Not This Time

1980. I was 23 years old. I remember watching the presidential debates with my father, and thinking, “Is Reagan serious?” My father, who was a genuine cynic said, “This guy is going to win! People love this kinda bullshit!” I can’t remember exactly what I said, but I’m sure it was a sarcastic remark.

The day after election day, my father said, “I told you he was going to win.” Well, I was young, no wife, no kids, in a band that was going to “make it big!” I didn’t worry too much about it. So what if a “B” actor got elected? So what?

I was vaguely aware of some of the stupid things that were coming out of his mouth. I remember some time in about ’82 or ’83 people were starting to use the word “Liberal” in a sneering, mocking, derisive tone of voice. So what?

I also remember not wanting to reveal how I felt about it all. The conservatives were loud and bold. They aligned themselves with red, white and blue, patriotism, and Mom and apple pie. I felt very defensive, and didn’t want to be perceived as against those things. I slowly began to shy away from the term “liberal.” So what?

The 80’s began to fly by. I wasn’t very political. I started my family. I gave up my dream of being a full-time musician. We invaded Grenada. Hippies oddly morphed into yuppies. Ketchup was redefined as vegetable. Evolution was openly being questioned. The Doobie Brothers, The Eagles, Steely Dan, Bad Company faded away and were being replaced by Huey Lewis, Robert Palmer, Journey, and all those English synthe bands. And conservatives continued to label anyone who disagreed with their pernicious agenda as “liberals.” So what?

1988. Michael Dukakis, a Massachusetts intellectual, secured the Democratic nomination. Surely the nightmare would be over now. George Bush was such a loser! He was unlikable. Then the smear machine started up. Willie Horton TV commercials. Pictures of this scary man and a story of how he terrorized a couple because Michael Dukakis let him out of prison. Then that stupid tank ride. Then the debates.

BERNARD SHAW: Governor, if Kitty Dukakis were raped and murdered, would you favor an irrevocable death penalty for the killer?

DUKAKIS: No, I don't, Bernard. And I think you know that I've opposed the death penalty during all of my life. I don't see any evidence that it's a deterrent, and I think there are better and more effective ways to deal with violent crime. We've done so in my own state. And it's one of the reasons why we have had the biggest drop in crime of any industrial state in America; why we have the lowest murder rate of any industrial state in America. But we have work to do in this nation. We have work to do to fight a real war, not a phony war, against drugs. And that's something I want to lead, something we haven't had over the course of the past many years, even though the Vice President has been at least allegedly in charge of that war. We have much to do to step up that war, to double the number of drug enforcement agents, to fight both here and abroad, to work with our neighbors in this hemisphere. And I want to call a hemispheric summit just as soon after the 20th of January as possible to fight that war. But we also have to deal with drug education prevention here at home. And that's one of the things that I hope I can lead personally as the President of the United States. We've had great success in my own state. And we've reached out to young people and their families and been able to help them by beginning drug education and prevention in the early elementary grades. So we can fight this war, and we can win this war. And we can do so in a way that marshals our forces, that provides real support for state and local law enforcement officers who have not been getting that support, and do it in a way which will bring down violence in this nation, will help our youngsters to stay away from drugs, will stop this avalanche of drugs that's pouring into the country, and will make it possible for our kids and our families to grow up in safe and secure and decent neighborhoods.

SHAW: Mr. Vice President, your one-minute rebuttal.

BUSH: Well, a lot of what this campaign is about, it seems to me Bernie, goes to the question of values. And here I do have, on this particular question, a big difference with my opponent. You see, I do believe that some crimes are so heinous, so brutal, so outrageous, and I'd say particularly those that result in the death of a police officer, for those real brutal crimes, I do believe in the death penalty, and I think it is a deterrent, and I believe we need it. And I'm glad that the Congress moved on this drug bill and have finally called for that related to these narcotics drug kingpins. And so we just have an honest difference of opinion: I support it and he doesn't.

Game.

Set.

Match.

Dukakis’ response was intelligent, cohesive, and measured, but devoid of any passion. He lost the “Average Joe’s” attention by the third or fourth sentence. This was the defining moment of clarity for the neo-conservative movement. An average candidate who talks like the guy down the block can beat an intellectual every time.

Imagine if this was Michael Dukakis’ response:

“Bernard, what an awful thing to say. I love my wife, and I would be heartbroken and angry if that were to happen to her. Emotionally. I would want to kill the guy myself, but we are a nation governed by laws, not by emotions. The rate of violent crime in Massachusetts has gone down without a death-penalty, and in the end that is what we all want. "

Then The Gulf War. Unlike many liberals, I was for the gulf war. We didn’t need another ruthless dictator using military force to increase his influence and power. The thing is, I was appalled at the attitude of President Bush. The night that he announced that we had invaded Kuwait to repel the Iraqi forces, he was not somber. He was gleeful. He had this menacing grin on his face. I was further appalled at the attitude of many fellow Americans. They were thrilled at the prospect of war. They acted as if it was a football game, seemingly oblivious (even callous) to the fact that many innocent people were dying. It was disgusting. There was also the disturbing, orchestrated backlash against the Americans who opposed the war. People were saying that the protestors should be thrown in jail. Huh? This is America. This is a free country. I did not agree with the protestors, but didn’t they have a right to their opinion? Isn’t the democracy healthy when all opinions are allowed to be expressed in an open debate?

