When I moved to the United States, I realized that the novel '1984' was based on the Anglo model. It was so obvious, a twelve-year old would notice it. In my country of origin, there is no '1984' even though there are politicians that can say things their own way and disagree with what others are saying of course.
But spin is not part of politics where I originated from. As a politician, one has to stick pretty close to declaring one's true color, be it blue, red, yellow, green, orange, purple, brown, pink, and whathaveyou in a nation with 18 parties. To win more seats, one has to speak one own's political truth and not use words that undermine the other 17 parties. When green, one will stand up for why green is the best color. One will not formulate why all the other colors are lousy because it will turn too many voters off and go for another party that is representing green better.
In the United States there is just red and blue. So '1984' is the normal reality here. When there is something truly green, then the red and the blue party have to twist it to make sure how that green is (un)favorably shown in their red or blue light.
We have no competition in our political system. The two parties are king and queen. You are in the house of Mom&Dad and you are not allowed to leave the house nor take control of the house.
With yellow, we see something special for red and blue. We also don't have that color in our political system. Yet red and blue really have to go out of their way to capture it (positively or negatively), and as last resort they will refuse to even talk about it. Ignoring an issue is very much part of a nation in which so many political colors can't discuss what they stand for themselves, right? We have so many problems and our politicians sit on their hands. They will ignore many issues.
The US has the strongest military in the world and its economy rivals that of the European Union. But its political system is not one of freedom. As voters, we have a choice, but it is like picking which arm you want to liberate and stick out of the straight-jacket.
A color copier has red, blue, yellow and black ink, and all we need is a voting system that produces four parties. A nation the size of the USA should not have 18 parties (it will not survive that great number of parties). But just two parties means we are not the Land of the Free. We are not the Home of the Brave because the Home of the Brave has three, four or five empowered political parties that can all speak their own truths. Brave people can speak the truth. In our political system, we are half-muted, half-brave, half-free.
Only the winners sit at the table, not all voters and their representatives.
The language these winners speak is obvious to a person coming to the United States from a nation where all politicians will always speak their truth in politics.
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Here is my latest article on our indeed crummy voting system that warps our politicians because the voters cannot vote for their own needs and truths.
'Voting and Poverty' and how they are linked.
https://medium.com/@fred-rick/voting-and-poverty-d1caac030bea
