Balderdash?

As a Christian, and therefore, as a Conservative, (to separate them is to render each word meaningless), I have finally reached the limit of my tolerance for the hijacking of discourse by those who are neither Christian nor Conservative. Time and time again, talking heads with a hard-charging leftist agenda select a buzz word, use it slightly (or not so slightly) out of context, and slowly (or not so slowly), the meaning of said word morphs into one that can and will be used against those of us with a more conservative outlook.

Though I know it could not have been the first time it happened, I first noticed this with the word, "Progressive." This word has been around describing a political mindset for generations. Then suddenly those people, who realized that even the unwashed masses were catching on to the true danger of the thinking of a "Liberal," began preferring to call themselves "Progressive." It was pounded into America's collective psyche by the alphabet networks. The Liberals who began the trend were aware that the same viewing audience that had "lottery" as a top internet search word would be slow to notice and catch on. The politics never changed, except to move ever more to the left. Now, those who choose to be called Progressives, aren't so politically speaking, and are even less so by definition!

From my standpoint, this hijack attempt was brazen enough on its face. But it wouldn't have been much of a problem except for one thing: we Conservatives bought into it. Radio hosts, columnists, conservative TV hosts, and even election opponents used the word "Progressive" over and over. Sure, it may have been intended to be respectful, but it was their word -- a Trojan Horse of sorts. Despite this effective language change, Republicans still won most of the important races, and the most important race -- this time. But the reeducation of America as to the true and current meaning of "Progressive" must begin immediately!

It has begun to happen again. It came to my awareness, however slowly, during the Stanley Williams parade. There was much talk about the perceived inconsistency of being both Pro-Life and Pro-Death Penalty. As Christians we often hear the accusations of inconsistency from those who are ill-informed, or ill-equipped and too arrogant, or too ignorant, to have an honest discussion about what inconsistencies are!

Again we Conservatives fall prey to letting our opponents define our beliefs for the sake of their arguments. We try to engage them with their carefully chosen vocabulary, which inhibits the ability to expose their own inconsistencies. We allow, and therefore agree, that we are both Pro-Life and Pro-Death. No matter how intelligently we try to have this discussion, a Liberal, sounding much like your teenager trying to change the meaning of your "Maybe" or "We'll see," will keep coming back to, "But you can't be Pro-Life and Pro-Death!" Okay.

Let's use their tactics and change the vocabulary. From now on, I'm Anti-Abortion, not Pro-Life. My pro-life stance is not, and cannot be absolute. I am not in support of the continued life of a shotgun killer. I am in support of the penalty of his death.

The next word I'd like to address is "support," as in, "I support the troops, but I'm against the war." Or, "If you support the troops you'd bring them home!" If a person wants support, shouldn't that person be able to define what that support would look like? Isn't it funny how the people who "support" the troops do not "support" their efforts? And isn't it odd that the troops who are getting all this "support" from those who do not "support" their efforts overwhelmingly "support" the man who sent them there? Do the troops really want the word "but" used in their definitions of what "support" means to them?

The word "support" has therefore been rendered meaningless in this context. The only way a person who is against the war can "support" the troops in my mind, is to build them a bridge to march across! From now on, we Conservatives need to refer to our attitudes toward the troops in terms much stronger than the word "support." We need to radically distinguish ourselves from liberal thinking, and liberal talking. We cannot limit our feelings by their vocabulary. And our feelings should not be limited to words, but need to be characterized by actions.