Fascist this, fascist that. Have you seen a fascist around? What does one look like?
This adequately summarizes Democrats’ main selling point these days, a party full of distressed souls trying desperately to touch on an issue – or issues – that will galvanize American voters and force them to forget about what’s happening with everything connected to economics in their lives. Have you taken a gander at your 401K lately? Or attempted to refinance your home to pull cash out to help combat the rapidly escalating prices of... everything?
Reality is a cruel instructor and this is one graduate-level life course Democrats absolutely refuse to enroll in or subsidize. They’d rather just toss insults and jeer from afar than engage in constructive debate on substantive things.
The Democrats’ behavior is somewhat explained by a football concept typically referred to as “misdirection”. Gridiron afficionados recognize that when the quarterback fakes a handoff and then fades back to pass, that’s a “play action” move intended to pause the defense for a split second to buy more time for the pass thrower. Similarly, a ball carrier may suddenly hand the ball off to another runner going in the opposite direction, not-so-creatively nicknamed a “reverse”. If executed properly, this play gets the defense headed the other way – a good thing.
Democrats are engaging in their own form of “reverse”, “play action” or “misdirection” play by labeling anyone who disagrees with them – translation: conservatives, Republicans or truth-to-power-telling liberals such as Tulsi Gabbard -- as “fascists” or “semi-fascists” (which is supposed to be milder)? Political branding is hardly a new concept – both sides constantly engage in it, though Republicans have usually been hesitant to call their Democrat opponents what they really are, namely proponents of socialism – and all’s fair in love, war, and twenty-first century campaigns. But what Democrats are working to pin on Republicans at the present time is just plain stupid, and untrue.
Here’s thinking Democrats don’t even know what “fascist” really means. In a piece titled “Who Are the Neo-Fascists?”, Economist Stephen Moore touched on the subject at CNS News:
“At least President Joe Biden doesn't call his political adversaries fascists. They are only ‘semi-fascists.’ What a relief. Aren't these the same people who have urged raising the level of civil discourse? Wasn't Biden supposed to ‘unify’ the country with Trump out of the picture?
“What is so infuriating about these slurs is that the Left doesn't even understand what a fascist is. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, fascism is ‘a political philosophy, movement, or regime that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government.’ The Britannica Dictionary defines fascism as ‘a way of organizing a society in which a government ruled by a dictator controls the lives of the people and in which people are not allowed to disagree with the government.’…
“But here's the rub. The definition of ‘fascism’ has gradually been evolving over time. Nowadays, according to the Collins Dictionary, fascism ‘is a set of right-wing political beliefs that includes strong controls of society and the economy by the state’ (emphasis added).”
Personally, I don’t believe a dictionary definition that fits contemporary Democrat sensibilities exists today. To most Democrat politicians, a fascist is any American political force that won’t submit to their “woke” dictates, bloated spending and government mandates. If you don’t believe in allowing kids to decide to alter their gender and genitals, for example, you’re a fascist. Or if you’re not onboard with viewing the events of January 6, 2021 as an “insurrection”, you might just be contemplating treason yourself.
But Moore is 100 percent salient in his observations regarding Democrats and their phony 2020 drive to promote “unity” and “civil discourse”. Rather than tone down their hurtful barbs, Democrats have only intensified the name-calling, recriminations and verbal assaults. By suggesting that opponents are “fascists”, of course, they’re really insinuating that Republicans are 2022 Hitlers simply trying to stand in their way.
Moore’s piece contains a couple quotes from Hillary Clinton on the “fascist” fad. Enough said.
But why all the vitriol, Democrats? Politics today is more and more nasty because government has grown so large and intrusive that whoever controls its institutions also steers policy severely impacting our daily lives. All one needs to do is fill up his or her gas tank or shop in the supermarket to grasp just how much senile Joe Biden’s and the Democrats’ evil schemes made a difference in their daily existence. These are the so-called “kitchen table” or “pocketbook” issues that the establishment media talks about periodically.
