kate Steinle. According to K. Benjamin of cracked.com:
“In 2015, she was shot and killed by an undocumented immigrant in San Francisco. Politicians like Donald Trump has used Kate’s death to try to convince people that every undocumented immigrant is a rapist and a killer. Kate’s brother went on CNN and told Anderson Cooper, “Donald Trump talks about her (Kate) like he knows her. I’ve never heard a word from his campaign manager, I’ve never heard a word from him. “
In a world such as ours, we should be able to think for ourselves and not be swayed by such propaganda. A politician is just a person that just so happens to have the necessary means to change a city, state, or country, and as such, a person can commit wrongdoing. You may never know if your environment-loving, “selfless”, and all-around “good” candidate is actually a liar, a cheater, and a thief.
REFERENCES
- Smith, A.T. (2014, January 18). 10 Worst Dirty Tricks in American Politics. Retrieved from https://listverse.com
- Victor, D. (2016, November 4 . Dirty Tricks, Vandalism, and the Dark Side of Politics . Retrieved from https://nytimes.com
- Love, A. and Bergstrom, W. (2012, June 6). 16 Worst Political Dirty Tricks . Retrieved from https://politico.com
- Benjamin, K. (2016, July 23). The 7 Dirtiest Tricks Politicians Use to Make You Like Them . Retrieved from https://cracked.com
