Don't fall into their trap; Don't cede an INCH of Ground!!!

Sparkly

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Sun Jul-23-06 09:26 PM
Original message

Don't fall into their trap; Don't cede an INCH of Ground!!!

Edited on Sun Jul-23-06 09:29 PM by Sparkly

What has the rightwing done to my party??

Beyond what they’ve done to my country, I’m aghast to see what they’ve done to my party, at least among some at the grassroots.

Think of statements like these:

“I love America.”
“I support our troops.”
“Our flag means something to me.”
“We have a right to defend ourselves.”
“We need to protect our interests abroad.”
“A strong military is important.”
“I’m patriotic.”
“America needs security.”
“Moral values matter.”
“I do not advocate killing babies.”
“I’m not against Christians.”
"I value life."

Do you have ANY problem agreeing with any of those statements?? If so, to paraphrase another famous phrase, “The rightwing fascists have won.”

If you even hesitate, they’ve gained ground.

Because that is exactly where they want us – afraid to say such things (or fly our flags, or sing our national anthem, or put up our Christmas crèches, or defend capitalism, etc. etc.) all from fear that such things will be “misinterpreted” as meaning what THEY want to claim they mean.

When did we cede so much ground to them??

When did our party get this knee-jerk reaction to all things patriotic, military, in “our interests,” related to "moral values," etc.? When did all of this become synonymous with rightwing neo-con BushCo fundi-fascism??

In terms of national zeitgeist and foreign policy, I often wonder whether there’s a romantic vision of the 1960s younger people are trying to recapture – wherein peace and love ALONE can truly solve the problems of the world. The idealist view of my childhood was that violence begets violence; peace begets peace. So all we have to do is be nice, oppose all war (and maybe accessorize with beads and flowers), and everything will be fine.

It’s a beautiful thought, but it’s naïve. And it’s something the rightwing “social conservatives” have worked tirelessly for 35+ years to solidify as a Democratic position – weak, naïve, anti-American, immoral, dangerous and even evil hedonist “liberalism.” (How else could a chickenhawk deserter have come CLOSE to defeating a war hero from the Vietnam era? They played their cards to the hilt and drove home all their myths, and then some. People like John Kerry and Wesley Clark are their worst threats, because they have the potential to annihilate the firmament of their rhetorical machinery.)

Instead of fighting the stereotype as it’s grown stronger, it seems many sincere, caring liberals are falling right into it, marching to THEIR drums, at their beat, in their direction.

It has reached the point, I was amazed to discover, that many DUers don’t think there’s an obvious, simple answer to the question: “Does Israel have a right to defend itself?” (I only wish I’d asked, “Does the US have a right to defend itself?” But I didn’t realize we were so far gone that even that is now in question!)

To obvious questions, there really ARE obvious answers.

NO, we don’t kill babies.
YES, we love our country.
NO, we don’t hate Christians.
YES, we (and Israel) have a right to defend ourselves.

You can go on to discuss what you/they mean by “babies,” "love," “our country,” “Christians,” and “defense,” etc… But for God’s sake, don’t let them push us into a corner where we’re so afraid of ceding rhetorical ground, we surrender EVERYTHING -- allowing them to frame every word, phrase, and meaning, and ending up SO “wishy-washy” that we can’t even say we believe we need military strength, or we don’t believe in killing babies.

This forced ambiguity – a defensive reaction to their machinery that leads us straight into their trap – is a growing problem. We saw it in the run-up to our 2004 convention, when the DNC announced plans for lots of flag-waving, patriotism, and funny hats. (“What?!? Republicans do flag-waving, patriotism, and funny hats – that’s THEIRS, we can’t ‘imitate them!’”)

We saw it when Nancy Pelosi chided a fellow representative about the “Under God” part of the pledge of allegiance (a phrase I’m against, btw) and caught hell for it; we saw it when Democrats went against flag-burning, and were demonized for it; we see it all the time in knee-jerk distrust of retired military brass, parsing every word they say; we see it in the automatic dismissal of everything the DLC says, and automatic acceptance of everything anti-Bush nutcases say (Ramsey Clarke, for example).

The rightwing could not have orchestrated a better march in their direction if they’d done “Manchurian” brainwashing!

Please, THINK – don’t just react to them!! Don’t automatically take a stance “against” whatever it is they want us to take a stance against – they can play with us like toys that way. Every time they make you want to react, think twice or three times about HOW you choose to react. Sometimes it’s better to take the energy of their blows and turn them back on them, rather than fire the shot and resort to the position they intended.

Don’t cede an inch of ground by buying into their forced ambiguities. Maintain the clarity of our own words, meanings, and beliefs.

Don’t morph into what they want us to be out of reactive fervor. Maintain the clarity of a realistic perspective, knowing “what is,” “what should be,” AND “what is possible.”

Don’t back down, step aside, or “qualify” ANYthing based on what THEY do or say. Maintain the ground of our convictions, the courage to stake claim to them, and the voice to state them clearly and unambiguously without fear of THEIR definitions, memes, myths and lies.

Let the audience hear proud LIBERALS saying the things I mentioned above. THAT is what challenges their new status quo, not backing down from fear they’ll “misinterpret” or assume we’re somehow backing BushCo by embracing the values, common sense, sense of reality, and strength that are our own.

This is OUR ground. Don't cede an INCH of it!!