Comments on: The Left Cannot Afford to Keep Neglecting the Language and Framing of Politics

By: Reynardine

Reynardine — Mon, 25 Jun 2012 05:38:13 +0000

What militant atheism? What Second Amendment repeal? There is really no serious advocacy of either, and in fact, center and center-left alike have been tiptoing around the Gahd-and-gun freaks, only to have the latter press and rant more ferociously than ever against these chimeras of their own making. The President is coming for their guns?

This is my rifle
This is my gun
This one’s for fighting
This one’s for fun

Yeah, the black man in the White House is going to take their guns away, all right. He might even take the Big Gun away from their Gahd. You can’t do anything about an idée fixe like that, and it’s a disservice to sane consituents with legitimate needs to contort yourself trying.

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By: harris stein

harris stein — Mon, 25 Jun 2012 02:03:40 +0000

This is an excellent post. While I don’t have the patience of some to research statistics and then throw them out expecting someone to buy an arguement based on mathematical logic, I do know a pig in a poke when I see one. And there lies the paradox. It’s not just the semi-literate, ignorant, rural republicans that have been totally brainwashed to mark that R column year after year no matter what, but educated, enlightened, urban middle class republicans also have done the same thing year after year, mostly out of habit without even looking at their candidates positions.

These people have been conditioned to buy a pig in a poke. Not only that, but when you put out statistics showing beyond a doubt that they are cutting their own throat by marking that R column year after year, they believe that you are trying to sell them a pig in a poke. A lot of this is from the fallout of the culture wars. Militant atheism and uncomprimising gun control advocacy has given the republican spinmiesters the opening they needed to paint democrats as out of touch with “real American values.”

Reversing this trend is possible but it won’t happen overnight. Nearly half of Americans still believe that God is a hairy old white man that lives in the sky. Fine. You won’t change that. Accept it. But ditch the militant atheism. Don’t give up on reasonable gun control but forget about repealing the 2nd Amendment. Call it what you will, people clinging to God and guns, but accept it instead of fighting it.

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By: Floyd M. Orr

Floyd M. Orr — Mon, 25 Jun 2012 01:43:19 +0000

I long ago suggested The Backward People.

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By: Floyd M. Orr

Floyd M. Orr — Mon, 25 Jun 2012 01:39:02 +0000

The answer is very simple. The #1 issue should be income inequality, closely followed by empire building, global warming, and ridiculous military expenditures. The Democrats refuse to approach the election process tactically. In essence, they are throwing the game. Coming in second pays almost as much as winning, at least for the Democratic power brokers at the top. Most of us are among the 99%, but they have all too successfully divided and conquered us with religion, media, and money.

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By: Floyd M. Orr

Floyd M. Orr — Mon, 25 Jun 2012 01:30:54 +0000

You have made an outstanding point!! The Democrats do not care how many white Christian heterosexuals they lose to the Republican side. It is as if the Democratic establishment steadfastly refuses to face the simple fact that this is the segment that most reliably votes in most elections. Until the Democrats admit that this strategy has been a fatal mistake, more and more of the nation will be lost to the far-right conservatives on the other side.

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