Why Is There $$ in Politics ?

I mean, money spent in political campaigns

A home-school mom asked the Professor how much his logic curriculum and tutoring would cost, to which the Professor responded as follows:

“It used to be $299, but recently I had to raise the price.”

What is it now, the home-school mom asked.

“300.”

And what was her response ? She laughed.

The professor and the home-school mom then had a nice little conversation about how stupid people are that the 99 thing at the end actually works. The pricing people, the marketing people, they use it, they teach it. Why ? BECAUSE IT WORKS !

Sit with that for a moment.

Because it works. That’s why they use it.

A lot of marketing, it seems to me, and I’m not a total expert, I did take an upper-level marketing course in college in Hawai’i from a hard-ass professor (and it was a good experience), but it’s noticing how people are and gearing a comprehensive approach to sales based on exploiting human nature.

There’s big money in advertising because it works. Professionals have it dialed in. They’ve studied and noticed behavior.

At the same time, however, you’re starting to see pricing rebel here and there from the 99 thing at the end. I see a lot of prices in trendy areas just say 5 dollars, or 300. And there’s probably a little pride in it. We see through the 99 thing, and we know you do, too ! It might even help the sale in some instances.

The reason there is so much money spent in political campaigns is a variation on the same theme.

There are professionals who have honed in how to manipulate human nature to make a sale. The sale is the ballot cast for a candidate. It works because generally people are stupid. Why are they stupid.

Thomas Sowell is famous for saying that all people are born ignorant.

He’s careful to say “not stupid.” Whether they turn into stupid depends on structures. Family, church, school, government, social circles, etc. I say “stupid” because the stupidity we see, and can clearly see, is so obvious, in some sense, it must be chosen because convenient in some way. We choose not to teach logic to junior high students, or even to high school students. The LSAT (Law School Admission Test) dropped the requirement for logic just recently, and that was on purpose. California dropped its Philosophy (Logic) requirement to graduate from a state community college or university in favor of an ethnic studies requirement. Google “Philosophy Requirement California” and compare the results with “Ethnic Studies Requirement California.” Many people I talk to don’t even know Logic is a part of Philosophy . Why would they, or their kids, know this moving forward, even if they want to do something involving Logic, like the Law ?

I’m amused at the ads I see on Amazon. I appreciate they need the ad revenue. I’m not that bothered by it. I’m amused by it, because I keep track. Not a single ad has worked on me to produce consumer behavior. Someone is wasting their money, at least on me.

But I look at money in politics the same way. Why do yard signs work ? You might be skeptical that they do work. I’m here to tell you, the person paying for them is convinced they work. And that’s because they do. Think how scary that is. The 99 thing works in pricing. Yard signs work. A yard sign is a guy or gal’s name. That’s usually about it. It’s a name. And it works.

Money in politics will only increase the more we protect the ignorance we are born with from disappearing in the habits of our life together.