So, I was thinking about how the Dems-- us; we; We, The People-- have been talking about Bush and McCain and everyone involved in this ridiculous war, this ridiculous administration and I've been thinking that we should change the way we talk about what they've been doing to us as a nation for lo these past eight years. We need to re-characterize their brand of politics. I think you can probably tell what I'm going to say, but let's go into depth why.
Please, enter the sweet, sweet fold with me.
"The Politics of Fear" is a fine moniker for what the Bush/McCain boys have been selling us for so long. It describes how they want us to feel: afriad; it describes what they use to manipulate the people: anxiety; it describes everything they're about.
But there's a better way to describe them and that's what we should focus on here. Now imagine how our speeches, how our talking points, how our world might change if we referred to the kind of politics they're selling as "The Politics of Cowardice". How does it sound when we accuse-- and rightly accuse-- the other side of playing the "Politics of Cowardice". First off, it sounds right-- but secondly, it puts them on the defensive.
But also, it's the truth.
They want Americans to be cowards about everything:
Terrorism.
Gay marriage.
Family Values.
Religion.
Evolution.
Immigration.
Other races.
John Stossel even wants us to be cowards about energy independence.
You see, as Democrats, we're not afraid of terrorism, or "terror" as the Bush administration puts it. We're Americans. We shouldn't be afraid of anything. We should defend ourselves and do everything within reason to keep ourselves secure, but we're not cowards to the point that we give up our civil liberties, that we hand over our phone bills, our library cards, our passports to the cowards that want to dig into our lives.
As Democrats, we're not afraid that somehow the feelings of people unlike ourselves (or like ourselves for that matter) impinge in anyway on our personal relationships. Marriage and the marriage of others in all its forms doesn't scare us, doesn't threaten our own marriages, relationships, love lives. We're not afraid. We're not cowards.
We're not afraid of family values defined by other types of families.
We're not afraid of other religions other than our own.
We're not afraid to hear opinions that conflict/contradict our own.
We're not afraid of people from other countries coming to this one seeking jobs. We can compete.
We're not afraid of other races. Other colors. Other creeds.
We embrace these things, these ideas. They make us better people by challenging us, by making us think differently, by making us more accepting.
Republicans love to use the "Politics of Cowardice" and we should call it what it is and force them to explain why they're afraid and why we should follow them on the path of cowardice.