Salesmanship applied to foreign policy

There's an old salesman's trick that has worked effectively for decades and continues to work today.

I simply call it the "give it - take it back" technique. You start by giving someone something they might like to have. Then, you spend some time making them really want it. You detail all the benefits of your product, enhancing them every step of the way.

When your potential customer's mouth is really watering for your product, you regretfully take it away.

Let's say you are selling replacement windows. First visit with your customer to learn what they consider their problem... drafty windows; noisy neighborhood; windows that are hard to clean; windows easily opened from the outside; windows in need of constant maintenance. You agree that whatever they describe is, indeed, a major problem. Then you explain how your replacement window will completely solve that problem.

Together you have identified the customer's problem. Together you have solved that problem. Now it is time to withdraw that solution. You offer to measure your customer's windows, so you can quote them a price. You look at the first window, and your jaw drops. Suddenly you explain that you cannot replace their windows. Round top windows? Too costly to manufacture. Their window is too narrow. Their window is too wide. Their are any number of reasons that can sound plausible. You pick one.

Sadly you inform the customer you cannot help them. If you have done your job well, they are now begging for your window. You explain there is nothing you can do, but you are trying to think of a solution. It may take poring over your literature to come up with a slightly different design. It may take a phone call to your boss, to mine his brain for a solution.

Finally you "discover" a solution and with great joy you explain how this makes it even better because of this, and this, and that.

Now, mind you, it works as well in reverse. You might call it the acceptance of the lesser of two evils. You are managing a baseball team which is currently playing a tie game. Your opponent has a runner on third, and now their best hitter comes to the plate. This guy can smash the ball out of the park, which he does with regularity. Or, he can dribble a bunt down the third base line giving him time to race to first.

The lesser of two evils is the intentional walk. You put this guy on first, but without the RBI that would give them the lead.

Back to foreign policy. Vladimir Putin invades Crimea and annexes the peninsula into Russia. A clear violation of international law. This act causes a great deal of angst among Western nations. Then Putin masses huge numbers of Russian troops on the Ukrainian border raising fears of further Russian conquest. All sorts of sanctions are threatened against Russia.

Now, suppose Putin has a change of heart and withdraws his army from the Ukraine border. All those Western nations breathe a huge sigh of relief, and decide that they and Russia can again be BFF.

Crisis averted. Russia to stay out of Ukraine.

But, wait a minute... Russia keeps Crimea? (Thanks for the flexibility, President Obama!)

Advertising

Sixty five years ago this summer, I went on the payroll of a radio station. Since then, every paycheck I have earned was derived from advertising revenue.

The advertising industry has changed. One of the old-time advertising experts was once asked to define advertising. He said advertising is salesmanship in print! Excellent. Since his day, the print part has evolved, and I recently read a prediction that internet advertising would, this year, surpass TV in total revenue. I don't know, or even care, if that is true. But it is interesting.

Early in my career, newspapers were the advertising gorilla in the room. Then came radio, but radio never reached the volume of revenue of newspapers. I remember one year, in the early 1960s, when a small town (Rolla, MO, I think) radio station's revenue exceeded the revenue of that town's newspaper. All of us in radio wondered how that happened, and invited the station manager to speak at a radio convention to enlighten us.

The conclusion of his speech was that his station never forgot the salesmanship ingredient of their advertising. What are we selling, how you will benefit if you buy it, and, of course, where and when it is for sale. Facts.

When the introduction of the UHF band brought TV coverage to all of America, television replaced newspapers as the advertising giant . Now they say it is the internet.

Much has been written or said to demonize advertising, but still the public likes advertising. Advertising keeps the consumer informed as to what is available... what are the newest innovations, who is offering the best price, etc.

A problem for advertisers has always been clutter. When there are so many ads, how do you draw the consumer's attention to your ad. Everything has been tried. Color, music, and, more than anything,  pictures of pretty women. Here, in my opinion, some advertisers have done much better than others. Consider these two internet ads:

First is an ad for an outfit that sells T-Shirts with wacky imprints. This one reads, "I used to care. Now I take a pill for that"

Sounds pretty funny until you think about it. Does this mean she takes drugs to obliterate her cares?

