|
These days, when I gripe about the Right, or speak in general political terms, I no longer label the opposition as "the conservatives," but instead refer to them as "the Republicans." This is because I have so rarely seen or heard an actual conservative on television or the radio that I wonder if they are nearly extinct.
Politically speaking, the great majority of people in the United States can be broken down into four groups: Democrats, liberals, Republicans, and conservatives. Liberals and conservatives are people who hold a general philosophy about what our society should be and the role of our government. Democrats and Republicans are partisans, who consider party loyalty more important than their own views (that is, if they are cognitive enough to have their own views).
Remember what conservatives believed? Sure, the social conservatives always wanted to ban abortions and gay marriage and economic conservatives always wanted to empower the rich and corporations at the expense of everyone else with a faulty expectation of "trickle-down" economics. But what about the conservative desires for small and limited government? A balanced budget? And "keeping the government out of the lives of ordinary citizens?" That was the good stuff!
The people currently running our government are about as conservative as they are liberal. No, the people running our government are not conservative, they're Republican. And these Republicans lack the cushy philosophy of anything resembling traditional conservatism. They have one belief: Power.
If they actually believed in banning gay marriage, why would they only bring it up in an election year? Sure, they enrich the wealthy and corporations in extreme fashion, but not for any philosophy. They know that a substantial percentage of those riches will be reinvested into the Republican Party as a means to retain and extend their power.
And what is conservative about the biggest and growing government debt in the history of the country? What is conservative about unwarranted spy operations against Americans? What is conservative about imprisonment without trial? And signing laws enacted by Congress with legal gymnastics designed to exempt the Executive? Starting a war and lying in order to do it? Spreading taxpayer-funded covert propaganda in the form of fake news reports? Outing a CIA agent as a means to stifle dissent from within? And not to mention the legal declaration that the Executive knows no limits to its power as long as the Executive considers the nation to be at war? No laws bind them, they say. The Constitution becomes meaningless and international treaties become "quaint." We should be begging for a conservative government when compared to what we have now.
So, what happened to this once proud group of people, the conservatives? How did the Church of Republicanism convert so many of them into their brainless cult? The answer seems clear: The most effective media machine in the history of democracy.
Repetition. Fear. Scapegoating. Anything in the news having even the slightest resemblance to facts or journalism is attacked as "liberal bias" again, and again, and again, until one day people start to believe it. And soon only the most partisan Republican nonsense is accepted by the trained public as "fair and balanced" news. Their intellect is eroded through repetition of simple phrases and their emotions are kept high with fear and scapegoating to prevent rational thought.
In another universe of possibility, could this have happened to us? The liberals? And perpetrated by the Democrats? It's possible. But for whatever reason, we have been spared the kind of mind rape that has been unleashed on the once proud conservative American. But in the process, we sacrificed our power. How can the Democrats possibly compete with the trained loyalty of the Republican Party? Liberals and disillusioned Democrats may feel inclined to withhold support for our politicians whenever we dislike their performance or disagree with their vision. The Republicans have no such weakness. Their electorate will support them at the expense of their own views, whatever is left of them.
The only hope the Democrats have to regain control without perpetrating the same crimes against the brains of their electorate is to crack the spell of Republicanism. In the world of cults, this is called "deprogramming." Cult followers are removed from their brainless routine and presented evidence of the cult's wrongdoing in the hopes they will "awaken" and begin to think clearly again.
It's up to us. Democrats and liberals are more and more allied in the mission to deprogram the American people. You can hear it in their speeches in the Capitol when criticizing Republican talking points turned Congressional legislation. While the Republicans are controlled from the top-down, we on the Left are more and more controlling the Democrats from the bottom-up.
Let's keep pushing our party to do what's right while we engage our Republican friends and family in the hopes of deprogramming them and restoring them to proud conservatives, conservatives with whom we will disagree on many issues, but at least be comforted by the fact that they are their own people, and no longer the useful idiots trained to support a party diametrically opposed to their own beliefs.
If poll numbers are any indication, we are beginning to have some success. But we cannot rest for one second or the forces pushing against us will steamroll us into another defeat this November.
So let's get to work.
|
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
