The Becks, Hannitys, Limbaughs, O'Reillys, all self-defined Republican conservatives, have defined us as liberal/progressives. Does it make sense to you to allow people who haven't been right about anything to define for you who you are? Of course not.
The position we must take is that the principles of what is called liberalism/progressivism are the default position of all humanity.
We must make it clear that we are the ones who represent the most basic human qualities of cooperation, respect, decency and the promotion of the general welfare of humanity. By the way, that is the law of the land.
If there is no left and no right, then what is the division all about? A division, the so called divide between left and right, implies an equal separation into two parts. This is by no means what we have here. We have the mass of humanity who are for the same things we are for and then we have the Republicans/conservatives way out there, not on the fringe, but beyond the fringe. They are not even close to the edge, much less the center. They are literally eccentric.
In Rob Kall's article, he says, "But, we need to find a way to get organized, find discipline---" Exactly right. But, what do we call ourselves if we are in the default position. The Republicans have made (to them) the term liberal a pejorative term. Even if it were, which it isn't, it still doesn't describe us.
We must take the position that we are the default position, and that that position is neither liberal nor conservative. We are just ordinary folks. We might call it the OFP, the Ordinary Folks Party. Or the Ordinary Folks Organization. You can probably come up with something better. I don't think the White House would want to be talking insultingly about ordinary folks. That they're on drugs, crazy. That would piss off ordinary folks, which they don't want to do.
By defining ourselves by what we are, we take away their ability to speak condescendingly, disdainfully, insultingly about us. After all, it's bad politics to go around insulting ordinary folks.
Let's quit defining ourselves by any extreme position, either left or right. I'm much, much more than only the opposite of a Republican. It doesn't take much to be that. The smallest little dab of humanity will do it. That's faint praise, indeed.
So, what do we do about the Republicans/conservatives? If the people mentioned above, Beck, Hannity, Limbaugh, O'Reilly, and the others such as Sharron Angle, Michelle Bachman, Ann Coulter, and other Republican members of Congress were brought before a competent psychiatric board, and asked to explain their beliefs, they would be found to be profoundly delusional and locked up in an institution for their own safety and the safety of others.
I saw an article the other day about the fifteen best selling books of all time. With one exception, a dictionary of Chinese terms, all of them were about fantasy. One was the delusional, fantasstic ravings of the guy who became dictator of China, who was proved wrong on every count by subsequent events. Others were stories about fantastic beings who create worlds with the snap of the finger, and self anointed misogynistic prophets who speak directly to supernatural beings, and stories about precocious nerds who dabble in the supernatural. That's what people most want to read. Fantasy.
No wonder there are still Republicans in Congress.
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