Marc Cooper Chides The Left - Once Again Into The Breach

Marc Cooper once again goes against the grain in the world of the left, knocking down the Leftist Shibboleths as fast as they are set up. As a conservative, and I think a patriot, I'm glad that someone of the "progressive" persuasion is taking on this task, for I think it will eventually make for a better Democratic Party, and thus offer more to America.

His lastest post, titled "Dreaming of Elephants -- Thinking of Jackasses" (here) takes on the left, in particular George Lakoff who wrote Don't Think of an Elephant!: Know Your Values and Frame the Debate

In his missive "Thinking of Jackasses: The grand delusions of the Democratic Party"(here if you subscribe to Atlantic Monthly - here if you don't)Cooper states

"In his best-selling manual of progressive political advice, Don't Think of an Elephant!, Lakoff asserts that political consciousness, and therefore voter choice, is determined by deeply wired mental structures�"frames"�that reflect more-general views and values. "The frames," Lakoff writes, "are in the synapses of our brains, physically present in the form of neural circuitry." Notwithstanding this neuroscientific hooey, Lakoff suggests that reframing American politics according to liberal values�in essence rewiring our collective circuitry�is but a matter of simple wordplay. When conservatives invoke "strong defense," liberals, Lakoff says, must reframe the concept by referring to a "stronger America." Instead of "free markets," liberals should speak of "broad prosperity." Likewise, "smaller government" must be recast as "effective government," and "family values" as "mutual responsibility." Those greedy "trial lawyers" excoriated by the right should be reframed and praised as brave and selfless "public-protection attorneys." And perhaps most important, when conservatives start promoting more Bushian "tax relief," liberals should respond by defending taxes as "membership fees" or "investments" in America."

In this case, the external circumstances are all of the stupid red-staters who got sucked in by the nefarious rantings and lies of George Walker Bush and Karl Rove. In addition, Cooper believes, as we all should, that the left as Democrat needs to become more effective in getting the message of the left to the American People. To date, they have not.

In fact, the message the left has put out has been thouroughly looked at by the majority of voting Americans and soundly rejected. Typically, in the new political paradigm of not listening to the other side, casting the other side in the role of the evil one and other inane, though probably quite sincere (and totally inaccurate), terms (and by the way, those of you on the right, you have done it too, in spades).

The left has a hard time understanding that red staters are not stupid sheeple. They heard the arguments of the left and discarded them as being insincere: Kerry's "I have a plan to end the war in Iraq." or, as being ridiculous "My name is John Kerry and I'm reporting for duty," delivered with a salute that no serviceman could possibly use and only Gilligan could match.

To deliver a progressive message, the left needs to develop an "Internal Locus of Control" one in which the individual believes that his/her behavior is guided by his/her personal decisions and efforts. That, dear readers, is the message, essentially, of the Republicans - internally motivated towards being self sufficient, responsible, and honest (even if some people in the Republican party are not.)

Now, don't go crying "Bush lied" because you know that dog won't hunt. Mistakes, likely. Using inaccurate intelligence, absolutely. But no plan outlasts the first contact with an enemy and the intelligence was believed by the majority of the western powers, russia and quite a number of Middle Eastern nations. It was believed and touted by the Democrats when Clinton was President. When America began hearing "Liar, Liar" around the clock, they looked around, read, listened to what others had said in the past and currently and pulled that lever for Bush. It's that simple (on this issue that is).

I'm saluting Cooper for a job well done. I hope (and pray) that he keeps it up long enough for cooler heads in the Democratic Party take their party back - as opposed to someone like Howard Dean who recently said "... a fight between good and evil and we're the good guys." He also said "I hate Republicans."

With Friends like Dean, Kerry and Lakoff, the Democrats really don't need any enemys.

UPDATE: Robert Byrd, pugnacious pronouncer of punditry in the US Senate has continued to use "hate speech" on the sentate floor. From his latest, a screed against President Bush as "Hitler."

Hitler’s originality lay in his realization that effective revolutions, in modern conditions, are carried out with, and not against, the power of the State: the correct order of events was first to secure access to that power and then begin his revolution. Hitler never abandoned the cloak of legality; he recognized the enormous psychological value of having the law on his side. Instead, he turned the law inside out and made illegality legal.