by Steve Finefrock, founder Hollywood Conservative Forum
If you overhear this conversation – “Those hateful superpatriots, they are so jingoistic about the flag and the salute and the pledge and all that stuff” – the odds are, You’re hearing standard fare from the loose lips of liberals.
If you hear this conversation – “America is a force for peace and decency in the world” – the odds are, You’re hearing genuine voice of conservatives.
If you see flags and bunting in red-white-blue on a stage, odds are, It’s a republican event – or, if a democrat event, odds are the r-w-b was put there as a strategic decision to win over the middle-American vote. Odds are that on a republican stage, it’s just the way things are done for and by any ordinary, i.e. loyal American.
The word patriotic? Odds are, It’s used by conservatives with tears in their eyes; for liberals, it’s a concept of loyalty not to nation, but to party and beliefs in free-lunch legislation. Odds are, The words “traitor” and “disloyal” and “treasonous” are used by conservatives regarding their nation, and odds are also that those words are used by liberals towards ‘disloyal’ red-dogs such as Zell Miller [last decade] and Joe Lieberman [currently, and for a while yet to be] and targets of upcoming targeted TV ads.
Odds are that ‘patriotic’ is used toward faithfulness in nation and creed; odds are also that ‘patriotic’ is for dems’ belief in taxes, regulation, litigation and aggravation. To support our troops is favored by both sides: odds are, by conservatives it’s because they believe in our troops inherent mission and intrinsic decency. Odds are, by liberals that expression is to garner favor among the ‘swing voter’ who abandons the left at the ballot box in every election where the perception was otherwise.
Odds are, When a conservative votes for taxes or regulations, it’s a vote cast with a heavy heart and sad face, borne of desperation. Such as when liberals lured Bush-41 into the Andrews AFB ‘summit’ tax hike, after he’d campaigned to ‘read my lips, no new taxes’ – followed by Carville and Begala characterizing him as untrustworthy because he’d not kept a promise. Odds are, When a Begala-Carville team get into office, raising taxes will be undertaken with gleeful face and a happy heart.
Odds are, When liberals spread freely the free-lunch that comes from taxes, it’s done with joyous satisfaction, whereas the conservative does it because of the temptation of garnering votes. Odds are, a conservative agreeing to taxes and regulations is a failure of belief, tantamount to committing a sin; a liberal so acting is fulfilling a catechism of belief and advocacy.
Odds are, laughter at patriotism and religion comes from the mouths of liberals, who embrace Michael Moore and Al Franken and George Clooney. Odds are, rage at such insults is the expression of conservatives. Odds are, flag pins and draped flags on home walls and fluttering from front-yard flagpoles are the homes of conservatives. Odds are, liberals will scoff at such pretentious displays, while also insisting their yellow-ribbon and other ribbon displays of dedication to tribal causes must be respected as genuine concern.
Odds are, terms like “bible thumper” and “Jesus freak” and “red-neck” and “jingoist” and “super-patriot” as well as “breeder” are uttered freely and without hesitation by liberals. Odds are, possession of guns by someone who publicly disdains the Second Amendment is the hypocrisy – ah, the ‘h’ word used – typical of liberals.
Odds are, “investment” by a liberal is a disguise of tax-hikes and spending hikes as far as the eye can see. Odds are, a conservative sees an investment as yielding improved efficiency and greater wealth for a society, or corporation, or small business. Odds are, tax cuts are disdained by liberals, who feel all taxes are a ‘right’ of the government; odds are, tax cuts are enthusiastically embraced by conservatives’ belief that the money belongs to the person who earned it in the first place.
Odds are, when the media is tolerant of ‘nuance’ in policy expression and implementation, it’s a nuanced utterance of a liberal. Odds are, when Timmy Geithner proclaims there should be no reward for failure, he doesn’t mean the Great Society and its progeny.
Odds are, reassurances that the economy’s fundamentals are solid will be treated with great respect if it comes from Obama’s team; from McCain? You make the call.
Odds are, tears shed at the American flag passing are conservative tears; laughter among the same crowd will be from liberal mouths. Tears shed for an emotive moment of a child is one arena shared by red and blue shirts.
Not much is shared, in the political arena, between the red shirts and the blue shirts. Some similar rhetoric, and the bunting of course – but again, odds are the liberal bunting and rhetoric is cross-dressing. The most important weapon in our arsenal as conservatives is a PGM [precision guided munitions] designed to destroy the wardrobe department of the liberal pretension of love of country. First it was JFK who strategized to get to ‘the right of Nixon’ on defense, then Carter likewise pretended to care for traditional values, next Clinton, and most recently Obama.
Odds are, if they are stripped of their cloak of Americanism, they LOSE. Odds are, the GOP and conservatives are realizing that today, finally, belatedly. And the New Modern Conservative Movement is coming into its own, bearing the torch of a new generation, tested by prosperity, challenged by hostility to classic values, and ready to take the leadership.
Odds are, those new leaders will include Dana Perino, Ari Fleischer, Aaron Schock working with intellectual heft of Jonah Goldberg and John Podhoretz. Other lights are brightening. Including one Hollywood conservative readying for a David-Goliath fight of notable proportions.
The Odds Are: 2010 is going to be a very interesting year. That PGM factory is gearing up, if a bit behind the curve, and new leaders with new variations on an old, reliable theme – conservatism – will re-energize our base, then educate the swing voters, to see thru the cross-dressing of Ali Obama’s Forty Thieves.
Leadership is teachership – some interesting pedagogues are emerging. Repetition is the soul of pedagogy, we must remember – and keep re-igniting the fires, for the odds are, if we don’t, then WHO WILL?
The French? Al Gore? The United Nations? Rahm Emmanuel? Hillary? Oprah? Clooney? Michael Moore? Whoopi? Barbra? Maddow? Oberman? Matthews? Moyers? ABC? CBS? NBC? MSNBC? PBS? NPR?
Remember, and don’t forget, what the ODDS ARE….. they are the U.S. of A., at risk as any Vegas bet on long odds. Those Odds Are U.S.A.
copyright 2009 Steve Finefrock
Finefrock is founder of Hollywood Forum, a speaker-bureau and panel-discussion vehicle to “Bring the Potomac to the Palisades” on issues that overlap politics and culture with the Hollywood film-TV influence on such national concerns. His scripts have addressed politics [including a TV series pilot/bible package about state political combat, called “A State of the Union”], hazardous materials [from twelve years in emergency management, including six years managing FEMA’s Superfund curriculum for hazmat], terrorism, equestrian reincarnation, serial murderer killing journalists in the nation’s capitol, and fantasy about time-wasters. Finefrock is proprietor of PhoneBooth: The Smallest Space in Hollywood…
hollywood conservative forum - opinion journal 