Liberals are so Mung

I've been trying to write about this for a while, with a few false starts. I generally get caught up trying to run down every tangent that comes to mind and end up with a complete mess. I figure I'll try to keep it to the facts and see if I can at least get the bare bones out there.

The thing I've noticed since grade school, back in the days of Gingrich, was the way the Republicans got away with repurposing words to their advantage. "Liberal" became a slur, "Socialism" became an argument in and of itself (last paragraph of the article), and recently "Nancy Pelosi" has become an... ideology? I'm not sure what to make of that last one and I doubt most Republicans could help me out; it's generally attached as an adjective to some piece of legislation without explication or comment. Democrats do not attempt to counter this, either by fighting fire with fire - associating Republican words with negative connotations - or just tagging Liberal words with positive ones.

In this way, the words that we use to define ourselves on the left take on meanings that were not originally contained in the words themselves, and it becomes impossible to have a balanced debate in which competing viewpoints are held up as equally worthy. It is as though the word "harass," "terrorize" or "molest" was the only word used to describe the intended effect of a Democratic ad on a Republican incumbent's poll numbers by the media. There will be no way to discuss the ad or it's effects without casting an aspersion, however slight on the Democrat. I'd draw a parallel to 1984, but I imagine we're all intelligent enough to make this leap on our own.

By claiming "our" words, and choosing a new meaning for them, they leave us effectively mute, or at least in the position of a puppet, the content of our message decided by the people most interested in blocking them. They no longer need to defeat us in the open market of ideas, because we now have nothing to offer. Instead we have Mondale riding a tank, Al Gore desperately agreeing with Bush, or John Kerry blasting away at ducks, all in an attempt to not appear, "liberal". A word that used to mean free, open, progressive now stands for decadent, effete, godless. You can kid yourself that only Republicans buy this malarkey, but when was the last time you heard the "L" word out of a politician on the left. More importantly, when s/he said it was it used casually to complete a sentence, or make a defiant "hell yes I'm a liberal, so what?" statement in and of itself? Perhaps I'm insane and seeing danger where none exists, but this frankly terrifies me.

Obviously it is not just that one word, but I can't go example by example without repeating myself, since it's just the same damn thing over and over. Nancy Pelosi is vilified, giving Republicans an excuse not to explain why they oppose some popular and crucial piece of legislation. Universal health care is called socialism, and thus the argument is over. Socialism is not refuted, or even addressed, and listeners are quite pointedly expected to know why health care is socialism, and why socialism is bad, and if they don't that it's so self-evident they should not question it for fear of looking stupid.

I'm not saying that Democrats should fight fire with fire. It's not about scoring points, or picking up seats in the house. It's about shepherding our country into the future in the most intelligent way possible. The only way that can be done is to call attention to the fact that the right's message is all surface, and no substance. There's no way to argue with what's said between the lines, or refute a tone of voice. The only way to keep them from getting away with this is for Democrats, or the moderators of the talk shows where these kind of things get said, to call out exactly what's happening. Stop the debate cold and demand explanations of what is said when a Republican drops a glib, contentless retort. This changes the topic of the discussion to the discussion itself, but it needs to happen and it needs to happen every time it occurs until this stops. The right hasn't got a message, and they need to be exposed as such. Instead the Democrats spend all their time shadowboxing an empty message made up of insinuations and getting nowhere, or worse, giving in and trying to fit their message around what words are left them. Just by making anyone on the left refer to themselves as a "Moderate" or "Centrist" rather than "Liberal" to be taken seriously, Republicans reel in half the rope in the tug of war of politics.

And yes, I'm quoting South Park in my "serious, heavy handed" blog. Go eat a dick.