CENTRAL VIEW for Monday, July 26, 2010

Voter turn-out: Ruling Class or Country Class?

Let’s say you have friends and neighbors who think the way you do in terms of politics and you want to get them to get to their polling place to vote. Or, do a mail-in ballot. What is the secret to getting them to cast their ballots?

The secret has just two simple parts: The person must see why it is in his or her self-interest to act. The person must believe that he or she has the ability to perform the act.

Two excellent books on this subject are Robert Cialdini’s “Influence: How and Why People Agree to Things” (1985), and “Influencer: The Power to Change Anything” by Patterson, Grenny, Maxfield, McMillan and Switzler (2007).

Based on what the Obamessiah and “ruling class” have done to the USA during two years of rule from the White House and since 2006, when the Democrats gained control of both houses of Congress, it should be relatively easy to convince conservatives that it is in their self-interest to get out and vote. Even for GOP candidates they don’t care for.

Of course, they have the ability to vote, either in person or via mail-in ballot, although our brave military serving overseas sometimes get short-changed when it comes to voting absentee – especially, when the Democrats are in power. But that’s a scandal for another column.

Conversely, those who like what Mr. Obama and the Democrat-controlled Congress have done to our economy will see that it is in their self-interest to get to the polls to vote for all the additional government they can get. Aided by organizations like ACORN, the “ruling class” knows how to get people to the polls, even the deceased. Some cities and counties have even banned ACORN from operating within their jurisdictions. But that’s a story about political courage for another time.

But wait. You are having a difficult time getting yourself motivated so you can go out or pick up the phone or even do an e-mail to get your like-minded friends to vote. There is help. Read Marshall Goldsmith’s “Mojo: How to Keep It, How to Get It Back If you lose it.”(2009).

Goldsmith makes an excellent living getting high-powered executives to renew their energy and move their companies or organization ever upward. But what Goldsmith writes can be applied to anyone, even the retired pajamamuhadeen seniors who write letters-to-the-editor or use the Internet to have their voices heard.

A recommended reading for the pajamamuhadeen and for everyone is the essay in the July-August 2010 issue of “The American Spectator” by Angelo M. Codeville. The title is: “America’s Ruling Class – And the Perils of Revolution.” Dr. Codevilla, a professor emeritus of international relations at Boston University, says those who decide what our government does to its citizens are, for the most part, Democrats, although there are a few Republicans who, wanting to be accepted by the “ruling class,” will sometimes side with the Democrats just so they can be in the club and not be thought of as ignorant, knuckle-dragging members of what Professor Codevilla calls: the “country class.”

In April, 2008, Candidate Obama described the “country class” to an elite San Francisco audience as people in small towns in the Midwest who are bitter and they cling to their guns and their religion and they don’t like immigrants or people who are not like them.

The “ruling class” thinks it knows best for the “country class” and is eager to take the hard-earned dollars from the “country class” and spend those tax dollars on what the “ruling class” thinks is best for the “country class,” meaning a bigger and bigger government that is already having to borrow 41-percent of what it is spending. In just 22 pages, Professor Codevilla explains the damage the “ruling class” is inflicting on America.

Maybe, the “country class” will have something to say about that on November 2, 2010.

Syndicated columnist, William Hamilton, studied at Harvard’s JFK School of Government. Dr. Hamilton is a former assistant professor of political science and history at Nebraska Wesleyan University.

© 2010. William Hamilton.

Dr. Hamilton can be contacted at:

Email: william@central-view.com