On my political and rhetorical approach...

Bellum omnium contra omnes made a very accurate point on the comments page...

You use my quotes as a pseudo representation of the Republican Party (although I'm more of a moderate-Independent, Libertarian).

There is something to that... and here is why I do it--Cognitive Scientist George Lakoff and others are finding that the Brain uses frames, metaphors, and linguistic constructs in certain ways... these are biological.

Lakoff argues that there are--broadly--two frames. He calls them conservative and progressive. He isn't arguing about political philosophy and more so about how peoples brains respond and or react because of things they see, hear, and think... and they have found that everyone has these. He argues there is no such thing as the center... (i.e. "centrists" "independents") because those are just people who use progressive frames in some circumstances and conservative frames in others.

There are two important points to that...

first conservatives use certain language and phrases... these are the tricks of the trade to make people more inclined to support their policies (i.e. words and phrases that are more inclined to cause certain patterns in the brain to fire rather than others).

So I'm learning more and more to pick up on it and point it out to others. Lots of people get offended because they don't think they are conservatives and/or don't like the fact that conservatives undermine our civil liberties, torture at will, and refuse the founding fathers principles of checks and balances and think that their language usage is not a form of acceptance of that. WHich I agree they don't think its a form of acceptance... but it is.

Basically when people use conservative frames they are doing the bidding of the Dick Cheney's and Heritage Foundation's of the world. Its a meme thats spreads for free without any conservative dollars being put to use. Most of McCain's attack adds... you know the Obama next to a white woman ads have been shown very little and have spread across the universe for free in the media and online. People talk to their friends and family with those frames... and poof...

One is inadvertently spreading the conservative frames when you use their words and ways of approaching questions, which increases conservatives ability to impact policy. The more people hear it and think it the more inclined their brains our to use conservative frames and think in terms of conservative frames.

These frames undermine our economy, our solidarity within society, and our communities at large. These frames keep people apathetic, helpless, and frightened to the point of seeing their neighbor and/or those who need our protection as threats to their well being.

I work hard to re frame things in terms of empowerment and protection. They work hard to make people feel that its every man for themselves. Having come up in a Methodist household I stay true to my belief that it is that which we do to the least of these... ironically my passion for the market system has caused me to be even more passionate and committed to those values know that I know my morals and the market system work on the same principles.

So I'm not spoofing quotes... I'm accurately pointing out from the work of Lakoff that you are doing the bidding of authoritarians, statists, and perpetrators of human rights violations... I sincerely doubt that is your intention. But your intention, your will, isn't the question. You can't control that which you have no control over.
--------------
Jim Nichols
A Speculative Fiction
www.JimNichols4.com