Thursday, May 22, 2003

Traditional American Values This is cross posted from the Build-a-Meme project taking place at Freedom2004.us. Here's an idea. Let's co-opt one of the favorite slogans of cultural conservatives: Traditional American Values: Democracy, Freedom, Inclusion We could play with the values that are specified at the end. Or we could leave them out altogether. One thing that Clinton did very well was to co-opt elements of the right's agenda. While it was extremely frustrating for those of us on the left, it did buy him a lot of credibility with the center. The right had been hammering the issues of "welfare reform" and WTO/World Bank style globalism and smaller government for years. They had defined these policies, with varying degrees of defensibility, as growing from traditional American values. The left had done an awful job of defining the debate and the center (which usually doesn't read issues too deeply) bought the issues as defined by the conservatives. Well, I submit that we should learn from this success and refine it. Co-opt their language while sticking by our issues. Honestly, their language is usually deliberately vague, and is ripe for poaching. Who here doesn't believe that our values are traditional American values? Let's bring the center onboard! What can I say, I'm still angling for my parade. 8:02:15 PM    Put your John Hancock right here!

More Meme Themes Here are more ideas for the Build-a-Meme project. (Riffing off Art Jacobson's ironic compassion theme.) Join the hue and cry! Compassion doesn't mean what you think it means! With compassion like this, who needs contempt? With compassion like this, who needs enemies? Compassion - action = pity! Closeup of the Statue of Liberty's face with the word balloon: "No more compassion, you're killing me." Compassionate conservative, or conservative with your compassion? I realize that all of these are negating, rather than affirming. I do feel that we need to focus more overall on the positive memes that offer a real alternative, and not just a reaction to bad policy. That being said, we do need to put some energy towards revealing the lie of the neocon myths. This is a brainstorm to that end. Ah! And I just thought of a positive one: Truth, Justice, and the American Way! (Too corny? Ah, AOL Time/Warner probably has it trademarked. Damn.) Alright, one more on the negative side: Another Bush, Another Recession, Another War. Another Term? We won't be fooled again. 7:46:54 AM    Put your John Hancock right here!