Political Styles in Riesmann's Lonely Crowd, Acorn and the Obama Campaign

In the Lonely Crowed Riesmann (1950) discusses how his famous typology of tradition-, inner- and other-directedness interacts with political styles. Riesmann claims that political mood shifts from inner-directed moralizing to other-directed "inside-dopesterism" that emphasizes inside information and relationships rather than moral issues in political dialogue. He also claims that this shift is related to "power dispersal among many marginally competing pressure groups" in modern society rather than dominance by a ruling class as was the case in the 19th century. He asserts that there are three political types: indifferents, moralizers and inside-dopesters.

Indifferents can be tradition-directed and from marginal or oppressed groups. In 1950, when he wrote the book, Riesmann asserted that "the number of such tradition-directed indifferents remains small." Indifferents may have external locus of control and believe that (p. 167) "politics is someone else's job". In addition to tradition-directed indifferents there is also a larger number of people who are inner-directed or possibly other-directed who are also indifferent. He writes (p. 168):

"It is to a large degree the indifference of people who know enough about politics to reject it, enough about political information to refuse it, enough about their political responsibilities as citizens to evade them. Some of these new-style indifferents we may classify as inner-directed or other-directed people who happen not to have adopted a political style more characteristic for their type."

Old and new style indifferents may account for the majority of Americans (p. 170). Some of the new style indifferents reside in rural or slum communities. Riesmann speculates that some indifferent people may be in transition from tradition to inner directedness and that "Indifferents do not believe that, by virtue of anything they do, know or believe, they can buy a political package that will substantially improve their lives." But:

"Since these new-style indifferents have some education and organizational competence and since they are neither morally committed to political principles nor emotionally related to political events, they are rather easily welded into cadres for political action--much as they are capable of being welded into a modern mechanized and specialized army...The new-style indifferents are attached neither to their privacy, which would make politics intrusive, nor to their class groupings, which would make politics limited: rather...they are socialized, passive and cooperative--not only in politics, of course. Their loyalty is at large, ready to be captured by any movement that can undercut their frequent cynicism or exploit it..."

To what degree does ACORN exploit this hypothesis in its organizing efforts?

Riesmann also does a good job of capturing the inner-directed, moralizing pattern and the inside-dopester pattern of other-directedness. My questions there are as follows:

1. To what degree did the differences between the Red States and the Blue States in 2000, 50 years after the Lonely Crowd was published, reflect persistent differences in inner and other directedness?

2. To what degree has other-directedness been supplanted by a pattern that Riesmann notes in the book, namely indignation or moralizing by radical other-directeds? In other words, other-directedness suggests a concern for the feelings of others. Today, in political discourse, the special interest groups that Riesmann observed in 1950 seem to have transformed that pattern. Other-directedness now applies within the group whereas indignation and morlizing applies to those outside the group. Thus, social democracy has replaced inner-directedness with group-directedness, a fixation on a group's moral compass that has elements of a reformulated tradition direction but also elements of other-directedness.

For example, in universities much emphasis has been placed on "collegiality". This would be the equivalent of "interpersonal skills" emphasized in corporations. But collegiality is limited to those who share the political views of the privileged class of academics. Those who deviate are excluded and shunned. So while academics are primarily other-directed (arguably, the entire transition from inner to other directedness reflects the influence of universities, imbued with peer review and conformity pressure) their fixation on political ideology leads them to group directedness. Anyone who questions the goals of "social change", "social justice" and the like is viewed as "lacking collegiality" because they threaten the group-directedness.

In contrast to the indifferents, "because the inner-directed man is work driven and work oriented his profoundest feelings wrapped up in work and the competence with which work is done, when he turns to politics he sees it as a field of work." But because the inner directed person is wound tight, he has trouble adjusting to the fluidity of political realities. "He does not see it as a game to be watched for its human interest" (p. 173). Inner-directeds participate in politics because of because of a sense of responsibility (p. 175).

Riesmann does not believe that the inner-directed personality suits modern politics. Mass media invades privacy, and blurs individual interests. Inner directeds get involved in politics to further a specific goal, so they do not feel comfortable if politics invades their privacy. Politics in the modern world does not, in Riesmann's opinion, lend itself to clear analysis.

