Blog For Arizona

What's in a Name? The New Political Marketplace.

Caveat Emptor- let the buyer beware. The labels don't match the goods these days. The latest regressive California initiative, number 54, goes by the misleading monicker "The Racial Privacy Initiative". It is sponsored Ward Connerly, the Wrong Wing-Nut columnist and activist, whose misleading political PR could have served as a model for Bush's. Ward's Prop 209, which ended affirmative action in California's government sector, was touted as the "Civil Rights Initiative".

In CNN: Politics Erwin Chemerinsky, a very well respected authority on constitutional law and federalism, explains why CA's Prop 54 is not only bad for minorities, it's bad for the state, bad for rational governance, will cost the tax payers of CA dearly, and is unconstitutional to boot. Chemerinsky points out that the two work wonderfully together; 54 leaves minorities farther and farther behind, while 209 covers it up by preventing the collection of relevant racial statistics. Ah, the joys of privacy...

The irony may be that the presence of this noxious piece of hate on the ballot could drive minorities to the polls, disrupting the GOP's plot to take over the State House with their Terminator tool.

Howard Dean, of course, hates 209, and supports affirmative action. He has also opposed Arizona's own flirtation with thinly desguised and inaptly named racism, "Protect America Now".

Dean seems to oppose all programs and laws that can't quite seem to say what they really mean.

"Healthy Forrests" for unrestricted and legally unenjoinable logging.

"Clear Skies" for self-regulation of air pollution.

"Leave No Child Behind" for systematically forcing underperforming kids to drop out and then jiggering the statistics.

"National Energy Strategy" for a squalid giveaway of billions of taxpayer dollars to oil, coal, and nuclear producers.

"Economic Stimulus" for tax cuts that have carried us so far into debt that there is no hope they will have any stimulative effect.

"Operation Iraqi Freedom" for the occupation of a beaten, factured nation; more accurate would have have been the original name given it by Pentagon wordsmiths, "Operation Iraqi Liberation". The acronym would then have fittingly been O.I.L.

"PATRIOT ACT" for a law any patriot would spit on. And now, Ashcroft's latest dish of bulldookey, the "VICTORY ACT", designed to finally give the federal government victory over our pesky civil rights.

The language itself has become misshapen by the GOP's manipulation of it. Weakening a regulation is "streamlining" and "reform", logging a forest becomes "thinning", benefits become "entitlements", Social Security becomes just another "retirement benefit" no different than a 401K or IRA. There are so many more; leave your favorite examples of GOsPeak in comments, please.

Most of those who are supporting Dr. Dean are those willing and able to look past the headlines and examine what those labels are stuck to. Those who strongly oppose Dr. Dean also know what hides behind the wrapper, and relish a taste of iniquity.

But most people haven't the time or interest to get behind the packaging. It's what the GOP counts on. If people did, most would be horrified by the toy surprises inside. It's up to us to tell them. Lies the size of those the GOP have learned to tell don't go away on their own, nor can any one man dispell them. It takes an army of informed and caring citizens to ensure that the truth is heard.

314,892 and counting...

posted by Michael Bryan @ 8/23/2003 01:36:00 PM