Ultimate 'positive thinking' scheme goes bust
Stephen Stone, RenewAmerica President
About three years ago, a graduate of Brigham Young University — a large Mormon institution heavily populated by "positive-thinking" returned LDS missionaries (see last week's column) — said he was dissatisfied with politics as usual, and undertook to create a "one-stop political website" that would effectively and reliably educate voters.
The result? An ambitious project named VoteiQ.com, based in Gig Harbor, WA, that was launched in the spring of 2010.
The site — billed as a "nonpartisan," "unbiased" solution to the confusing world of politics — was designed to help voters inform themselves and interact in a social networking format.
It was planned to be Facebook, Twitter, and Google all in one, said its founder, James Tisch.
This seemingly commendable venture, unfortunately, set sail under a partially-hidden red flag. Close examination revealed it was overrun with liberal/progressive insiders, lobbyists, and consultants, and appeared more a naive dream of its founder than an attainable reality (as we might expect from sky-is-the-limit, management-style "positive thinking").
Worse, it appeared to have a deliberately-hidden agenda — one that contradicted the site's claims of strict neutrality — steering users in subtly-controlling directions and offering less than accurate, helpful information.
After RenewAmerica extensively researched the site, uncovering disturbing facts withheld from viewers despite the site's claim of transparency, we concluded the site was meant not only to nudge voters Leftward, but to undermine and implicitly counter the spontaneous grassroots Tea Party movement — offering in its place a top-down, manipulative, liberal-establishment alternative.
Its creators evidently envisioned a thriving political clearinghouse that would advance big-government, progressive solutions in a way that would produce a powerful voting bloc.
Among the establishment insiders on board as advisers were a political strategist from the 2008 Romney campaign who oversaw the campaign's "digital strategy," Mindy Finn; Democrat guru James Carville; radically-liberal actor Richard Dreyfuss; Jimmy Carter's main speechwriter, James Fallows; National Endowment for the Humanities advocate Lynn Munson; and journalist Rick Perlstein, author of How the Democrats Can Once Again Become America's Dominant Political Party.
Exposé
When it became clear Vote iQ was not what it purported to be, we ran an exposé of the website and its principal figures, with an invitation for
I ran across our earlier research on Vote iQ the other day, and wondered how this preposterous experiment in "grassroots" liberalism was faring. The URL still works, I discovered, but there's not even a hint of the previous extensive content, just a blank page.
I did a little Googling and found nothing current regarding the site. I tried looking up things by clicking the various links we'd included with our original piece. Nothing. Again, the site URL works, but nothing else appears — and there are no internal pages.
It brings to mind what Jesus said of those who, "taking thought," believe they can — by the power of positive affirmation — bring to fruition "whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe." (See Matt. 6:27).
The site was, by all indications, a flop.
Balance such futile "self-actualization" with Christ's promise that through faith in God, "all things are possible" (Matt. 19:26). Of course, for God to condescend to intervene in our lives and undertakings, we usually need to be firmly pursuing a course that's pleasing to Him.
In politics, it should be obvious, we can't expect God to endorse what we do if we're not painstakingly honest and ethical, living in strictest harmony with His written Word, as best as we are able, with His help. He certainly is not likely to sustain anything we do that's deceptive, deceitful, or disrespectful of people's divinely-given rights — nor is He likely to be pleased if we willfully support such things.
There's a sermon in there for any who have ears to hear and hearts open to "inconvenient truth" this disconcerting election cycle.
Take a look at our critique
If this article piques your curiosity about the website at issue — VoteiQ.com — be sure to read our Nov. 1, 2010, critique of the site: "'Nonpartisan' Vote iQ — the establishment's answer to Tea Parties?"
© Stephen Stone
October 29, 2012
About three years ago, a graduate of Brigham Young University — a large Mormon institution heavily populated by "positive-thinking" returned LDS missionaries (see last week's column) — said he was dissatisfied with politics as usual, and undertook to create a "one-stop political website" that would effectively and reliably educate voters.The result? An ambitious project named VoteiQ.com, based in Gig Harbor, WA, that was launched in the spring of 2010.
The site — billed as a "nonpartisan," "unbiased" solution to the confusing world of politics — was designed to help voters inform themselves and interact in a social networking format.
It was planned to be Facebook, Twitter, and Google all in one, said its founder, James Tisch.
This seemingly commendable venture, unfortunately, set sail under a partially-hidden red flag. Close examination revealed it was overrun with liberal/progressive insiders, lobbyists, and consultants, and appeared more a naive dream of its founder than an attainable reality (as we might expect from sky-is-the-limit, management-style "positive thinking").
Worse, it appeared to have a deliberately-hidden agenda — one that contradicted the site's claims of strict neutrality — steering users in subtly-controlling directions and offering less than accurate, helpful information.
After RenewAmerica extensively researched the site, uncovering disturbing facts withheld from viewers despite the site's claim of transparency, we concluded the site was meant not only to nudge voters Leftward, but to undermine and implicitly counter the spontaneous grassroots Tea Party movement — offering in its place a top-down, manipulative, liberal-establishment alternative.Its creators evidently envisioned a thriving political clearinghouse that would advance big-government, progressive solutions in a way that would produce a powerful voting bloc.
Among the establishment insiders on board as advisers were a political strategist from the 2008 Romney campaign who oversaw the campaign's "digital strategy," Mindy Finn; Democrat guru James Carville; radically-liberal actor Richard Dreyfuss; Jimmy Carter's main speechwriter, James Fallows; National Endowment for the Humanities advocate Lynn Munson; and journalist Rick Perlstein, author of How the Democrats Can Once Again Become America's Dominant Political Party.
Exposé
When it became clear Vote iQ was not what it purported to be, we ran an exposé of the website and its principal figures, with an invitation for
-
...interested Tea Partiers to do all they can to steer the site, and its fledgling Facebook page, toward the kinds of truthful information and desirable outcomes that are essential to keeping America free, godly, and materially viable in the critical days ahead.
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The site's overseers need to drop all dreams of transforming politics in America through orchestrating "technology" or the internet. Much better to let Americans themselves decide what they want out of government, in a climate of truly objective discourse.
I ran across our earlier research on Vote iQ the other day, and wondered how this preposterous experiment in "grassroots" liberalism was faring. The URL still works, I discovered, but there's not even a hint of the previous extensive content, just a blank page.
I did a little Googling and found nothing current regarding the site. I tried looking up things by clicking the various links we'd included with our original piece. Nothing. Again, the site URL works, but nothing else appears — and there are no internal pages.
It brings to mind what Jesus said of those who, "taking thought," believe they can — by the power of positive affirmation — bring to fruition "whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe." (See Matt. 6:27).The site was, by all indications, a flop.
Balance such futile "self-actualization" with Christ's promise that through faith in God, "all things are possible" (Matt. 19:26). Of course, for God to condescend to intervene in our lives and undertakings, we usually need to be firmly pursuing a course that's pleasing to Him.
In politics, it should be obvious, we can't expect God to endorse what we do if we're not painstakingly honest and ethical, living in strictest harmony with His written Word, as best as we are able, with His help. He certainly is not likely to sustain anything we do that's deceptive, deceitful, or disrespectful of people's divinely-given rights — nor is He likely to be pleased if we willfully support such things.
There's a sermon in there for any who have ears to hear and hearts open to "inconvenient truth" this disconcerting election cycle.
Take a look at our critique
If this article piques your curiosity about the website at issue — VoteiQ.com — be sure to read our Nov. 1, 2010, critique of the site: "'Nonpartisan' Vote iQ — the establishment's answer to Tea Parties?"
© Stephen Stone
