How and Why #Shutuppery Works

Posted on Comments

A point I made Saturday at The American Spectator:

When so many cultural institutions, from the news media to Hollywood to your local university campus, are utterly dominated by liberal Democrats, there inevitably arises a stigma toward conservative ideas and Republican politics. When people are hammered day after day by the relentless partisanship of what the late Andrew Breitbart called the “Democrat-Media Complex,” when movies and TV sitcoms habitually mock or demonize Republicans, when conservative college students are afraid of their liberal professors and radical campus activists, who can blame anyone for thinking there is something wrong with being a Republican? Cast under this shadow of stigma and suspicion, many Republicans seem to internalize the negative stereotype of themselves, to become defensive and apologetic — “Please don’t hate me” — and generally to act as if they are guilty of doing something wrong. . . .

Please read the whole thing. Republicans who send out signals of weakness and fear are, in effect, inviting attacks. And because so many Republicans lack either the courage to fight back or the skill to fight back successfully, their enemies are emboldened.

Organizations have images — reputations — and if a negative perception develops, that perception tends to become self-perpuating. The Republican Party is currently perceived as an organization of selfish, cowardly losers, and this makes it difficult for the GOP to attract support from people who admire generosity,  strength and success. The party is increasingly defined by its whining pathetic supporters.

From the perspective of the neurasthenic weaklings who now run Republican politics, anyone who wants to stand up and fight for principles is considered a troublemaker. Ted Cruz? Mike Lee? Rand Paul? No, the GOP leadership doesn’t want to elect people like that. They want smooth-talking sellouts like Lindsey Graham and good ol’ boys like Mitch McConnell who understand that the job of Republicans is to “compromise” by giving Democrats everything they want.

Well, who in their right mind would fight on behalf of a such a party? Who would risk their reputation, their comfort, perhaps even their livelihood, to defend the Republican Party, when the party itself is run by wimps who only care about their own re-election?

Think about this: When Lady Liberty and Sister Toldjah came under fire by North Carolina Democrats, did anybody in the North Carolina GOP apparatus stand up for them? Hell, no.

You cannot win in political combat by continually retreating. If you ever hope to win, you must first determine to fight. And once you’re in the fight, you must never stop fighting until you win.

 

89 comments

  1. “Reputation is what other people know about you. Honor is what you know about yourself. The friction tends to arise when the two are not the same.”

    …

    “Guard your honor. Let your reputation fall where it may. And outlive the bastards.”

    — Lois McMaster Bujold, A Civil Campaign

  3. The GOP and the Democrats have blended into one big party. It’s hard to be tough when you really have the same goals.

  5. We stuck up for each other here in NC, along with other ladies who had been attacked prior to the dox performed on us.
    #TeamPushBack prevailed and continues to do so. Those who attacked me and Sister Toldjah beclown themselves on a daily basis. We ignore them for the most part and continue doing what we do.

  7. At one time, Ross Douthat seemed almost to apologize for what he was advocating, as if his audience were a bull session run by Matthew Yglesias. He has improved since that time.

    —

    A modest appendix to your remarks: there is no portside equivalent to The American Conservative, which is to say a publication which is largely vacuous and exists only to offer complaint about the main currents of thought within the Republican Party.

  8. “We ignore them for the most part and continue doing what we do.”

    At times that’s the only thing you can do. And y’all do good work.

  10. The reason the polls show low numbers for repubs is likely due to people like me who have low regard due to the republicans who voted YES with Oby. The talking heads think it’s because of Cruz and Lee. Nope. It’s McCain Boehner and McConnell who have me in disgust about the republicans.

  13. Only problem with that line is not one in a hundred “informed citizens” under thirty in this country knows who Petain was…. or much of anything else. Their last informed vote was for Sanjaya on American Idol.

  15. Sounds like something Vince Lombardi would have said: You cannot win in political combat football by continually retreating. If you ever hope to win, you must first determine to fight. And once you’re in the fight, you must never stop fighting until you win.

  17. Today’s Republican Party is nothing to which I’m willing pledge (to other conservatives) my life, my fortune, my sacred honor…

  18. The left has always had safety in numbers. Not one of them could withstand the onslaught that a conservative has to weather day after day. Not one of them could withstand what they dished out to Bush. The current POTUS can’t tolerate it when there is just one voice challenging him on anything. Why any in the GOP are even willing to suck up to anyone on the left for approval, is beyond me. I would bother to waste my time seeking the approval of scum. The GOP acts like the “out” girl wanting “in” with the clique when the clique is made up of self-absorbed bullies.

  20. The eGOP has no core principals. There is nothing they won’t sacrifice to further their own interests. 16 days into the partial shutdown the world did not end. And then just when most sane people realized the slowdown was no big deal, the eGOP folded faster than a cheap suit. And gave away everything.

    With these guys in charge, the nation is going to continue to spiral down the drain and into the cesspool that is the inevitable result of “progressive” policies.

    Washington is not the answer, it is the problem. Washington isn’t going to fix itself.

    That leaves us to fix it.

  21. If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilisation, it expects what never was and never will be…

  22. I just finish reading your excellent article at the American Spectator, it is spot on! It’s time for the Republicans to take a stand for our principles and do it with a clear, continuous message. I feel like the Democrats in Congress are leading most of the Republicans around by the nose most of the time. It’s hard to see the contrast of the two political Parties sometimes.
    I may be dramatic but, we are at a turning point politically. We either stand up for America or Congress is going to mesh into a one Party system and all is lost.

  24. I’ve been following this thing since Reagan when I was converted from being a liberal stooge. I would say the Republican prospects have never been lower than now in its current array of spineless weasels.

    The Republicans have allowed the media rats to paint them as mean spirited irrelevant selfish old white guys who hate minorities, the sainted homosexuals and the poor. So they boot lick the left to try to disprove that. A futile effort.
    I’m wondering if the only hope is to move to the heartland and try to build strong conservative communities that will resist the parasitic left and maybe pick up the pieces if the car goes off the cliff.

Comments are closed.