On the other hand, a woman contemplating an abortion isn’t directly affected by whichever faction controls the White House at any given moment, unless said female remains hostile over judicial appointments made by George H.W. Bush (Clarence Thomas), George W. Bush (Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito), and, yes, Donald Trump (Justices Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett). There are hundreds of other confirmed federal judicial appointees who’ve had similar impact on past controversies, though the average liberal activist doesn’t understand or care that judges aren’t tasked with making or guaranteeing policy – only interpreting whether state and federal laws pass constitutional muster.
Blaming the federal courts for some states’ abortion restrictions and bans is asinine and incorrect, but it certainly provides Democrat candidates an opportunity to demagogue the issue and make gazillions of TV ads in swing districts (yes, I’m looking at you, leftist southeast Virginia Rep. Elaine Luria) with liberals trying to pin “abortion access” – or lack thereof -- on their Republican opponents.
These attacks and labels and accusations are unfair and false, but the equally one-sided establishment media has no interest in reporting the important differences between what Democrats say and what is really true. It’s much easier for lazy TV producers to send camera crews to shoot footage of leftist idiots with signs picketing in front of a courthouse or someone’s home than it is to present a civics lesson explaining the distinction. TV news is heavily influenced by imagery – and let’s face it, the average news consumer isn’t concerned with intellectual arguments in the first place.
Because there’s so much intentional distortion by Democrats and their liberal mainstream media allies, politics takes on a particularly nasty edge. Add the ever-present social media platforms to the mix and lofting rhetorical bombs at the other side becomes a daily activity for the left. How many people you know check their social media accounts before they do anything else in the morning?
The sad part is, it (the mood of the country) isn’t likely to improve anytime soon, if ever. Americans root for their party almost in the same manner they cheer for their favorite college or professional sports team, the only difference being every day, every week, every month and every year there’s a political rivalry game. Any losses to the “other team” sting for a long time.
But even in a sports rivalry, there’s a chance for redemption next season. The unfortunate effects of bad political policy can easily last years, decades or a lifetime. In the case of abortion, the terminated unborn baby doesn’t get a second shot at life. And the enormous debts that the current political class are running up will need to be paid at some point down the road, by someone. There’s no such thing as a free lunch. You must pay the piper. Add your favorite cliché here.
For those who rue the day that politics became so ugly and hurtful, remember it’s a slow burn and always has been this way. Today is perhaps worse than in times past because news is instantaneous and liberals don’t bother with educating themselves on the facts. Instead, they run proverbial “trick plays” and break the rules to gain power just so they can set policy. Up until recent years, Republicans didn’t know how to fight back.
Donald Trump became a convenient scapegoat for the left’s “Republicans are so malicious and spiteful” commentators because the New York real estate developer and longtime reality TV star and tabloid presence wouldn’t simply roll over and submit to the generally accepted liberal big government narrative. Trump appeared to relish punching back – and hitting harder. Trump was once a Democrat, right? He cut his media teeth in the school of hard knocks and never, ever, shrunk from a fight.
Other Republicans had tried employing a more combative Trump-like approach, but the former president perfected the art. Trump set the stage for a much more assertive brand of conservative advocate embodied by Senators Ted Cruz (though Cruz was cantankerous to the establishment well before Trump came on scene), Josh Hawley and Tom Cotton. On the House side, Representatives Jim Jordan, Louie Gohmert and more recently, Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert never knew a time when they were expected to remain silent about government’s multitude of injustices and inconsistencies.
Democrats began getting what they’d always given out. And they didn’t like it.
The same with every other attempt at branding your political opponent, Democrats will reach a point where labelling Republicans and conservatives as “fascists” will backfire on them. If anything, the Democrat fondness for dictating and controlling social and consumer behavior will force Americans to take a long hard look at what’s going on in the upper echelons of government.
Republicans aren’t the ones who resemble a second coming of Benito Mussolini or Adolf Hitler. Conservatives have long fought for freedom, individual rights and harvesting the nation’s energy resources (responsibly, of course). Democrats seek to force everyone to take an unproven COVID vaccine and punish those who dare dissent from the liberal concocted “woke” orthodoxy.
The real fascists are the big government socialists who demand behavior conformity. Don’t be fooled.
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