Posted by
JINGOIST on Saturday, February 02, 2008 10:48:11 AM
An all-to-familiar sickness is sweeping the Republican primary this campaign season. It's called Populism. Ronald Reagan temporarily vanquished this yellow-eyed monster with his cheerful and patriotic optimism, but it's made a comeback. Populism has a natural home in the class-warfare rhetoric of the Democrat Party. Democrats have perfected the dark art of pitting the "haves" against the "have nots", corporations vs. "workers", blacks vs. Latinos, blacks vs. whites, "patriarchal" men vs. "victimized" women, gay vs. straight, straight vs. transgender, ambulatory vs. handicapped, humans vs. the environment, and on and on.
This form of political warfare is meant to divide us into warring factions and Balkanize the electorate. After all if a candidate is NOT a conservative, but needs to win Republican votes, first he must DIVIDE us into opposing camps based on economics. How do you do that? ENVY! Envy is the chief ingredient in populist rhetoric. It appeals to our basest instincts. It tells us that our troubles and our struggles are not the result of our own repetitive bad decisions and errors in judgment, but are the direct result of that "corporate CEO who makes 30 times more" than we do. Envy and economic ignorance are identical twins.
Populism is class warfare and it's completely dishonest and divisive, but it works amazingly well for the politician who has little else to offer in the form of conservative ideas and optimism. Mike Huckabee and John McCain are the chief practitioners of this dark art which pits neighbor against neighbor, employee versus employer, and rich versus poor. Neither are conservatives, but they think they can buy your vote and distract your focus by being staunchly anti-abortion and making you hate your boss. If this Pavlovian rhetoric appeals to you, you need a swift kick in the rear!
True conservatives want the best for you! Stop buying the fools gold Lotto tickets, push away from the bar, stop smoking the expensive and mind-numbing weed. Wake up early in the morning and go to work shaved, showered, with clean clothes and a smile, ready to give your all to the company you work for. Take the jewelry out of your nose, lips and cheeks. Cover the ugly red and green painting on your neck and arms with a long-sleeved shirt. Make yourself that company's most valuable employee! If you truly are in a bad work situation that won't improve, LEAVE that company and go elsewhere to work hard and thrive where you are appreciated. Be a fully vested American and achieve what you are capable of!
You are the one most responsible for your lot in life and only you can improve it, no matter what John McCain or Mike Huckabee says!