After watching Jon Stewart’s latest take on Wisconsin last night, I’ve decided I have to hand it to Republicans. One thing they’ve always been good at is controlling discourse. And one of the topics they’ve managed to control most effectively is “class warfare.”
Whenever lefties protest the privileges of the rich or extending tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, they’re immediately accused by the right of waging “class warfare.” It’s along the same lines as having the NRA respond to the slightest suggestion of firearm regulation with the cry “they’re trying to take our guns away.”
When I searched on “class warfare,” I found this very perceptive article in the Daily Kos. And the gist of it is this: The Republican agenda makes no bones about favoring the wealthy and penalizing the disadvantaged, but that’s not class warfare – only calling them on it is.
Think about it for a minute. They are blatantly waging class warfare whenever they try to defeat legislation that would give average people a break in areas like health care or minimum wage, or whenever they fail to regulate business and the net effect of that failure is environmental damage that affects people who can’t easily escape it. But even if all of the challenges to them were summarized by the statement, “You are waging class warfare,” they would accuse liberals of waging class warfare by merely bringing it up.
The presumption behind this scenario is that class warfare is an evil thing, something to be avoided in America because we are [supposed to be] a classless society, because this is the land of opportunity and everybody should be rewarded for their success, even when it comes at the expense of somebody else’s misfortune. To be accused of class warfare is tantamount to denying the American dream, and nobody wants to be accused of that. But the Dream went sour long ago. In fact, the Dream has pretty much always been a dream.
When lefties are accused of class warfare, why can’t they just reply, “Damn straight!” and mount a charge. No, the mommy party wants too badly to be liked, to forge bipartisan agreement. Meanwhile, daddy bulldozes right ahead.
Why can’t the left simply call a spade a spade and openly declare class warfare? After all, the right has been waging it all along. They’ve got a cause that’s more than righteous. All they need are the balls. For the mommy party? Dream on.
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