In any event, the advertiser could have used a picture of a T-Shirt carefully laid out so you could read the imprint.

Instead, they chose to show one of their shirts on a model. Their choice of a photo is superb. Because the model looks very casual, very friendly, you can't help but look. She is wearing no jewelry, no adornments of any kind. Just that wacky T-Shirt and a pair of frayed shorts. And, she looks like she could no longer care. It all nicely ties together.

It is difficult to read the imprint on her T-shirt, but that hardly matters. With the magic of the internet, you can just mouse-click her picture and be transported to a web site that is a catalog of their many T-Shirt choices. It looks like fun and this ad makes you want to take a look, even though you are not necessarily in the market for silly T-Shirts



Next, I came across this ad, for some sort of sleep aid. It is obvious that this photo of a busty model was chosen to look sexy.

To this old man's eye, she looks neither sexy or sleep-inducing. Rather, she looks a bit like she is ready to fight.

Then, there is the copy... "One weird trick..." Perhaps, in this era of interest in zombies, "weird" is appealing. But I fail to see any connection between this model, weird tricks, and my wanting to fall asleep.

I would love to re-do this ad. But, it is said that every ad man always wants to re-write the other guy's copy.

And, of course, there is the overriding rule of all advertising: No matter how much you may know about advertising, or about your product or your market, the public will often surprise you. An ad should produce results, and the only sure test of an ad is to run it in some advertising medium to see how the public will react.

Advertisers with large budgets spend a lot of money on research, so maybe they do know what they are doing. Still I often watch a TV commercial and wonder what they are selling and why I should buy it.

Perry-Paul 2016

If someone printed a bumper sticker like that, I would proudly display it on my car. Or, if they made a yard sign like that, I would happily stick it in my front yard.

It takes a proven executive to run our country, and Governor Perry has proven himself to be the most successful governor in the U.S.

But, it also takes an understanding of Congress to operate a successful Administration. That's where Rand Paul comes in. And, Paul's Libertarian slant nicely balances Perry's Conservative bent.

Wow! What a successful combination they would be! Or, I'd settle for Perry-Rubio. Or, how about Perry-Lee? It couldn't be Perry-Cruz. Article II, Section I says they cannot be residents of the same state.

But, alas, the odds against any of those combinations of names being the Republican nominees in 2016 are slim. The American electorate has proven time and again that experience and administrative skill are not the qualities they seek in their president and vice-president. Personality. good looks and a smooth rhetoric are much to be preferred.

In the primary debates of 2012, Perry promised he would rid us of the Dept. of Education and the Dept. of Energy... but that was all
forgotten because he could not instantly remember the third Department he would axe.

Remember Ronald Reagan's promise not to use Mondale's youth and inexperience against him? If only John McCain would have thought of that in the 2008 debates. Or, when, in 2012, Obama quipped to Mitt Romney that the cold war had ended? If only Mitt had then pointed out Obama's total lack of understanding of U.S. Foreign Policy.

But, of course, either candidate would have been ripped by our liberal press.

Americans are slow learners. After the chaos of Nixon's Cambodia, Watergate cover-up, et al, the soft, reassuring voice of Jimmy Carter was so appealing. Even "Jimmy Carter", as opposed to "James Earl Carter", was a delight after "Richard Milhous Nixon". (Is there a Twitter shortcut for 'heavy sigh'?)

After the acrimony of such nonsense as "Bush lied, thousands died" a charismatic young black man seemed the answer. After the disaster of the Obama presidency, will America choose "the first woman president"? Or, will America choose the most-qualified executive to be our national C.E.O.?

Please, America. Give us Perry-Paul in 2016.

If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it,

people will eventually come to believe it.

 

That statement has been attributed to Nazi Propagandist Joseph Goebbels, and to others. None verified, to my knowledge. But it seems to be true.

 

Certainly we see everyday evidence that few people are fact-checkers, and will accept the validity of any statement that sounds plausible. Hollywood has found such joy in portraying business people in a bad light, the public generally accepts that business owners are greedy, stupid, or both.

