Conservatives ratchet up a time-honored tactic: Name-calling.
There’s a lot of blather about “socialists” these days from Republican politicians and the talk radio crowd.
What IS a socialist anyway?
This is from a quick search of the definition from here. If you have a better one feel free to comment. I thought this one hit it on the head.
An “economic, social and political doctrine which expresses the struggle for the equal distribution of wealth by eliminating private property and the exploitative ruling class. In practice, such a distribution of wealth is achieved by social ownership of the means of production, exchange and diffusion.“
What does taking over GM, banks, health care, etc. etc, sound like to you? How about giving private companies bail-outs based on and expecting that they will do certain things later on. What do YOU call it?
Lacking ideas that work, the fall-back position for Conservatives is to barrage the opposition with their limited but time-tested repertoire of electroshock buzz words and phrases: Un-American, unpatriotic, communist (back in the day), liberal, appeaser, terrorist sympathizer, blame America first, Tax and spend Democrats, and, God help us all, socialist.
As opposed to liars, murderers, idiots, mentally disturbed, neo-con, the offensive ones like tea-bagger, racist, and homophobic.
It’s been an effective approach, not because it furthers constructive dialogue on the important topics of the day, but because it distracts people from what really matters. Pickpockets have used this technique for centuries. A thief’s partner creates a commotion drawing the mark’s attention. While preoccupied, the mark’s wallet is easily lifted from his pocket.
It’s conservatives who are trying to pick pockets? Hahahahahah. Very good, ba-da-chink. (That was my attempt at a snare roll, or whatever you call that thing.) It’s the conservatives who are raising taxes on everything they can, real and imagined. Riiiiiight.
Socialism means handing over our souls to an inherently evil government, according to the Limbaugh’s and Bachmann’s of the world. The agonizing irony is that the same people who believe this were all too happy to let George Bush and Dick Cheney chip away at our rights and freedoms as American citizens for eight long years. Afraid of Big Brother? Heck, we elected him twice.
Ah here it is the classic, “you didn’t care when it was GW doing it.”
Hell yes we did. Getting this country further into debt and creating more power for the government by creating more government jobs and taking the jobs away from private industry is always wrong. No matter who the schlub behind the desk is. Problem is; your guy is doing it faster and with less regard for what Amerika thinks.
The family unit is a socialist enterprise. Everyone (in an ideal world) works together for the common good when Dad cooks the dinner, daughter clears off the table, son takes out the garbage and Mom has a cocktail (just kidding). But it’s a group effort that only functions well when everyone does their part. Cowboys do not make for family unity.
Yes in an ideal world Communism is best. Problem is, the government doesn’t do their fair share. They sit and get fatter and richer and in several cases uglier. (hey you call us tea-baggers, ugly is mild compared to that.)
Let’s look past the hot-button ravings of angry people whose past accomplishments include invading a sovereign nation, crippling the American economy, prying into our private lives, and tarnishing our image around the world. Why should we take any advice from these people seriously? We can do better, and we already are.
….. That is where it ends. Not ONE example, just a whole lot of raving about fictional accomplishments.
We shouldn’t have taken out Saddam? Where is the compassion for the people of Iraq? GW crippled the economy? Where the hell did you come up with that. My salary was cut several months after GW left office. Prying into our private lives? I saw none of this at my house. How about yours? Give one example of an American citizen who through the Patriot Act suffered. Just one. Tarnishing our image around the world? Why do you care? Honestly, this is the one that gets me the most. I don’t care what they think about us unless they are planning to blow us up. Otherwise, it isn’t any of my business what Jean Claude, or Hans Grouber, or anyone else in any other part of the world thinks of me. We need to do what is best for Amerika. When they have a republic that works as well, we can talk to them about joining forces. Until then, get the hell out, don’t come back and mind your manners. Make threats to our way of life and we will end yours. Cowboy justice? Call it what you like, it is keeping a way of life safe for my kids and grand kids.
But none of you care about kids like you say you do. You want to strap them down with debt and an overly bloated government that is already too big.
SFGate: Politics Blog : Drew Joseph: Obama’s Afghanistan problem.
