Wordcruncher

This Is War, Dammit!

There have been a lot of wonderful observations going on about the Democratic Party and where we need to go next. I actually find much of what I see to be quite exciting, if a little hard to absorb in its sheer abundance.

James Carville rightly says we need a narrative. Digby picks up a little on my point yesterday that negative campaigning proves successful. The Center for American Progress solicits thoughtful responses about where we need to go next. And thankfully, many people are starting to pay attention to George Lakoff regarding how framing issues is much more important than presenting facts.

This is all useful and instructive and needs to continue. It also needs to be heard and I’ve no doubt it will be. But as we consider these things, we must keep something in mind that folds into the “principled obstructionism” argument I presented yesterday.

We are at war, and we are under attack. And I am not talking about the war on terror.

A reader over at Steve Gilliard’s blog presents it perfectly:

Who do you think a good, righteous, Bush-voting fundy hates more, Osama Bin Laden or a New York City liberal?

Quite so. For the last ten years, the right has advanced the narrative that liberals must be eradicated for the good of the nation. Liberals are the reason to blame for all of the nation’s woes. And no matter whether conservative Republicans control the House, the Senate, the Supreme Court and the presidency, liberals will still stand in the way of the successful advancement of the conservative agenda.

One only need listen to the right-wing talk radio demagogues to quickly discern this as the underlying message of everything they say. And lest we think otherwise, the narrative of these demagogues has thoroughly merged with the Republican Party’s. This is why gay marriage had such powerful resonance. This is why the NRC can distribute leaflets stating that John Kerry would've banned the Bible and keep a straight face.

The ongoing message is that America is constantly under attack from liberals. And good, God-fearing conservatives are the endless victims of these attacks. This “victim” strategy allows the Bush administration to blame everyone but themselves for every kind of failure. Even if it is painfully obvious to all but the completely ill-informed where responsibility may lie, it doesn’t matter. Liberals will unjustly try to bring him down – led by the “so called liberal media.”
They believe this regardless of whether it even makes sense, and they will continue to believe it even in the face of certain proof. It is an article of faith. Portraying liberals as traitors is not something that just emerged during the Iraq invasion. This has been a carefully promoted message since the 1960s.

It has become acceptable and even encouraged for right-wing demagogues to promote eliminationist fantasies on-air (all liberals need to be shot, I hope California sinks into the ocean, etc. – you’ve heard them all before). As a result, these fantasies have seeped into and poisoned the mainstream. I honestly believe it is such standard practice that conservatives don’t even realize they are doing it.

We have not directly addressed these issues on a national level. To do so would be to convey legitimacy to them (which is a big reason Mr. Bush never mentioned Sen. Kerry by name during the campaign), the unspoken theory goes. But until we do, we will continue to lose. This stuff plays very well in red-state land.

Any kind of Democratic compromise then becomes proof that they are right. To them, Democrats must accept the conservative agenda – or perish.

No matter how disgusting, how gutter-level, this kind of politics may be, we must engage it to defeat it. We must realize that waging war – countering this message and making principled obstructionist stands – is our only alternative.

Or we will certainly perish.