Republican Rhapsody
Many of you are too young to remember, but there was a time when Republicans and Democrats weren’t divided. We went to church together. We had each other over for dinner. We hung out together at Little League games. Now Republicans hate Democrats, and Democrats disrespect Republicans. How did this happen?
It happened when a Georgia Congressman named Newt Gingrich determined lying to voters to enrage them would produce more loyal supporters than trying to explain things to them would. No one American has done so much to harm his own country.
In 1990, Gingrich proliferated a pamphlet entitled Language: A Key Mechanism of Control which was sent to Republican candidates running in the 1990 elections. It included a list of “words to use in describing Democrats.” They included “liberal, disgrace, betray, bizarre, cheat, pathetic, failure, radical, taxes, corruption, greed, red tape, hypocrisy, self-serving, traitors, welfare.” The goal was to cause voters to HATE Democrats — not because of what they had done or intended to do, but like Pavlov’s dog, to condition them to hate at the sound of the word “Democrat.”
The pamphlet further said they should “Apply these to the opponent, his record, proposals and party” and “This list is prepared so that you might have a directory of words to use in writing literature and letters, in preparing speeches, and in producing material for the electronic media.”
The candidates and party operatives who use these words know they’re lying; whether or not the haters they inflame know they’re lying is debatable. They’ve been brainwashed, and ironically, the only people they trust are the people who brainwashed them. It’s reminiscent of the Stockholm Syndrome.
Republican voters today display exactly the same behavior that was observed among Southerners in the years immediately preceding the American Civil War: an inability to see facts that conflicted with their world view. It’s called “cognitive dissonance.”
Republicans refer to Democrats as “radical leftists” or “Communists” even though that characterization applies to only a tiny fringe element. You should ask yourself what percentage of Democrats deserve that label, just as you should try to determine what percentage of Republicans are racist or fascist. Most of them aren’t evil; they’re just ignorant. But cognitive dissonance ensures they won’t even hear the facts that would free them from their self-imposed bondage.
Last Friday, Kevin Mccarthy released a document entitled “Commitment to America” detailing his plan for the Republican takeover of America. The author: A resurrected Newt Gingrich. Newt Gingrich destroyed the American political system with his “Contract with America.” 147 Republicans voted to overturn the 2020 election: Kevin Mccarthy was one of them. Newt Gingrich created the cesspool of lies that is today’s Republican Party. Kevin Mccarthy collaborated with Donald Trump in an attempt to reverse the 2020 election. Mccarthy’s mentor is Newt Gingrich.
The power of hate is a curious thing. It resists logic. It precludes reason. And it’s killing our country. Shame on the Republican Party for implementing Newt Gingrich’s strategy of lies and hate. Shame on Mccarthy for resurrecting Newt’s lying strategy. Shame on half of the country for allowing themselves to be so crassly manipulated by a dying political party, so desperate to hold onto power they’re willing to destroy their own country in order to do so.
They say =high minds debate ideas; those who are slightly less talented focus on events; and the lowest levels of intellect focus on people. Republican campaign rhetoric has degenerated into dog-whistles — Hillary, Obama, Dr. Fauci, Hunter Biden — each evoking a patchwork of lies, half-truths and exaggerations. I’m reminded of Freddy Mercury’s second most famous hit (after Bohemian Rhapsody), “Somebody To Love.” Imagine an aging Newt on stage, microphone in hand, crooning “Can…anybody…find…me…somebody to hate?”
Don’t credit my haters with originality; they learned it from Newt.
Les Pinter is a contributing columnist and a Springville resident. His column appears weekly in The Recorder. Pinter’s book, HTTPV: How a Grocery Shopping Website Can Save America, is available in both Kindle and hardcopy formats on Amazon.com. Contact him at lespinter@earthlink.net