Riesmann adds:

"The incomprehensibility of politics gains momentum not only from the increase in its objective complexity but from what is, in some respects a drop in the general level of skills relevant to understanding what goes on in politics. While formal education has increased, the education provided by the effort to run a farm, an independent business, or a shop, has decreased along with the increase in the number of employees; and while there may be little or no decline in the number of independent entrepreneurs, a larger proportion of the factors leading to success or failure is no longer in the hands of those remaining as entrepreneurs. No longer can one judge the work and competence of the political or government administrator from the confident, often overconfident, base line of one's own work and competence."

Moreover, "the inner-directed indignants can easily feel helpless and invaded when things do not go well with them. As we saw in Chapter V, the inner-directed man becomes vulnerable to himself when he fails to achieve his internalized goals...the gap between other-directed city dwellers and inner-directed rural folk has increased and that the well-meant efforts to bridge the gap have frequently served only to make the latter feel still more envious and unsure...Envy and feeling of displacement--sources of a political style of curdled indignation--are of course also to be found among those rural immigrants to town who are city dwellers in name only. As long as such peole, urban or rural, have political power, their malaise vis-a-vis the other-directed elements in American life may be muted; they can shape their world and force it to make sense to them. But when even this avenue toward understanding is cut off, the curdled indignant lashes out in helpless rage or subsidies into...passive, frustrated resistance..." (Sounds to me like talk radio.)

In contrast to the indignant inner-directed and tradition-directed, the minority of Americans who have all the power but are other-directed are inside-dopesters who view politics as consumption (Riesmann doesn't seem to notice an incongruity there, that he is saying that a majority are indifferents who are largely in transition between tradition and inner or other directedness, and all the rural people are inner directed, so it is only the university-educated city dwellers who are other-directed. What puzzles me is why the majority continues to put up with it.)

This emphasis on politics as consumption fascinates me because I teach business. If politics is consumption, why hasn't the focus been on better meeting consumer needs rather than regulation? Why isn't there a politics of consumption? I believe that there is a huge opportunity for conservatives here. The underlying impulse is consumption. Progressives package a government based on moral obligation (social justice, for instance) which suggests a conscience-based obligation rather than a relationship-based focus on consumption.

What Reagan understood is that politics is consumption, and therefore needs to be packaged. This has ramifications that have never been explored. For instance, political units can be re-divided in terms of market segmentation rather than primitive geographic units. There is much to do here as this has not been discussed. All political paradigms are rooted in power relationships rather than consumption, but the trend in the world has been toward consumption, not power. A new politics based on choice could transcend the conflict between other-directed progressivism and inner-directed moralism.

In Riesmann's view, the archetypal other directed is an inside dopester. This reflects a limited view of politics. Why not a consumer of political services, or of the self-image of moralizing. Might not the contributions of George Soros or the activism of Michael Bloomberg be viewed in consumption terms? These super-consumers of American politics may provide a model--that there are different kinds of consumption that different Americans prefer, and different political approaches via the states or groups of states might be preferable to the groups, resulting in more optimal arrangements.

Politics in the age of inner-direction focused on individual rights and liberty. Corporate power was viewed as a threat to individual rights. Politics in the age of other-direction focused on group rights and corporate power. Corporate power was viewed as a source of consumption and a powerful actor that dominates the lives of workers and consumers. Corporate power in the age of choice is itself a consumption variable. Consumers can choose created environments in which corporations have one or another degree of power. Progressives can choose a highly centralized, corporatist society. Conservatives an individualist one. The mode of production need not be restrained by scale or relationship to the state. Quality management can make small firms more efficient and large ones equally so.

