The Persuasion of Politics - from Aristotle to Alinsky

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by Kim D.

When I teach communications classes, the topic of persuasive writing is essential discussion. Many students know what they want to write but do not have a clue as to how to craft the message in order to be the most successful with an intended audience.  Therefore, I depend on the classics to instruct this art - more specifically Aristotle's recipe of emos, ethos, and logos.

In simpler terms . . .

• emotion (emos) - you've got to make them care.
• ethics (ethos) - you've got to show them the right and ethical thing to do.
• logos (logic) - you're argument must be sound and based on logic.

Politics, at its core, is the art of persuasion. Barack Obama exploded on the scene in 2008 and was ushered in to the White House riding a wave of emos and ethos, but, due to his ties to Saul Alinksky, he and other progressive liberals perverted the Aristotle equation to add elements of polarization, demonization, and deception as substitution for logic.

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Now that Obama has finally been thoroughly vetted and more Americans see and feel the real effects of his emotional appeal of hope and change, the question becomes who will wake up and fight for a return to the classics of pure persuasion. Until we do, Americans will continue to be divided, swimming in a sea of self pity and denial, believing the lies fed to us on a daily basis.

The 2014 mid-term elections will be a good indication of how Americans as a collective whole are allowing themselves to be persuaded by those who seek to make the decisions that affect daily lives.  Will we embrace the notions of smaller government and demand common-sense leadership? Or, will we continue to let polarization, demonization, and deception lead us forward toward destruction.