Campaign promises

Hate may be useful in getting people to vote.

Sadly, it is a better motivator than all the promises of positive action. Voters have come to distrust political promises, but they believe the hater will do as he says, so they get up, get out and vote.

Beware, however: Easy answers to difficult questions are the false song of the demagogue. In hard times like we have now, people look to the man on the white horse who promises a quick fix. Adolf Hitler, Hideki Tojo and Vladimir Lenin were all evil geniuses who knew this. It was only after they led their nations to disaster that their folly was exposed, but by then it was too late.

It’s better to seek the dedicated, enlightened man who can truly change the world, for that’s the way it has always been changed.

This story was originally published December 25, 2015 at 12:00 PM with the headline "Campaign promises."