 

Just today I heard a comment about the GOP being "useful idiots" for Corporate America. (Those evil corporations which have given us aircraft, automobiles, computers, and thousands of products in between; hundreds of thousands of good paying jobs with generous benefits; an opportunity for everyday people to invest.) 

 

Corporations, they argue, are interested in profits. Yes, they are, and must be. Without profits we would be denied innovative products, people would lose their jobs; investors would lose their investments.

Organized labor has steadfastly maintained a hostile relationship with management. No surprise that many union employees hate their job and their employer. Some years ago, a friend of mine who worked for Ford Motor Company, and who was deeply involved in union activities, spoke of his employer in this way: "Just wait until our next contract negotiation, we'll get those S.O.B.s." Those S.O.B.s!

 

During the prelude to The Great Depression, my father made a poor career choice and found himself with four young children, no job, no money and no place to live. When he did regain stable employment, he was so appreciative, I often heard him say things like, "If you work for a man; if he gives you the opportunity to put a roof over your family's heads, clothing on their backs and food on their table, then, work for that man!" Meaning, of course, to give him all the skill and the energy you agreed to swap for his paycheck.

 

In my father's way of thinking, taking a job - accepting employment - even without written contractual terms, is a promise to do something in return for something. Heaven forbid that a man should break his promise.

 

It goes on. Many in government have promoted big lies. Way back in the early part of the last century, President Woodrow Wilson said the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution were written for a different time, and were irrelevant to his day. Yeah, Mr. President, I guess "all men are created equal" is outdated. As is the concept of three, co-equal branches of government.

 

Sadly, our public education system has failed to prepare students to refute the big lies foisted upon them. Too many Americans are bereft of knowledge of how government should work, how business must work. Few people are familiar with the word sophistry, which refers to plausible but fallacious argumentation.

 

And we have failed in our families, failed to ingrain in our children the importance of honesty, integrity. I recently discovered that a merchant had failed to charge me for a service performed. When I pointed out the mistake, he was shocked and proceeded to tell me how rare it was for someone to point out a mistake that was in their favor. How sad.

 

The Ten Commandments have been written out in various ways, but number nine is generally accepted to mean "Do No Lie". But then, to many, those ancient rules are also considered irrelevant.

Time to get real.

In 1973, a radio station where I worked hired an artist to design some promotional material for the station. That artist drew a depiction of what he thought I looked like:

Okay, so I have used the drawing as my profile picture. Fair enough? Actually, his drawing was made from an earlier photograph:

You can judge the quality of his work. But, that was 40 years ago. It seems kind of silly to continue to use a 40-year-old drawing for my profile picture, so I changed it today: No more deejay. No more microphone. While I do occasionally record a commercial, I am more often found at my computer, so here is a more realistic picture of me, today: This is my new profile picture.

Actually, this picture is two years old. I don't have anything more recent. I was always the guy behind the camera, rarely in front.

Anyway, this looks more like an opinionated old man, which is what I profess to be.

Yes, that is a Livestrong bracelet on my right wrist. Recently I was examined by a doctor who was seeing me for the first time. He noted my bracelet and said he had not seen one of them for some time. Too bad.

I wear it to remind myself that my wife survived lung cancer 14 years ago. I need that reminder because she is, today, so full of joy and energy, it is hard to believe she once had an entire lobe of her left lung removed. And, I wear it out of appreciation to Lance Armstrong for all he has done to raise awareness for cancer research.

Finally, I wear it out of admiration for Armstrong as a cyclist. If, indeed, his blood enriching activity was legally prohibited, he should not have done it. If, indeed he was lying about that activity, that was wrong. But, if President Bill Clinton could argue about the definition of the word "is", surely Armstrong could argue as to whether what he was doing was really "doping".

In any event, that is not why he won the Tour de France seven times. He won because he had the will and determination to keep struggling on, all those many, many days of racing in heat and windy chill, sun and rain, uphill and down. He never quit. He was/is a true champion.

Yes, I m an old man. You decide if I am opinionated!

The Big Brother fix

Almost daily, I hear a TV commentator, or a politician, proclaim that Republicans cannot just say no to Obamacare... they must offer an alternative. Meaning, of course, another thousand page law that will give the government complete control. Obamacare II. Or, should we call it GOPcare I?

