2025, Vol. 7, Issue 10, Part A

With the left-right political spectrum debunked as a myth (Lewis & Lewis 2022), what system should academics use to measure polarization? It is the principal claim of the Freedom Grift Hypothesis that political polarization is the result of a manufactured divide between Reality No 1 (R1-the Constitution is the sovereign and the government serves the people) and Reality No 2 (R2-the citizens are sovereign and the government is their enemy), and the catalyst driving polarization is susceptibility to manipulation. This exploratory study applied Information Manipulation Theory (McCornack 1992) to reveal hidden messages within conservative messaging. These messages were interpreted and incorporated into a strategy exercise (i.e., a wargame) and presented to 10 participants; five Republicans and a control group. Pilot data from subject responses and media analysis of public figure political discourse showed that people in R2 will believe the citizen is sovereign and the government is their enemy, but without realizing it themselves, and will respond with grief, shock, disorganization, and cognitive dissonance.