A Conspiracy in Politics

Matthews relates a myriad of examples of how some of today's most successful politicians rose to the top. The successful politicians are those who learned how to play hardball. They learnt that there were other people besides themselves on the playing field and that when you throw ball in the game of politics, someone is going to be on the other side to catch it and throw it back, and you must be ready for it. This is perhaps most evident in the section of the book called ''Enemies,'' where Matthews describes "the rule of power: Keep your enemies in front of you,'' as President Reagan did by appointing James A. Baker his first White

In his book Hardball, Chris Matthews discusses the useful strategies for getting ahead in politics that he observed during his time working in Washington, D.C. He breaks up his observations into chapters with different lessons. Three of the most important lessons are “It's Not Who You Know; It's Who You Get to Know,” (Chapter 1) “All Politics is Local,” (Chapter 2) and “Dance With the One That Brung Ya.” (Chapter 4). These chapters illustrate how important making and keeping connections and relationships is in Washington. The “game of politics” is played by using these relationships to gain favors, votes, support, etc. According to Matthews, the people who get ahead are the ones who make and keep these important connections and relationships with other politicians and the public.

The best politicians out there, are often not the ones that have the best ideas, but rather the ones that can trick and then steal the hearts of their audiences. The people of the world will often support and vote for the candidate with the story that impacts them the most. The stories the candidates say may often not be true, this is what Hedges’ meant when he said that “the most essential skill…. Is artifice.”

Since the disappearance of the Prime Minister, Harold Holt in 1967, numerous conspiracy theories have evolved surrounding the nature and circumstances of the event. Some believe that Mr. Holt was simply another victim of the sea while others are convinced that Holt faked his own death to flee with his lover, or think that Holt was a taken by a Chinese submarine. These and many more theories continue to exist and circulate some 48 years later.

The United States has experienced fundamental changes that are dramatically detrimental to democracy. Voters’ ability to define political discourse has been so diminished that even decisive election results like Barack Obama’s in 2012 have little impact. That’s because powerful interests — freed to, in effect, buy elections, unhindered by downsized and diffused media that must rely on revenue from campaign ads — now set the rules of engagement. Lobbying involves working to bring pressure to bear on policy makers to gain favorable policy outcomes. In order to accomplish their goals, interest groups develop a strategy or plan of action and execute it through specific tactics. The particular strategies developed and the specific tactics used, however, vary widely both among and within political

Hardball by Chris Matthews is an interpretation of what many know as “hard-politics”. The book describes the skill of playing the game in Washington and how to be successful at it. The book is a guide that teaches a series of maxims that would be in favor of politicians to learn in order to be successful. The different tactics provided in the book hold a lot of knowledge that would make the life of anyone following these strategies much easier when trying to get ahead in life. Matthews describes a countless number of examples of successful politicians that rose to the top. Those politicians are the ones who learned how to play hardball in Washington.

Before the settlers landed in Jamestown, The Indians occupied the land and lived there for centuries. They were the first people to arrive in Jamestown. Some say there were 25,000 Indians; others say around 50,000 of the American natives, who lived on the land. There were about thirty different tribes whom the powhatan chiefdom took charge. However, each tribe had their own chief. In time there would be a change; King James 1 of England granted for another colony to be established under the Virginia Company of London which consisted of many wealthy Englishmen who wanted to invest their money into the company. They expected to

J. Patrick Dobel, in Public Integrity, argues that political prudence provides a basic ethical resource for public officials. Prudence means to see ahead and the ability to think clearly before one acts. An individual needs to think about the short and long-term consequences of their actions. Political prudence is attached to excellent achievement in politics, which consists of outcomes that “gain legitimacy, endure over time, strengthen the political community, unleash minimum unforeseen consequences, require reasonable use of power resources and do not require great violence or coercion to enforce the outcome,” (Dobel p. 199). In addition, a prudent leader needs to be open to experience and knowledge, (Dobel p. 211).

“All contributions by corporations to any political committee or for any political purpose should be forbidden by law” This quote from Theodore Roosevelt illustrates how corporate money can be disastrous when involved in election cycles. Unfortunately, this is not the case. The Supreme Court decided in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission that companies and Super PAC’s could donate unlimited amount of money to support candidates. The Citizens United ruling has caused increased political corruption in the United States by giving candidates the money they need to win an election while changing policies that would be beneficial to the company.

It doesn’t matter how much experienced you’ve stocked on a resume. Getting ahead is sometimes falsely claiming to care for other concerns in order to gain the support of others. Yes, I agree that networking is an important aspect to get ahead in life. Many people I’ve met have emphasized that in order to be successful, one must network. I’m glad to know that Matthews took the risk of knocking on many top politicians’ doors in order to seek job opportunities, and I’m also glad that he took a lesson in starting from a smaller position than just sprinting to the top. A lot of people are desperate for a reward, but what they don’t realize is that it takes years to get to that destination. I’m satisfied with the majority of the content in this chapter; however, I would never waste my time trying to win the support of another politician in order for me to sympathize with a preoccupation I do not care for at

Conspiracy is a historical reenactment of the Wannsee Conference that convened outside Berlin in January of 1942. Fifteen of Hitler’s top officials from the SS and Nazi party held a clandestine meeting to lay the groundwork for what was referred to as the “Final Solution of the Jewish Question”. Among those present were: Reinhard Heydrich - Heinrich Himmler’s right hand man in the SS, Heinrich Muller – Chief of the Gestapo, Martin Luther – Foreign Ministry’s liaison to the SS, Gerhard Klopfer – lawyer from the Nazi Party Chancellery, Friedrich Wilhelm Kritzinge - Deputy head of the Reich Chancellery, Wilhem Stuckart – lawyer representing the Interior Ministry and the co-author of the Anti-Semitic Nuremburg laws.

A group of people using religion to manipulate the masses to oppose another grouping of people based on their own interpretation of faith; the conspiracy of organized religion is controlled, it is an easy way to take a group of people with like-minded beliefs group them together and manipulate them for an ulterior goal; our only goal should be to exist as good people and essentially that is what the core of all these faiths tell you but organized religion has taken that goal and twisted it for human made selfish ambitions of greed and power.

The Party is a crocodile farm. The leader has the biggest jaws. “House of Cards” by Michael Dobbs is a book you will definitely like if you meet the following four conditions: You are convinced that politics is dirty business. You think that elections are for dummies and electoral polls – a grand scheme.

Spats between politicians can sometimes make us lose interest in even the most important issues. We need to pay close attention to the ramifications the next generation of change will bring to our lives.

Political corruption has existed throughout the ages. It believed to be most prominent in positions of power, because of the role money plays in getting people power. However, over the centuries, corruption has changed so much so as to not match a particular definition of corruption, perpetually growing deceptively harder to find (Ebbe).