How many times must the Tea Party and other Republican Conservatives reiterate our desire for smaller government? How many times must we point out that we do not want the government to DO something big. We want the government to UNDO a lot of small things.

I just heard a report that we will be short 90,000 doctors. Why? One major reason is that the government has burdened the medical profession with non-medical nonsense. Another is that the government has facilitated malpractice lawsuits. Why would anyone want to endure the rigors of medical training, knowing they will spend a major part of their time and earnings complying with burdensome regulations... and knowing they could lose it all if some eloquent trial lawyer convinces a jury in favor of his client?

Another "unintended consequence" of possible malpractice lawsuits is that they force a doctor to take every possible step, in every diagnosis, for every patient. Doctors are forced to order expensive tests, possibly in spite of their better judgement. It they don't, and their diagnosis is even misinterpreted, they are sure to end up in court.

It is a simple truth that the more people an insurance company signs up, the better. Employer pools almost always offer great coverage for lower premiums, because the employer buys insurance for every employee.

Yet, the government interferes with that business. Allow insurance companies to sell across state lines, even international borders. Allow them to offer packages of coverage tailored specifically to the interests of the buyer. Want to sign up more young people? Allow them to buy a policy to cover only a catastrophic illness or accident. That could be a very low cost policy. And, it could be profitable for the insurance company because they would rarely pay benefits.

After all, we want insurance to cover something we could not cover ourselves. Why make people buy insurance to cover unlikely expenses? Or, expenses they can financially handle?

Government needs to stop piling on to the cost of medical care. The tax on medical devices is a display of ignorance. Not only does it make the cost of things like pacemakers higher, it discourages research and development. That could deprive us of newer and better technologies.

Republicans need to keep saying no to Obamacare and to every government encroachment upon the medical profession, the health insurance providers, and the manufacturers of all sorts of medical supplies and devices. They must not say yes to any new government laws, regulations or taxes. Please, not another big brother fix!

Of all sad words of tongue or pen

we all know that John Greenleaf Whittier proclaimed them to be "It might have been".

The older I become, the more I stand in awe of the Framers of the United States Constitution. How that group of men succeeded in writing out the supreme law of our land with such clarity, such brevity, such perfection, is truly the miracle of modern times.

How sad they would be, today, to see how Americans have attacked their work of perfection. How sad they would be to see how we have distorted the perfect plan they laid out for us. Surely they believed their Constitution was written without the need for change. And, but for the modern day fools seeking change, we well may say "It might have been".

Of course,  John Adams once made the comment that: “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” Could the American electorate have become an immoral people?

Or, could it be that our Constitution could not serve an ignorant people, meaning people who fail to keep themselves informed?

I did actual "Man On The Street" broadcasts on radio for years, beginning 65 years ago. I found that most people's minds were locked in on their individual lives, their personal problems, their families, and little else. But I was just trying to be friendly, ask opinions, and the like.

Today, "Man On The Street" wannnabes are out with microphone and camera, asking questions framed to prove people's disconnect with the world. One recent example was a questioner on a University campus asking students about The Bill Of Rights. Their ignorance of this important part of The Constitution was shocking.

Perhaps the saddest words are that we are failing to teach what students need to know to better their own lives and to preserve and protect this great nation

Elementary!

Sherlock Holmes, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's fictional detective, demonstrated that the truth can often be found with an analysis of the obvious.

We will surely never know the full truth about what has gone on behind the scenes at the White House, but we can certainly draw some likely conclusions from the obvious.

Let's analyze. A group of business types donate heavily to the Obama campaign. They then invest a sum, a few million perhaps, in building a facility to manufacture solar panels. They had to know they could not compete in the world market. As their venture's obvious failure began to materialize, the Obama Administration awarded them some $500 million, after which they promptly folded. Nor a bad deal for them!

As Obama's reelection neared, his campaign saw that ill-informed voters were still supporting their man, likely assuring his re-election... if only those pesky conservatives did not interfere. Suddenly, the IRS began stalling conservative groups tax-exempt status applications by virtue of long, tedious application requirements and intimidating actions such as audits. This denied the applying groups their source of funds, effectively keeping them silent until after the election.