Inner dopesters, in Riesmann's definition are people who enjoy politics for being able to show off what they know to their peer-group. It is important to the inside-dopester to look like an informed insider. Other-directeds often aspire to (but are not really) this type of person. "Politics indeed serves the inside-dopester chiefly as a means for group conformity. He must have acceptable opinions, and where he engages in politics he must do so in acceptable ways. In the upper class, as among radical groups, the influence of the moralizing style is still strong, and many people who set the cultural patterns carry on with an ideology of political responsibility; they act as if politics were a meaningful sphere for them...These inside-dopesters of the upper middle class should be contrasted with those found in small towns and rural areas who are in easy contact with their local and even state officials...there are striking similarities between the tradition-directed and the other-directed. Both groups feel helpless vis-a-vis politics, and both have resorted to varieties of fatalism which the inner-directed moralizer would sternly reject. However, there are important differences. The inside-dopester, unlike the indifferent, is subordinate to a peer group in which politics is an important consumable and in which the correct--that is, the unemotional--attitude toward one's consumption is equally important."

Thus, (p. 188) "The inner-directed moralizer brings to policies an attitude derived from the sphere of production. The other-directed inside-dopester brings to politics an attitude derived from the sphere of consumption. Politics is to be appraised in terms of consumer preferences. Politicians are people--and the more galmorous the better.

This leads into a discussion of glamour and politics, which relates directly to Barack Obama.

New Mexican ACORN Voter Fraud

Ace of Spades HQ (h/t Larwyn)quotes a GOP Press Release that alleges that ACORN committed massive voter fraud in New Mexico:

Obama’s ACORN Must Be Shut Down Before Election, All Activities Investigated

(Albuquerque, NM) – Public records released in New Mexico today confirm that fraudulent voter registrations are in fact turning into fraudulent votes. ACORN, currently under investigation by the FBI, is now confirmed to be responsible for producing fraudulent voter registrations and illegal votes in New Mexico. An inspection of public records has revealed that illegal votes were cast in New Mexico’s 2008 primary election.

“This is a bombshell. We now have undeniable proof that a significant number of fraudulent voters were cast in Democrat primary races for the New Mexico state legislature as a result of ACORN’s voter registration fraud,” remarked State Representative Justine Fox Young (R-Albuquerque). “No longer can ACORN argue that their phony voter registration forms don’t translate into fraudulent votes. They do and today we can prove it.”

"It is safe to say that the number of illegal votes being cast dwarfs the 366 votes that decided the 2000 Presidential election in New Mexico,” said Nina Martinez, Secretary for the Republican Party of New Mexico. “Barack Obama contributed $832,000 to ACORN, organized an ACORN subsidiary, represented them as their attorney, trained some of their members and received ACORN’s endorsement. Obama should withdraw his financial support from ACORN and come clean about what he knows of their activities. Every fraudulent vote cancels out an honest vote. We must ensure the integrity of this year’s election.”

Dorothy Maddox-Holland of the FEC Responds to ACORN Inquiry

The FEC has not responded to repeated inquiries about the Obama birth certificate. However, they have just e-mailed me that voter fraud by ACORN--is not their job.


>Good morning Dr. Langbert

Thank you for your letter dated September 29, 2008 regarding allegations of an unusually high level of voter fraud associated with ACORN.


Unfortunately, this type of inquiry is not handled by the Federal Election Commission (FEC), Office of Inspector General (OIG). However, your letter was forwarded to the Election Assistance Commission who in turn informed the FEC/OIG that this type of inquiry is handled by the Department of Justice, Civil Voting Section, 1-800-253-3931. Once again, thank you for your inquiry.

Sincerely,

Dorothy Maddox-Holland
Special Assistant to the Inspector General

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Senator John Cornyn Demands Criminal Probe of Obama-Related Charity

Ace of Spades HQ Blog reports (h/t Larwyn) that Senator John Cornyn has written the following letter to the Department of Justice demanding a criminal probe of ACORN, a pro-Obama charity with which Senator Obama has been directly involved.

The Honorable Michael B. Mukasey
Attorney General U.S.
Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue
NW Washington, DC 20530-0001

Dear General Mukasey:

I am increasingly concerned by reports of widespread election fraud by the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (“ACORN”), which seem to emerge on a daily basis.

