Euphemisms

As the Republican Party resurrect their reactionary anti-Gay, pro-Gun, pro-God platforms yet again, they are refining their obfuscation in order to seduce the electorate to vote against its general interests. They just can't believe that the gimmicks that worked for Ronald Reagan thirty years ago won't still work in 2012. And, they may be right. 

"Social conservative" is the new cover word for homophobic bigot. "Person of faith" is the new word for religious extremist. "Pro-life" is the old standard cover for sexist control freak. "Fiscal conservative" is a nice way of saying wealthy capitalist. 

The American two-party system is rapidly becoming a one-trick pony. Wealth controls political power. Corporate power increasingly controls the people by indoctrinating them from childhood through biased media. National security is used as an excuse to prosecute whistle-blowers. Police are deployed in great numbers immediately whenever there is any sign of urban protest. This is not democracy.

As a gay man, subjected to the daily indignity of watching Rick Santorum being given a respectful ear by all media outlets, I see through euphemisms quite clearly. You can call yourself a "social conservative", but you are still a bigot. You can call yourself a "birther" but you are still a racist. Tolerating these voices is different from encouraging them to aspire to national political power with extensive media coverage.

I believe wholeheartedly in free speech and practice it. Men and women of my generation took our free speech to the streets at great risk to achieve some measure of social respect in this country. Respect for peace and basic human rights for all. The social regression of the past decade and longer has brought us back to attending to those who would restrain us from creating peace in the world. Those who would restrain us from cleaning up the environment. Those whose personal greed for money and power trumps their humanity.