In Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking Glass, Humpty Dumpty and Alice have a classic exchange on words and their meaning.
“I don’t know what you mean by ‘glory,’?” Alice said.
Humpty Dumpty smiled contemptuously. “Of course you don’t – till I tell you. I meant ‘there’s a nice knock-down argument for you!’?”
“But ‘glory’ doesn’t mean ‘a nice knock-down argument’,” Alice objected.
“When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean – neither more nor less.”
“The question is,” said Alice, “whether you can make words mean so many different things.”
“The question is,” said Humpty Dumpty, “which is to be master – that’s all.”
Redefining meaning is what liberals do consistently, especially when facts fail them and public opinion isn’t polling on their side.
Take the phrase “Tea Party.” In the current political environment liberals have consistently painted the Tea Party as antiquated extreme right wing, overzealous, redneck birthers who love God and guns but hate gays, minorities and the poor, who seek to obstruct government at every level, and who simply don’t know a dang thing about how politics work.
Admittedly, some in the Tea Party have brought such a mantle on themselves.
However, what Democrats are doing is labeling any principled stance against the actions of liberalism as Tea Party politics merely to soil any debate and win the PR battle. Just look at the rhetoric flying around this past weekend following the Congressional Republicans stand against Obamacare. You would think the Tea Party was running Congress if you listened to Democrats (by the way, they aren’t no matter how much some would like to think otherwise).
So why are Democrats throwing the Tea Party moniker around so flippantly? A majority of Americans aren’t engaged in political discourse, meaning when they do catch a glimpse of a news story it is likely skewed by Democrats’ mainstream media friends and as we’ve seen they enjoy labels and divisive rhetoric, and the Tea Party is an easy target.
Liberals also know Tea Partiers are a loose knit group, for the most part, with many offshoots and little direct political experience. They hope by throwing a bone at them someone will make a misstep, giving liberals even more fodder.
Mississippi Democrat Party Chairman Rickey Cole got into the act this weekend, taking a page from his national counterparts, attempting to raise money by painting the Tea Party as in control in the Mississippi Legislature calling them “nuts.”
His recent email to Democrats reads:
Friends,
Mississippi Tea Party leaders (formerly known as Mississippi republicans) have already made it clear with their actions that they are driven by their radical ideologies that represent the fringe of society. Now they aren’t even scared to admit it. Tea Party house speaker Philip Gunn said this week that his job wasn’t to look after our citizens. Apparently these nuts would like to privatize law enforcement and emergency assistance along with Medicare and Social Security.
Enough is enough. Mississippi can’t afford to be set back any further. Democrats are organized, energized, and ready to beat these Tea Party nuts. We have the projects and programs in place to win. Chip in $10, $20, or whatever you can today to help sustain our momentum.
Rickey
Democrats are good at deflecting and distracting by redirecting attention from the issues at hand, finding an emotional tie and exploiting it to the nth degree. They find the fringe and feed on it. They have a base that easily buys in to what they sell without questioning the party leadership, and the UIVs (uninformed, uninvolved voters), well they take the bait every time because liberals find ways to connect amidst the spin.
A majority of voters are malleable, and liberals know how to mold them. They have thicker wool than conservatives.
Republicans on the other hand, for the most part, aren’t as gullible. Heck, most of us are downright stubborn, and proud of it. Conservatives don’t check their independence at the door when affiliated with a political party; they ask questions, voice their opinions, and don’t fear potentially dividing their party if their principles aren’t upheld. Hence there is less party loyalty and more chance of not presenting a unified front on even the most core conservative issues because somebody somewhere has a different way to eat an elephant. Conservative politics is about principles and strategy and often we forget about the connectivity portion of the equation.
And that’s what has brought us to where we are today, both in Mississippi and America.
Democrats say they celebrate diversity but try stepping out of line and see what vitriol liberals hurl your way. Just ask Brown Miller in Hattiesburg.
It is Republicans that should capitalize on the diversity of thought within politics but instead we mirror liberals and demonize what comes natural to us stubborn Grand Ole Partiers, that of following our principles and taking a stand on them no matter the costs or criticism.
Because you see, contrary to what liberals would have you believe, there is still such a thing as taking a principled stand, not for future electoral success or to gain a headline, but to make a difference on a matter that your soul will not otherwise allow you rest if you do not stand up and fight the good fight.
Republicans must find ways to unite such passions and cultivate the gusto of many in the conservative movement. We can’t be as thin skinned as our brothers across the aisle and can’t snipe fellow conservatives. We must let Democrats be the Humpty Dumptys they are, content to redefine meaning when it suits them while scoffing at those that question their intelligence.
If conservatives don’t figure out how to herd their own cats now they won’t be able to pick up the pieces when liberals fall off the wall, and they will.
Magnolia Tribune
