We don’t need more democracy!

by Derek Bateman

I RECKON the age of Fake News began in ancient Rome around Cicero’s time when the man with the magic speech was convincing the mob that black was white. He could turn any fact inside out and have a previously supportive crowd crying out for blood. Cicero used language to plant ideas in the mind and then applied rhetoric to exploit his advantage. (Just ask Anthony). It was morally dubious but it was also genius.

Two thousand years later and we are still being fooled by those seeking our votes, but I’d hardly call it genius. One of the principles of politics in my book is to encourage people to vote FOR something. Of course it will always be true that implicitly you also want them to vote AGAINST something else – your opponent, for example. But the message will be wrapped inside the packaging of a positive idea. Prime among them would be Obama’s Yes We Can which allowed you to vote for whatever it was you wanted from his election while implicitly rejecting the voices which said it won’t work.