Specifically, I call your attention to state and local investigations into potentially hundreds of thousands of fraudulent voter registration applications filed by ACORN in North Carolina, Ohio, Nevada, Michigan, Florida, New Mexico, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Washington, Connecticut, Wisconsin, and my home state of Texas. In Harris County, Texas, which includes the City of Houston, election officials either rejected or discovered serious deficiencies with nearly 40 percent of the 27,000 registration cards filed by ACORN from January through July of this year.

Most recently, election officials in Lake County, Indiana, found more than 2,100 fraudulent voter registration applications that were filed at the deadline by ACORN. According to a CNN report, at least one of ACORN’s applications in Lake County attempted to register a dead man. In addition, The St. Petersburg Times (FL) reported today that Mickey Mouse tried to register to vote in Florida this summer. Although Orange County elections officials rejected his application, it is notable that Mickey Mouse’s application had an ACORN stamp on it. In addition, The [Raleigh, NC] News & Observer also reported today that ACORN conducted a voter drive that registered nearly 28,000 people in North Carolina. But according to local election officials some of the forms it filed had information that may have been copied from phone books.

Election fraud imposes a real cost on our system, beyond the obvious consequence of subverting a free and fair election. Fraudulent voter registration on this scale seriously strains state and local elections resources and distracts elections officials from preparing to conduct an orderly election. Of course, ACORN’s nationwide voter registration fraud provides an opportunity for individuals to vote who should not, or for some to vote more than once.

Given these allegations, as well as the well-documented fraud convictions in recent years of ACORN employees, I urge you to launch a nationwide criminal probe into ACORN’s voter registration activities. As you know, federal law prohibits an individual from (1) providing fraudulent voter registration information; (2) conspiring to encourage false registration or illegal voting; and (3) paying or offering to pay another individual for registering or voting. It is also a crime to knowingly procure or submit false, fictitious, or fraudulent voter registration applications. Finally, I must add that, because the violations of federal voting laws by ACORN employees appear to be so widespread, ACORN and its affiliates should be investigated as a criminal enterprise.

Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter.

Sincerely,

JOHN CORNYN

United States Senator

Obama To ACORN: You Will Shape Policy

Nancy Razik just forwarded this Youtube video (located here) of Barack Obama telling the looters and thugs of ACORN that they will help shape executive policy even before he is elected.

Clinton Supporters Bring RICO Suit Against Obama

Melvin Belsky has forwarded links to the website of We Will Not Be Silenced, a doumentary by Gigi Gaston. According to the website the Obama campaign engaged in concerted, ongoing threats:

We have interviews of many accounts from caucus states recounting threats, intimidation, lies, stolen documents, falsified documents, busing in voters in exchange for paying for "dinners," etc. There are at least 2000 complaints, in Texas alone, of irregularities directed towards the Obama Campaign, that have lead to a very fractured and broken Democratic Party.

Melvin also forwarded a link to Hillbuzz entitled Clinton Supporters Sharing Evidence for RICO Case Against Obama Campaign:

Voter intimidation, registration fraud, vandalism, threats of violence, you name it, Obama’s supporters did it. For veterans of the McGovern ‘72 campaign who remembered thugs and hooligans engaged in similar tactics in service of their own far left candidate, the actions of Obama’s followers were so bad that even people who’ve lived through the last 36 years of ups and downs in America testified that this is the worst thing they’ve ever seen happen to our democracy...

There IS a RICO investigation of ACORN and the Obama campaign underway - this has now been established by the mainstream media. Right now it’s rumored here in Chicago that Patrick Fitzgerald is heading it (confirmation on that has not come yet). There is a lot of activity in Chicago right now, with a lot of IRS agents looking into the finances coming in and out of this city, and across state lines (this was established on Monday when the GOP issued emergency press releases that much of Obama’s campaign contributions could very well be illegal foreign contributions - what appears to be deliberately poor record keeping designed to hide the true identities and monetary sources of online donors is at issue here). We see in 15 states now that ACORN is being busted for attempted voter fraud, and for fraudulent, illegal voter registrations in the hundreds of thousands, if not a million. The article below states, and we have confirmed this with people who know for sure, that the people who gathered evidence of Obama’s fraud and voter intimidation techniques during the primaries against Hillary Clinton are sharing everything they have with the Republican Party and the federal government."

