Beneath the Spin * Eric L. Wattree

The one factor that contributed most to the downfall of the Democratic Party during the seventies and eighties was allowing conservative Republicans to seize control of the political rhetoric. Much like they are today, the Democrats simply sat back and allowed themselves, their constituency, and their agenda to be redefined in the eyes of the American people by conservative "spin doctors" without rebuttal. As a direct result, they've allowed the term "liberal" to become a bad word in the political lexicon.
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When you consider how methodically the conservatives went about mounting their assault on the liberal agenda you can't help but recognize that it was a stroke of genius. Ironically, the conservatives took the Democratic Party's strength and made it a political liability. First they took the party's penchant for being concern with the plight of the poor and downtrodden and coined phrases such as "bleeding heart liberals" and "tax and spend Democrats." They then played on the frustration of the middle class by tying civil rights legislation, welfare, and crime into one neat bundle as the source of middle class woes; then they attributed all of these problems to what they called the Democrat's tendency to be " bleeding heart liberals." Once the connection was made between minorities, welfare, crime, and the liberal agenda, it was just a matter of repeatedly hammering the message home.
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In addition, conservatives used such tactics as spitting out the word "liberal" as though they were saying rapist. In that way they not only implanted a negative attitude toward liberalism in the mind of the voter, but it was said in such a way that the implication was made that it went without saying that all the negative stereotyping of liberalism was true. Or in other words, their attitude seems to suggest, "I could substantiate what I'm saying about liberals, but I don't think it's necessary, since we all know what they're like." And in the election that spawned the "Republican revolution" the voters said, "Yes, we do."
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Through these strategies conservatives accomplished three goals with one ingenious stroke - they defined minorities as slovenly criminals, they define liberal Democrats as "soft on crime," and they allowed themselves the freedom to place these thoughts in the American psyche without having to substantiate their facts. Moreover, they accomplish all this in every sound bite, and without seeming to be racist, with the use of just one word, "liberal." In fact, conservatives have been so thorough in their disparagement of liberalism that at this point the word "liberal" is treated like vulgarity, and simply referred to as "the L word."
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But don’t be fooled. The word "liberal" as used by the GOP is political shorthand for "nigga lover." That’s why it’s repeatedly used, and used with so much venom - and we’re doing ourselves a grave injustice by tap dancing around the issue, just as the middle class  is doing itself a grave injustice by denying that we’re currently knee-deep in a class war. By turning a blind eye to these issues we’re, literally, sharping the knife that conservatives are going to use to cut our throats.
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If people would actually take the time to look these terms up instead of deriving their definitions from the implication of Rush Limbaugh’s intonations, they would begin to realize that "liberal" and "conservative" are not so much fixed political philosophies as they are personal predispositions, so they can only be defined in the context of the political environment in which they’re being used. In the United States, conservatism relegates women and minorities - especially Black minorities - to a subordinate stature in society, and anyone who doesn’t recognize that is either blind or a fool.
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"Liberal" means open to change, and "conservative" means dedicated to "conserving" tradition. Thus, a conservative in a country with liberal traditions would be predisposed to conserving those liberal traditions, and a liberal in that same country would be more open to considering traditions that we in this country would consider more conservative, because, by dictionary definition, a liberal is open-minded, while a conservative is dedicated to tradition.
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So, again, the only way that you can ALWAYS tell the difference between liberals and conservatives, in ANY political context, is to understand that liberals tend to be open-minded, and conservatives are dedicated to maintaining tradition - if a conservative is not a traditionalist, by definition, he’s not a conservative.
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But the issue becomes more complicated when we add religion to the mix, because major religions cross geographic and political boundaries. Religious conservatives are predisposed to strictly adhering to their respective religious tenets, while liberals tend to be either areligious, or open to varying forms of religions. That’s how a handful of more fanatical Black people find themselves defending, and even advocating, conservative traditions that are dedicated to subjugating them, and everything they represent. They give they’re religious beliefs priority over their common sense. While time has erased the memory of the event, here’s how Black people were initially indoctrinated into the religious conservative mind-set:
 