The Obama Administration figured that if everyone in the nation bought health insurance, the pool of funds would be so large, it could easily cover the cost of care for every person. But, a certain percent of the population, for whatever motivation, will not buy health insurance. So, the government would demand that everyone participate. Then, those troublesome Supreme Court justices said they cannot do that.

So, the dream of an all-inclusive pool of insurance buyers failed. But, the Administration can't bear to give up that dream, so they keep trying to "fix" the law, or, at least hide the failure for another election or two.

The Obama Administration proclaimed "I'd like to teach the world to sing, in perfect harmony. A song of peace that echos on, and never goes away", and set in place a "be nice" foreign policy. Now we have lost Libya, Syria, Egypt (almost), Crimea, and, it would seem we are hell-bent on losing Israel.

We blame Obama, because his was the name on the ballot, but who is behind all this? Does a group of people meet and decide these policies? Does one person throw out an idea and others acquiesce?

We cannot know the answers... we cannot identify the dragon. But like the knights of lore, we know the cure, we must cut off the head of the dragon. We can accomplish that in one way, remove Obama from the White House. Expiration of term will certainly do the trick. Impeachment is the quicker, Constitutional way.

Made In America silliness

The U.S. military buys flags. Stars and Stripes. Lots of them. They fly over military installations, ships at sea, etc. News this week is that the military will now purchase flags only if they are 100% made in America... right down to the fiber, even the dyes that color them.

Of all the silly things I have ever heard, this easily rates as the silliest. More than that, I consider it a fraud against American taxpayers.

The military should set some standards as to quality of manufacture. We wouldn't want to fly a flag over a military base if the red, white and blue colors ran together in a sudden rain shower. Or, would we want those colors to fade. And the flag should stand up to wind and sun for some reasonable amount of time.

Then, we should seek the best price. If a manufacturer in Thailand or Brazil can produce the quality flag at a lower price, that is the one we should buy. This idea that buying only flags made in America will support American jobs is nonsense. It is just another taxpayer subsidy for American manufacturers and labor unions.

We fuss at the flow of foreigners into the U.S. Why, we ask, don't they stay at home and work to improve their own country? But if they do, we refuse to buy what they may manufacture - even if it is a better value!

Competition is good. And today, competition is and should be worldwide.

I bought a bunch of flags this past year. Very nice flags; embroidered stars, individually stitched stripes, bright colors. Great price. I have no idea where they were made, and I don't care. They look beautiful on my flagpole!

In 1934

a group called the Trinidadian Calypsonian Roaring Lion, recorded a song called "Ugly Woman". No, I do not remember that recording, just read about it. But, in 1963,a fellow named Jimmy Soul adapted the old song a bit and retitled it "If You Wanna Be Happy". Jimmy sang,

If you wanna be happy for the rest of your life,
Never make a pretty woman your wife,
So from my personal point of view,
Get an ugly girl to marry you.

The point of the lyric being, no one will try to steal an ugly girl.

But, of course, there is no such thing as an ugly girl. As Only In America author Harry Golden, "The Carolina Israelite" explained, the beauty of a woman is in the eye of a man. If a man loves a woman, she is beautiful. It doesn't matter what others see.

Then, again, everyone is beautiful in some way. Ray Stevens sang it, in 1971,

"And everybody's beautiful in their own way.
Under God's heaven, the world's gonna find the way."

I suppose you could also say everyone is ugly to someone. Watching TV recently, my wife suddenly remarked "That is the ugliest woman!". Oh! I hadn't noticed.

Depends on what you are conditioned to look for. If you are troubled by the size and shape of your own nose (which I am), and suddenly see someone's nose with an even more exaggerated size and shape, you think ugly.

Towards the end of Jimmy Soul's recording, a brief dialogue takes place between Soul and a backup singer, "Hey baby"/ "I saw your wife the other day."/ "Yeah??"/ "Yeah, and she's ugly-y-y-y-y!!!"/ "Yeah, she's ugly, but she sure can cook, baby"

There are other ways to be beautiful.