Paying taxes is “patriotic.”
America needs to restore its “moral standing” in the world.
The wealthy should provide for the poor.
Democrats are increasingly invoking guilt and shame refrains to twist the arms of Republicans and scare the general public into supporting sweeping policy changes that could turn America into a cannibalizing collective of coerced self-sacrifice, a nation of apologetic automatons who couldn’t find John Galt with two hands and a GPS tracking device.
As President Obama and his administration of scofflaws take daily to the megaphones to convince average Americans to hand their earnings over for the greater good, it’s becoming more and more permissible to treat the public like petulant children, waving their condescending fingers in our faces and urging us to “do what’s right.” And now they’re slapping shiny “Recovery.gov” logos on public works projects so you’ll know just who to thank. We should all want to make Daddy proud, it seems.
Guilt and shame, bandied about in 2009 with reckless abandon, have long been the go-to weapons of the Democratic Party.
Thomas Frank scolded Middle America in the book, “What’s the Matter with Kansas,” tsk-tsking these simpletons for not voting their economic interests. If they knew what was good for them, they’d vote Democratic.
Young voters are assaulted by Hollywood and the media, who tell them that if they want to be cool and popular, they’ll cough up the extra dough for green products, and vote Democratic.
Families looking to get the best deals on groceries, cars, gas, and coffee, are told by environmentalists that if they want to be responsible parents and protect their children, they’ll vote Democratic.
Blacks and Hispanics are told that if they want better health care, better services, better education, and better housing, they must shun the party of the old white guy, and vote Democratic.
Gays and lesbians are told that if they want equality and tolerance, they must shun the bigots on the Right, and vote Democratic.
And women are told that if they respect women’s rights and want to be viewed as equals, they have to embrace – and help subsidize! – abortion, and, of course, vote Democratic.
Shame and guilt have been particularly effective in scaring blacks and women away from the GOP. And the language used by liberal opinion-makers to do it is nothing short of disgusting.
In 1999, Bill Maxwell, a black columnist for the St Petersburg Times, wrote:
“By all standards, some creatures are just plain strange, making us do double takes because their compositions or habits or appearances defy our sense of logic and our way of viewing reality. Take the wildebeest, the warthog, the hyena, the brown pelican, the Sharp-Pei. These animals, seemingly wrought by committee, make us laugh or shake our heads. Another such creature, of the human kind – and perhaps the strangest of all – is the black Republican.”
In the startling op-ed, he went on to imply that black Republicans are “sycophants, whose raison d’etre is pleasing their white ‘superiors.’” It’s no wonder Michael Steele thinks he has to speak in awkward hip-hop. Would blacks on the other side of the aisle call him a sycophant if he didn’t say things like “slum love” and “off the hook?”
Gloria Steinem once called Kay Bailey Hutchinson a “female impersonator.” She said, “Having someone who looks like us but thinks like them is worse than having no one at all.”
And Barbara Boxer questioned Condoleezza Rice for being unmarried and childless, implying that she’s not really even a woman. Is anyone surprised that Sarah Palin – a governor – was unqualified to be vice president, but Caroline Kennedy – a Kennedy – was considered for the United States Senate?
Black Republicans betray their race and Republican women betray their gender. And now the Democrats will try to convince us that universal healthcare, national banks, stronger labor unions, regulation of the airwaves, green energy initiatives, mandatory community service and, of course, higher taxes on the wealthy, are things that all good, responsible and moral people should want and embrace. And those who don’t will be cast out as village idiots (President Bush), self-serving obstructionists (Rush Limbaugh), and obsequious traitors (Michael Steele).
This is high school peer pressure at its worst. If the Democratic philosophies and policies are so good for so many people, why do they need guilt, shame and coercion to convince someone to buy them? Good principles are self-evident, and shouldn’t require a dance and a sales pitch.
A couple of weeks ago CNN reported that guilt over the recession was forcing some Americans – even those who could afford it – to forego vacations this year. NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams said getting away in 2009 “wouldn’t seem appropriate.” Looks like Operation Shame and Guilt is going just according to plan.
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