"Come here nigga and let me teach yo crazy, animal ass about the Lord. The first thing you got to learn is to Love thy Neighbor . . . especially me."
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"Yes sir, Massa. Why would anybody not love you, Sir? You so good to me, Massa. Anybody don't love you needs to have dey ass beat real good, Massa."
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"Shut up, nigga. I'm talkin'."
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"Listen, you been blessed already, and you don't even know the Lord. The Lord made it where you don't have to worry 'bout a thing. I feed you, I put clothes on yo nasty ass, and I give you a shed to sleep in, and all you have to do is whatever the hell I tell you to. Do you know how blessed you are?"
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"Oh, indeed I do, Massa. You take good care of me. I's so happy."
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"Now, listen real good 'cause dis impotant. God said, thou shalt not steal from me, thou shalt not kill (unless I tell you to), thou shalt not stick another coon's wife (unless we tryin' to make some mo niggas), and nigga, whatever you do, thou shalt not even look like you want to stick a white woman, or we gon lynch yo black ass. You here me, nigga?"
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"Oh yes, Massa. We know dat! But Massa, I thought you said thou shalt not kill?"
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"Dat means people, fool - real people! Dat don't go for niggas. God wants us to keep you in yo place."
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"Dat's right, Massa. We sho gotta keep niggas in dey place. No tellin' what a happen if we let dese niggas git loose. God so smart."
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"I said shut up, nigga, and listen to the word."
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"The next thing you got to learn is, whatever happens on this plantation is God's will bein' done. And if you listen to me, you'll get to live like I do when you die and go to Heaven."
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"Live like you, massa? A nigga ain't got no business livin' dat good. What a Po nigga like me gon do with all this? You know I ain't got sense enough to run nothin' like this."
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"Just shut up, nigga!" When you dead you gon get some sense - the lord gon give it to you. The Lord can do anything, even give sense to a nigga. And he gon give you all the other niggas you gon need to help you in the fields, too."
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"Massa, you so good to me! Thank you for tellin' me all dis. I'm gon be a good nigga - the best nigga you ever seened. Look, I'm gon pray for you right now, and thank the Lord for givin' me so good a massa."
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"Shut up and get up off your knees, ya dumb nigga! The fields need tendin'! You pray to the Lord on your own time. God don't won't you talkin' to him when you s'pose to be workin'."
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"A couse, Massa. What I been thinkin'? I's so dumb. I don't know why you put up with me, Sir."
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"How many times I got to tell you to shut the hell up, nigga?"
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"Yes Sir, I's a shuttin', Massa. I's a shuttin', right now."
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"Now get yo ass out there in that field and let's get some work done around here . . . Oh, and Toby, have yo woman meet me in the barn. I need to tell her 'bout the Lord too."
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"Yes sir, Massa."
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"And another thing, Toby, if my momma come a lookin', tell her I'm playin' in my tree house."
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"Why you gon go fibbin' to yo momma, Mr. Tommy? She knows you like to sit wit Lou Ann."
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"Just shut up, nigga, and do what I said! And tell Lou Ann to wear that pretty dress I like, cause we gon be talkin' 'bout the Lord, so it's gon be like chuch."
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"Yes Sir, Mr. Tommy." . . . "Whaaaaaaat a friend we have in Jeeeeesus . . ."
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That’s what makes the concept of a Black conservative so ridiculous. That's why over 90% of the Black community don't trust them. The minds of Black conservatives are so warped that they even spew slanderous conservative talking points against their own people. According to them, Black people align themselves with the Democratic Party because their lazy, and they want something for nothing.
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That not why Black people support the Democratic Party at all.  The truth is very simple. Black people support the Democratic Party because we're not damn fools.  How can ANYONE want to align themselves with a group that is philosophically dedicated to ‘conserving’ a tradition that relegates them to the status of second-class citizen at best, and an animal, at worst?
 

Go figure it.
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Eric L. Wattree
Http://wattree.blogspot.com
[email protected]
Citizens Against Reckless Middle-Class Abuse (CARMA)
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Religious bigotry: It's not that I hate everyone who doesn't look, think, and act like me - it's just that God does.