George W. Bush and the Personality Cult

Democrats and other liberals and progressives watched in incredulous awe as George W. Bush won a second term as U.S. president. How could so many people vote against their own best interests? How can they believe that they voted for "moral values," when the basic core values that make this country great, like access to jobs, health care, education, and the American dream, are being slowly whittled away by the Bush administration? How can we explain Bush's inexplicable popularity? Perhaps the answer lies in the theory of the personality cult.

Personality cults sometimes form in power-hungry regimes, such as Stalinist Russia or Mao's China. Through extensive government-led propaganda campaigns, the leader is elevated to an almost divine level. He is venerated as a liberator and a savior in the war against good and evil. He wins the blind adulation of an effectively brainwashed public. And he is neither questioned nor held accountable.

Much of Bush's popular appeal comes from his well-rehearsed down-home Texas style. Most people don't seem to realize that Bush grew up in New England, a true Connecticut Ivy League Yankee, every bit as white-bread as John Kerry. It's easier to disarm the public when you can make them think that you're one of them.

Combine the good ol' boy demeanor with religion, and you've got yourself a ticket to red-state glory. Bush overcame a nasty drinking problem when he found religion. This became his new addiction, his new obsession, his new escape from reality.

In July of 2004, Bush told an Amish group in Pennsylvania that "God speaks through me." He believes that God wanted him to be president, and that God is working through him, even as tens of thousands of innocent Iraqi men, women, and children die in a war based on lies. It's God's war. We're the good guys. We're fighting the evildoers over there so that we won't have to fight them over here. This is truly an ingenious way to win the trusting hearts of Middle America, who have been programmed to fear the evil Muslim barbarians who want to kill us because they "hate our freedom." It's easier than thinking. So they follow him like sheep.

There is no disagreement allowed. "You're either with us or against us." If you're against us, you're also against God. And you're a terrorist and an evildoer. Easy choice.

Another factor is consistency. Some people thrive on consistency. There were many in Russia who said that communism was better than democracy and capitalism because it was predictable. George W. Bush is consistent. He sticks to his guns, no matter how mountainous the evidence is that he is wrong. And he never admits to a mistake. Many view this as "strong," rather than stubborn, arrogant, or immature. It's easier than engaging in critical thought.

Most of the credit for the Bush administration's public relations bamboozlement goes to Karl Rove, George W. Bush's senior advisor and chief political strategist. Rove's propaganda machine has turned Bush into a messiah while at the same time demonizing all his political opponents through lies, smear campaigns, and an ingenious repertoire of dirty tricks. All in the name of doing God's work and protecting our "freedom" and "democracy."

Rove distracted the American public from the war in Iraq and the failing economy by focusing the election on three key issues: God, guns, and gays. Added to the formula was a hefty dose of fear, the true mind killer. Rove had the public believing that if Democrats won the election, we would take away their Bibles, take away their guns, and force the whole country into same-sex marriages. Despite the sheer absurdity of it, it worked.

How much longer will the American people willingly dig their own graves?

Opponents to the Bush regime may take some solace in the fact that history shows that personality cults can collapse very quickly upon the ousting or death of the leader. While an ouster isn't likely until 2008, we can get a good head start by working tirelessly towards the election of more Democrats to the Senate and the House of Representatives in the 2006 mid-term elections. By restoring a balance of power in Congress, perhaps some steps can finally be taken to effectively break through the propaganda machine and expose the lies and recklessness of the Bush administration to the hypnotized electorate. Perhaps then they will then see that the emperor has no clothes. And perhaps then the real evildoers shall at last be held accountable.

Heaven help us if we fail.