Redstate

By Tim Schieferecke Posted in The Parties — Comments (4) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »

"I pledge allegiance to the America that can be." This statement was given by Hillary Clinton on 'The Tim Russert Show', 11/24/01. On its face, this just sounds like Hillary being Hillary, the snarky elite leftist. But this quote is so much greater than Hillary. It represents what I believe to be the unifying war-cry of liberalism.

I used to believe that there was no effective way to decipher the enigma code of liberalism. I thought they somehow magically evaded the effort at reduction to component parts. This is not the case.

Their infinite layers of nuanced mumbo-jumbo truly have no gestalt qualities! Their this and that and the other liberal thing can be reduced to one conceptual framework. Their raison d'etre is simply this. They view America as perfectable through constant tinkering and overhaul. To quote Obama, they want to "change" America in new ways. Returning her to a nation governed by founding principles is the farthest thing from any liberal's mind. They are the Alter Americans.

One of the problems we as conservatives face in dealing with the wacko bullcrap they spew is how to respond. When the libs get on their soapboxes and say the most assinine, un-American bilge ever spoken by an elected leader, we have been stymied on how to return fire. While it is patently obvious that they do and say things that are un-American, it's impossible to state these facts prima facie-ly and be thought of as anything but an evil hate-monger by the general public. As such, the drive bys have been fairly successful in painting us as a force not to be taken too seriously.

On the conservative side of the spectrum, we could really use an all encompassing term to unite in a more meaningful way. Where the floor of understanding is paved with ambiguity, the devil can always dance the two-step. We tear ourselves apart with the SoCon, DefCon, FinCon labels. This one, or that one is all important say many on this site. But all lack sufficient power alone. Together, they are a super gestalt that can and has trampled lib land like Stonewall Jackson to the sea.

If we could unite under the banner of Originalist Americans, we could become an even more powerful force than the super gestalt conservative. To be an Originalist American is to accept gestalt conservatism and libertarianism with a passion. To an Originalist, change is still possible, but it is always done in a way that returns us closer and closer to original intent.

In engaging our philosophical and political enemies the libs, we could wield the foe-hammer Alter-American like Thor. There would be no defense they could effectively mount to stifle the effects of the term because it is descriptive of their true nature. They want to alter America.

I believe that using the term Alter American could be a very effective strategy in putting them on the defensive. If enough people used the terminology, they would have to explain why they want to fundamentally change American institutions from our Founders' principles. If we referred to ourselves as Originalist Americans, we could find a strength in unity that seems to have evaded us. I'd like to know what you think.