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July 28, 2010

Right Movement - Wrong Slogan?

Michael Medved writes that if conservatives want to succeed in taking our government back, we need to drop the popular but misguided slogan about "taking our country back."

[...] Yes, an arrogantly incompetent president has combined with a corrupt collection of nanny-state, leftist hacks to grab (temporary) control of the Washington levers of power, but that doesn't mean that America itself has been seized or stolen. Clear-thinking conservatives can never lose sight of the fact that the nation, with its free market economy and incomparably dynamic private sector, is always bigger and better and, ultimately, more powerful than the government.

... the notion that we've lost the country itself - that America is "done," as one of my talk show colleagues recently proclaimed on air- only undermines the prospects for political success. Regaining control of Washington, D.C., after all, remains a less daunting undertaking -- and a vastly more achievable goal--than "taking back" an entire nation that's somehow been lost.

[...] There's also an unmistakable, uncomfortable whiff of racial animus in demanding to regain lost control of "our country" during the term of America's first non-white president. Naturally, left-wingers will seize on any excuse to charge their conservative adversaries with hatred of black people, and they have logically asked, "from whom, exactly, do conservatives mean to take their country back?" From liberals, or from people of color?"

He's right, to a point. But on the one hand, Medved's piece is a bit too squishy and touchy-feely, and kowtows to the Democrats' playing of the race card, for my taste. What he seems to not realize is that we did indeed begin to loose our country the minute Barack Obama became president and the Democrats took control of Congress. Since then we've lost many freedoms and rights, and our Constitution has essentially been ignored -- all of which must be "taken back" and reversed by taking control of Congress and then the presidency.

On the other hand, "Take back Control of Washington" is indeed more precise than "Take Back Our Country," and it fits almost as well on a bumper sticker.

Related: Republicans with a Positive Governing Agenda

Posted by Richard at July 28, 2010 11:43 AM

• Right Movement - Wrong Slogan? - Jul 28, 2010