...The media, which risked all its credibility betting on an Obama win, will not report any of this because when Obama falls, he will take America’s faith in journalism with him.

The only thing we’re left guessing at is what the finished product of “We Will Not Be Silenced” will look like. Gigi Gaston is working incredibly hard on what we believe will be one of the most important films released next year. It will NOT be completed before the election. No one ever planned to make a movie about democracy-threatening fraud this year, so understand this film is being made as quickly as possible.

Read the whole thing here.

Mairi Protests ACORN to Sally Lasota

Mairi writes:

>I just sent an e-mail to the "Sally Lasota" in the press releases from Indiana. She is apparently trying to investigate illegal voter registrations by ACORN in her county.

It dawned on me, Illinois is the "home of dirty politics and politicians". WHY would I EVER think Dan White would respond to an honest request? Maybe, we should start a campaign to request Board of Election Commissioners in "friendly" States to look into eligibility in those States instead? I am not sure others in those States have come on board, so why trust it. Shouldn't be too hard to start writing to the Election Boards in other States from our own.

I am going to try.

"Dear Ms. Lasota,

There is information online that you are working to eliminate fraudulent voter registration, and I am HOPING you can answer a question for me....well, actually, maybe a couple if you don't mind.

First, what criteria do you use to verify eligibility of a candidate to be on the ballot?

You may or may not be aware, that a lawsuit has been filed in PA regarding Barack Obama's eligibility to run for POTUS. I DO believe he is an Indonesian citizen, and has committed an act, by using his Indonesian passport, which negates any claim he may ever have had to U.S. citizenship. I will send you two sites, and I hope you will look at them.

http://texasdarlin.wordpress.com/2008/09/30/obama-is-indonesian/
At Obama's "factcheck.org" site, he admits to having had Kenyan citizenship.

That citizenship alone disqualifies him from being POTUS. Article II strictly forbids anyone ever having dual citizenship from the office. But the link I sent is FAR more frightening. Mr. Obama refuses to produce certification of an "Oath of Allegiance" to the U.S. after accepting his Indonesian citizenship in 1981 by using a passport issued by that country. Also, Indonesia does not allow dual citizenship with the U.S., so Barack's American citizenship was in FACT lost when Lolo Soetoro adopted him.

http://docs.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/pennsylvania/paedce/2:2008cv04083/281573/13/

This site will show you the lawsuit filed by Phil Berg, Esq. in PA. All trust in the election process is fast fading in this election. We have just watched this Country nearly be taken to it's knees by Wall St., and many of us in "fly-over" country are TRYING to make sure this election adheres to laws defined clearly in the Constitution. I have written THREE times to Dan White, Exec. Dir. IL Brd. of Elections, but to no avail! I am PRAYING you will be able to help us!

If it is not too big a problem, could you send me an answer? I would GREATLY appreciate hearing what you have to say.

Sincerely,

Letter to Robert F. Mueller and Michael B. Mukasey Re ACORN Voter Fraud

Robert F. Mueller,III, Director
Federal Bureau of Investigation
J. Edgar Hoover Building
935 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20535-0001

Michael B. Mukasey, Attorney General
U.S. Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20530-0001

Dear Messrs. Mueller and Mukasey:

There have been allegations on the Internet of an unusually high level of voter fraud associated with a group based in Chicago known as ACORN. For example, Pamela Geller of the Atlas Shrugs blog (http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/2008/09/acorn-and-obama.html) notes that in Illinois:

"Several municipal clerks across the state are reporting fraudulent and duplicate voter registration applications, most of them from a nationwide community activist group working to help low- and moderate-income families."

If ACORN is systematically committing voter fraud across the country, there would seem to be a number of federal crimes involved, to include racketeering.

I am sending you this letter to alert you to these allegations of potential criminality concerning voter fraud in this coming election cycle.

Sincerely,


Mitchell Langbert, Ph.D.
mlangbert@hvc.rr.com

Cc: Lynne A. McFarland, Inspector General
Federal Election Commission
999 E Street, NW, Washington, DC 20463