July 12th, 2006 | by christine |
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5 Myths That Serve The GOP
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| 1. Democrats have no ideas. One of the most prevalent slogans of the GOP today is that Democrats have “no ideas”. This is GOP discipline at its best … its like a mantra they all recite when they are in trouble. In truth, the Democrats have proposed many new ideas, but they have been squashed by the red majority and ignored by a frightened media. When so many GOP spokespersons repeat the same message, and then their media accept it as fact and begin to repeat it, the message seeps into our consciousness. Stephen Crockett wrote an excellent article on “Fighting the Democrat No Ideas Myth.” |
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2. Democrats are Godless. This concept is nothing new, and in fact is the only way to sell the GOP to people who are naturally not conservative. (ie, the non-wealthy) In 1984, Jesse Jackson addressed the DNC regarding Reagan’s attempt to win the south:
“In his appeal to the South, Mister Reagan is trying to substitute flags and prayer cloths for food, and clothing, and education, health care and housing. Mister Reagan will ask us to pray, and I believe in prayer. I have come to this way by power of prayer. But then, we must watch false prophecy. He cuts energy assistance to the poor, cuts breakfast programs from children, cuts lunch programs from children, cuts job training from children, and then says to an empty table, "Let us pray."
Jackson is describing the only real solution the GOP has for anyone; prayer. Among the downtrodden and desperate, who isn’t looking for something to believe in? But the poor and the humble are naturally progressive, and even those who have faith have to be manipulated in order to vote GOP. In the words of Oliver Willis: “It’s not a coincidence that the greatest ever American advocate for human rights happened to be a left-wing Baptist pastor.” |
| 3. America is dominated by a liberal media. Regardless of where we are on the political spectrum, most of us agree that in America, money talks. Unfortunately for Democrats, media money is in the hands of conservative corporate moguls. Not only is the mass media owned by a few wealthy corporations, but it depends on advertising from other wealthy corporations. Yet despite this, and despite the fact that America is in the hands of a neo-conservative government, many otherwise intelligent Americans have no trouble believing that America has a liberal mass media. This lie is an especially useful tool for the GOP …. Poor approval ratings? Bad news in Iraq? Oh, did you catch me spying? Damn lib’rul media won’t say anything nice about me! GOP strategist William Kristol said it himself: “the whole thing was often used as an excuse by conservatives for conservative failures." |
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4. Only Republicans can protect you. Democrats have been on the defensive on National Security, at least since Reagan took credit for running the Soviet Union into the ground. Forget the fact that most veterans in Congress are Democrats, and that Bush & Cheney soaked up deferments and special favors to avoid combat. Forget the fact that most veterans coming home from Iraq and running for office now, are Democrats. Forget the fact that the Republicans were in complete control of our government on September 11. (And don’t get me started on Katrina) Just believe them when they say, only they can protect you. |
Speaking of Presidents Nixon, Reagan, and Bush, Eric Alterman states
“Fair-minded analysts would have to go back all the way back to President Johnson and the Tonkin Gulf resolution to find a Democrat who pursued a national security strategy that was simultaneously so secretive, misguided, and counter-productive to the nation’s national security interests. And yet it is Democrats, rather than Republicans, who are almost universally deemed in the context of mainstream debate to have a “credibility” problem with national security.”
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5. Democrats waste your tax dollars. It’s easy to paint us into a corner with that one, since we do like to spend money. We spend it on education. We spend it on health care. We spend it on job creation. We spend it on crime prevention. We spend it on the environment. We spend it so that government can do good things. We spend it in order to provide the American Dream. (Do you really think America would be the land of opportunity without things like public education and rural modernization?) And with all this terrible terrible spending, we create prosperity rather than poverty. We create peace rather than war. We close the gaps between the economic classes. They call it wasteful; we call it investing in America. For the encore, we actually leave government smaller than when we found it, and by the way, we leave no bill for our grandchildren, because we do what the other guy can’t do: we balance our budgets. Tell me again how this is a bad thing? |
Quote to keep you up at night:
"Starting with Richard Nixon, every Republican president has left the dollar lower, the federal budget deficit higher, the American trade position weaker, and the US manufacturing work force smaller than when he took office."
Countdown To A Meltdown, James Fallows, The Atlantic Monthly, July/August, 2005
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4 Responses to “5 Myths That Serve The GOP”
By Nirmal on Jul 12, 2006 | Reply
Wow, I am bookmarking this.
I feel exactly the same way, and it is infuriating to see the way the GOP steers the political discourse. I’m coming back to this when I get discouraged by the prevalence of these GOP myths to remind myself of my values.
By christine on Jul 13, 2006 | Reply
Hi, I’m glad you found it useful! It’s so infuriating to hear people echo these ridiculous ideas. I think the most ridiculous of these is the concept of national security. I mean really, it’s just silly to think that the people in charge on 9-11 can keep you safe from anything.
By christine on Jul 14, 2006 | Reply
Note: This comment came in via email from Kristi, who was unable to comment normally, through the website at the time.
So many have bought in to the idea the “Democrats” or “Liberals” are dirty words. When they are pressed on the issues that they want to be supported they are appalled to discover that they are the exact thing the declare to detest!
By christine on Jul 14, 2006 | Reply
Kristi - it’s the same thing as buying into the idea that Mt. Dew makes you cool and Diet Coke makes you sexy. The problem is, we didn’t figure out what they were doing (or the value of what they were doing) until it was too late. We have a superior ideology, but we’re about a decade behind on the marketing game. That is our own fault.