The Parable of the Three Leaders

One day while teaching, Josh was asked, ”Teacher, every year the organizers of the Eurovision Song Contest insist that the music is what matters in the voting, and every year the voting is political; how can this be remedied?”

Josh spoke thus:

Three leaders were sitting and discussing elections.

“The demographics are changing,” one leader said.

“Populations are always changing,” the second leader said, “The trick is to change with the demographics.”

“Changing can’t be the trick,” the first leader said, “Changing means deserting your core principles.”

“You don’t have to desert your core principles,” the second leader said, “You just have to convince people that you’ve changed your core principles.  You mold your image to reflect what people want to see.”

“That’s dishonest,” the first leader said.

“It’s not dishonest,” the second leader said, “It’s superficial.  All elections are superficial.  You tell people what they care about, and by telling them what they care about, you control what they talk about.”

“And if you control what they talk about,” the first leader said, “Then you control how they talk about it.”

“And by controlling how they talk about it, you control the outcome,” the second leader said.

“I like it,” the first leader said, “But what if they don’t go along?  What if no matter how well you shape the issues, you can’t avoid that one issue they care about that they disagree with you about?”

“Then you convince them not to vote,” the second leader said.

“You keep them from the polls?” the first leader asked.

“They keep themselves from the polls,” the second leader said, “It’s illegal to keep them from the polls.”

“So why do they keep themselves from the polls?” the first leader asked.

“You muddy up the politics so much that they become cynical,” the second leader said, “You convince them that all politicians are uncaring and incompetent.  You convince them that their vote won’t change anything.  You convince them that it’s too difficult and too unimportant to go to the polls.”

“And there’s gerrymandering!” the first leader said, “If you engineer the districts, you can guarantee that your candidates will win.”

“But gerrymandering can mean primary challenges by extremists,” the second leader said, “And you can’t control extremists.  Extremists are poison.”

“That’s a problem,” the first leader said, “Extremists are the problem.”
“You two are such amateurs,” the third leader said, “You want to control an election?  I’ll show you how to control an election.  Look out the window.”

The first leader and the second leader looked out the window.  The street was filled with armored vehicles and troops.

“That is how you control an election,” the third leader said, “You two are under arrest.”