A lesson was learned from the Viet Nam war, but it wasn’t the right lesson. The lesson the government learned was, “The press reported the war accurately, and this turned people against the war. The people rose up and convinced the government that it was finally time to leave Viet Nam. We must control the press and the message so this does not happen again.”

After the war though, something happened. The country was in a recession, and the President didn’t notice. The Democrats finally got it right again and nominated someone with charisma. He spoke to the people in a universal language. He was good, and he was also lucky, because one Ross Perot had a personal grudge against George Bush, and he entered the race as a spoiler. Most people who voted for Perot would have voted for Bush, and this helped to put President Clinton in the Whitehouse.

Here is where the story really starts to get creepy. From the moment that Clinton was inaugurated, the smear campaign started. The neo-cons knew that they could not defeat the policies of the left based on principal.

Enter Rush Limbaugh. I believe, more than any other politician, artist, or journalist, Rush Limbaugh is responsible for the predicament we find ourselves in today. He figured out that since he was not a journalist, he did not have to tell the truth. He got on the air, and lied, joked and spun the opinions of millions of Americans away from real issues and toward invented bogus ones. He tapped into the anger of the white man. He railed against feminists, blacks, the ACLU, and of course, “LIBERALS.” He did it with lies. He was able to do it because he controlled the debate. He used fallacious arguments. He argued against a straw-man liberal that never existed in this country. He turned America’s focus away from the deeds of the richest people, and blamed liberals for any and all problems of the middle class.

This is where the fear started. Anyone who dared to disagree with the policies of the conservatives was immediately labeled “LIBERAL.” “Liberals” were soft on crime, they were against hard work, they were against the nuclear family, they were accused of hating the rich because liberals were for a fair and progressive tax structure. Liberals were the “communists” of the 90’s. All lies, but the lies stuck. The lies worked on me. I would express an opinion, and I would be called a “liberal.” It would immediately put me on the defensive. “I’m not a liberal!” Before and after Monica, people would talk about Clinton’s sleazy character. My attitude was, “So? Who do you think runs for president? Mother Teresa?” It still irks me to this day that the Republicans have convinced people that their sleazy characters with their shady skeletons in their closets (usually related to weapons deals and oil money) are somehow morally superior to their Democratic counterparts. When one woman once complained to me about Clinton lying about oral sex, I said to her, “You love Ronald Reagan. He lied about ‘Iran-contra.’ Clinton lied about his sex-life. Which is worse?” With a straight face and a tone of incredulity and condescension she said, “Clinton.”

I have to remember my Jonathan Swift quote at the top of this page.

It worked on the media too. The term “liberal media” put the news organizations on the defensive. If you told the truth, but the truth was in conflict with the government’s story, then you had a “liberal bias.” Outrageous, but it worked!

In 2000, 8 years of a Democrat in the Whitehouse gave us peace, prosperity and a budget surplus. They proved that higher taxes on the wealthy were good for all. This infuriated the neo-conservatives, because they do not want what is good for all. They want a plutocracy. They want to go back to the pre- labor pre-New Deal America. Sadly, Clinton also gave them a sex-scandal, which gave them the country. Bush did not talk about the real issues. He talked about an imagined decline of family values. He wrapped himself in a flag and talked about God and Jesus. And we denied that we were liberals.

Next, the War in Iraq. This time I was with the protestors. Aside from all the bogus reasons they gave us for this war, there was also the “Bread and Circuses” tactic that told people to “blame” the French and turned the public’s attention toward the Dixie Chicks on the first day of the invasion. Worked again.

Limbaugh on the protestors:

"It's beyond me how anybody can look at these protesters and call them anything other than what they are: Anti-American, Anti-Capitalist Marxists and Communists."

Not this time. This time I spoke up. Someone reported me to human resources at my company because I dared to speak out against the war and the Republican administration. Fortunately, HR and my manager were steadfastly on my side, and just explained to me that there was a complaint but that I had a right to my opinion and that there was no problem.

By being on the defensive, we helped them. By being afraid to speak up, we helped them. By not admitting we are liberals, real liberals, we helped them. That was a mistake that I regret, that all of us who are guilty should regret. We should never have let them bully us like that. I don’t anymore. I admit that I am a liberal. I say what I believe. I do what I can to dispel the myths of the likes of Limbaugh. I tell them, “If you want to know what a liberal believes, ask a liberal. Don’t ask Rush Limbaugh because he is a lying drug addict who can’t be trusted.” People need to know that liberals are not the “straw men” that have been invented by the conservative think tanks. We need to tell them at every opportunity. Liberals are not communists. We love America. We believe in the Constitution and The Bill of Rights. If we do not speak up, we are destined to live in an oppressed society of lies.