There are, at last count, a zillion liberal blog postings decrying Republican mistruths, demagoguery, and nihilism. The article mentioned in the last post, by Frank Rich, is a good example. Rich, in addition to discussing the race issue, wonders why, since Republicans for the most part aren't completely stupid, they don't call out their over-excited members who have recently taken to physical violence, irrationally exuberant good kids that they may be. (In truth, I've actually heard Palin and Boehner recently issue mild "now-now"'s to their minions).
The said blogists frequently, even in single postings, rail about Republicans' plans to say "no" to everything while spending real and honest effort showing why a Republican "no" to a certain program is so bad for the country.
Liberals are constitutionally unable to understand what they see with their own eyes. If the Republicans' plan is to destroy everything Democrat, well, that's the plan. They, like, say, Microsoft in the old days, or Goldman Sachs today, will do everything legal, and then push the envelope on legality, to achieve their aim, which is destruction of any Democrat agenda whatsoever. This is the plan. There is no other plan.
There are a lot of people who say that oh, the Republicans will have their comeuppance as, eg, the newly-passed healthcare act is gradually observed by the people to be good for people. The people will gradually understand, as the truth of some outrageously misstated "fact" is discovered by the populace. This is silly. Republicans will continue their nihilistic practice while they exist on the earth. The US is a big place; you can lie in Washington and then in Des Moins and then in Yakima, and you won't be called out for a very long time.
To the Repubs, this is war, it is not a nice, civil discussion. They will do almost anything, and will say anything, even though what they say is at best silly or at worst outright lying.
George Lakos introduced us to the concept of Framing and how Republicans use it against Democrats. This is a useful concept if you assume a target audience with a desire or willingness to think about things in different ways. But the whole Lakos argument is wishful thinking.
It seems to me, the great, all-knowing politico, that the best way to deal with Republicans is to think of them as the Soviets in the cold war: They are smart, they will push the envelope, they are out to topple the balustrades of rationality to their own evil ends. Their immediate destruction is not feasable. They must be contained.
Democrats can not assume that rational discourse will win the day (I'm not the first to say this of course). Democrats must shake their attachment to the idea that providing the facts is what is needed; that the fundamental issue is that the body politic has been misled. That's true, but ancillary.
So, what should be the simple Democrat Goal? For Republicans it is to discredit and oppose Democrats at every turn whether by use of fair or foul means. All else is secondary, or even non-existant. If Democrats can't discover a simple operational goal, they will be ultimately ineffective.
---Bill (recovering Republican).
No comments:
Post a Comment