This is the first of several posts which I hope to make in the future about observations I have as a former leftie (long ago) and newly minted Republican. My personal credo on “intra-party” political rhetoric is based on a line from Shakespeare’s Richard II where the title character was lamenting the imminent loss of his throne: “Wise men n’er wail their woes but presently prevent the ways to wail.” So I am determined not to post or say anything that does not have an intention to be constructive toward the future. While it’s fun (and true to some extent) to make fun of the left as Marxist socialists who want to tear apart families and religion and indoctrinate our kids, it’s not really helpful. The left has had their plan for going on 100 years and when I look at conservative thought, whether of the traditional or Trumpian variety, I see very little in the way of level-headed long-term strategy. Yes we’ll probably take Congress in the Fall, though not by 1994 or 2010 numbers, but only because the Democrats are so pathetically ideological. If they acted somewhat normal, Republicans would be in deep trouble and getting TRUE conservitarian legislation passed would get even more difficult.
In this first installment, I’d like to talk about truth in the modern world of rhetoric, talking points, and so-called “disinformation”:
Where do we turn to for the real truth? For example I prepared for a debate with family members and tried to show all the horrible things that a Biden Presidency would mean (that he really supported court packing, ending filibuster, etc.) and I researched and researched and could never find their bad policies in black and white. So this naturally started a chain of curiosity. What am I to believe? I read Democrat bills like the Equality Act and can’t find the smoking gun language. I’m always asked for evidence and I fall short on the ability to find it.
What’s my bottom line point? I think we need to be more grounded and have facts in hand when talking to others. When I say, for example, that the left is indoctrinating students to hate America through 1619 Project and Critical Race Theory, or that they want to destroy American traditions, I understand what that sounds like! It’s red meat that the Trump supporting crowd will eat up, but to the moderate and even center right, it sounds loony toons when stated as such. I believe our values will win the day. Not only that, but I believe that the Democrats have moved SO far left that on a scale of 0 being far left and 100 far right, that the space between 30 and 60 on the spectrum (and yes this is a normal curve) is wide open – this could be 75-80% of the electorate! To truly bring the point home, we need to be more precise in language, the way we say these things make them too easy to pick apart.
I worry that the GOP/conservative movement is not doing enough to court the moderate Democrats, center left and libertarian voters. Personally I believe the Elephant and Porcupine should join forces, but there’s a huge gap in the middle 60% of the voting spectrum that has been laid vacant by the Democrats’ huge shift to the left but the GOP has failed to take advantage of. Cheating aside (am I allowed to say that here?), this could be one reason for Trump’s 2020 loss. Failure to message, particularly on kitchen table and social issues. I’m not trying to suggest for one moment that the GOP stop talking about religion and family values. I think that (to an extent) moderate voters and black voters do place a high emphasis on family and religion, as long as we don’t get to the point of government getting involved in pushing certain views. But I think sometimes there’s an over-emphasis on what some people see as an attempt to legislate morality. As another example, I’m personally uncomfortable with abortion but that’s not a hill I feel like dying on right now.
In my next installment, I’m going to discuss rhetoric further, and how while the left often uses divisive rhetoric to do things like race baiting, the right is not completely innocent of such word language either. Stay tuned!