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The Past:
One has only to
examine what Frank Luntz has done for the Republican party to
see that language is extremely important in getting voters to
see things a particular way. For example, he
shifted the label of "Inheritance Tax" to
"Death Tax" and drastically
changed voters opinions on this issue.
This is, in part, because "death" is a personal, sad, emotion-laden
word that touches one's heart and inheritance is an anger inducing word
associated with "out there" courts, lawyers, and theft by the
government of property that people consider to be rightfully theirs. The
fact that it's part of the Bush Administration's "No Millionaire left
behind" program is then conveniently ignored.
After
Arch-conservative, Barry Goldwater's infamous, 1964
campaign statement, "Extremism in defense of
liberty is no vice. . . ," the word Conservative
was, for a time,
shunned like the plague.
In 1988,
Michael Dukakis was overwhelmingly defeated by George Bush,
Sr. A significant part of that defeat was due to
being labeled by a word so offensive, one could
not even say it in public. The
Republicans called it the "L" word. Dukakis embraced the
liberal label but he never defined it. He let the Republicans define
it. That was a major tactical error.
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The Present:
It's time to
re-examine the words "liberal" and
"conservative" and redefine both of them.
It's also time to create a new word -- a word that both
transcends and embraces the words "liberal" and
"conservative" -- a word that brings powerful and
positive
support from the listener. None of
these changes are going to occur by themselves. All three of them
will come to pass only as result of intention and action. Here are some
suggestions:
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The
Future: Six
words or phrases that need our attention:
1) Liberal:
Given the way the word 'Liberal" has been
intentionally slandered, is it any wonder the it's a turnoff
for many voters nowadays? The word is
desperately in need of a facelift. When you look
at its dictionary definition, being liberal nothing to
hide from or be ashamed of. The
problem is that the word has been intentionally slandered by those who
proudly wear the label "conservative."
It's time to
return the disfavor. It's time to re-define the
word "liberal." And it's time to bring
in a new label.
See the
page titled: The Reasonables.
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2) Conservative: The word
"Conservative" is also in need of a face change.
We suggest turning the word "Conservative"
into a semi-swear word. As a role model,
study how the Republicans re-surfaced the liberal label as the
"L" word.
Make
"conservative" mean "mindless obedience to big
brother." Equate it with big spending, with
the military industrial complex, and with corporate greed.
Give it fascist implications. Point
out the activities of the Republican so-called conservatives.
(i.e. Newt Gingrich, Charles Keating, Richard Nixon, etc.)
At the same
time, use the phrase "traditional values" to refer
to the positive aspect of the
conservatives. Here's an example of dethroning the
word, "conservative:"
Taking care of
each other seems to rank very low among what the conservative
call “moral values.” The readiness to
destroy or eliminate health care and other
social-service-related, government programs is somehow
felt to be a display of patriotism. Conservatives
fight for fetal rights, but once the child is born they turn
their backs and spend health care money of tanks and bombs.
Conservatives seem to have missed this passage in their
own Bible: "What you do onto the least of
mine you also do onto me."
Conservatives
claim to honor God and then spit in His face. Hypocrisy
is obviously alive, doing well, and growing like a
newborn puppy under the care and control of the leaders of the
conservative movement. Speaking of movements,
under its current leadership, conservatism smells a lot like
some other kind of movement.
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3) Moral Values: The term " moral
values." has been intentionally misused in order to confuse people and get them
to vote in a particular way.
a)
Conservative anti-choice leaders delight in forcing unwilling
women to bear unwanted children. In our view, this
is not embracing moral values.
Conservative anti-choice leaders simply ignore the 40,000 "already
born" children who starve to death each day or
die of curable diseases. In our view, this is not
embracing moral values.
b)
Conservative leaders arbitrarily discriminate against our
brothers and sisters based on their personal, private behavior
in their own bedrooms. This is not, in our view,
embracing a moral value. Until recent
years they were openly racial bigots. Now they are
closet racial bigots
c)
By refusing to allow researchers to use otherwise to be
discarded embryonic stem cells (the most promising tools
to find cures for diseases) conservative leaders allow
millions of people to suffer and die needlessly.
In our view, this is not embracing moral values.
We need to
clarify what "moral values" actually are --
and what they are not. Please see the page titled:
The Truth About Moral Values.²
4) War:
The word "war" induces fear and dread.
It causes people to revert to behavior that they learned very
early in life when they were dependent upon people, bigger and wiser than themselves.
A clear
distinction needs to be made between the war in Iraq and the
so-called "war on terror."
Although it's vitally important to protect one's safety and
security, the war against terrorism is not a war in the
traditional sense. This distinction needs to be
made clear.
.
And the newly
acknowledge political label called :
5)
The Reasonables
(The text of this
section is on a separate page.)
6)
Abortion:
Talk about
"Forced Motherhood."
Avoid the word abortion.
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