babbling blue

One things conservatives do particularly well (better than liberals, who do it also) is demonizing things that don’t fall into their narrow view of how the world should be. Either they smear an organization or idea so much that its name becomes a dirty word, or they just “re-brand” the concept for their own purposes. The re-branding is often highly inaccurate.

Let’s look at some examples.

ACLU
This is a favorite target among social conservatives in particular. They can’t say “ACLU” without sneering (or maybe even spitting). To them, it’s the enemy of the people. And they bash it so much that those who are inclined to listen–like many Fox (Faux) News viewers–think of it as a terrorist organization. Many of them probably don’t even know what “ACLU” stands for. It is, of course, the American Civil Liberties Union. According to their website:

The ACLU is our nation’s guardian of liberty. We work daily in courts, legislatures and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States. Our job is to conserve America’s original civic values – the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

That doesn’t sound so bad, does it? Of course you can’t go by a blurb on an organization’s own website. But I’m not; I know what they stand for and what they do. And while I don’t agree with every position they take or jump onto their every cause (you have to choose your battles), in general I think they work for the greater good. If “liberty” is going to become a dirty word, then we have some monuments to rename and some major historical documents to edit.

Pro Choice (Pro abortion)
When the appropriate term for something sounds too harmless to properly slander, the right will simply give it a new name more evocative of the evil they claim it represents. Take the abortion debate. “Pro Choice” doesn’t sound bad. So the right invented the totally inaccurate term “pro abortion” to describe that position. It implies Pro-Choicers are somehow in favor of abortions. That we go around looking for pregnant women and ask them “Pardon me miss. I see you’re with child. Have you considered aborting it?” The idea that we like or encourage abortions is insulting. Pro-Choicers believe exactly what the correct term implies: a woman has the right to choose what is best for her.

The concept of abortions is something I personally struggle with. I consider myself Pro Choice, but I don’t like the idea of abortions being done as some sort of substitute for other forms of birth control. It’s not something I think should be done lightly. It’s also not something I’d ever presume to tell a woman what she can or cannot do about it.

Estate Tax (Death Tax)
Another example of rebranding is with the estate tax, which conservatives have dubbed the “death tax”. In this case, the new name is largely a method to mislead those who don’t really understand the issue. No one thinks it’s fair to get taxed for passing away. Of course, if you’re dead, what do you care? You don’t own anything any more. But that’s beside the point, because the tax is levied against your heirs on their inheritance from you. It’s not levied against your corpse. It’s not a death tax.

What most people fail to realize is that the federal estate tax applies to only to about 2% of American families. That’s the richest 2%. The current law exempts $1.5 million per person or $3.0 million per couple and that amount is set to gradually increase to $3.5/$7.0 million by 2009. Oh, and money that goes to spouses or charitable organizations are also exempt. That means if you inherit $10,000 from Grandma when she passes on, the tax collector will not be knocking on your door. But if you’re Paris Hilton and mumsy leaves you a $500 million when she checks into that great luxury hotel in the sky, you have to pay up. Oh boo hoo, how unfair! How will you survive?!

The estate tax is not a death tax, and it doesn’t affect any but the richest people in America. And it produces important revenue that the government desperately needs. The idea that small businesses and family farms are destroyed by this is mostly a myth; they can be further protected by reforming the law instead of repealling it. But of course, no one wants to get taxed for dying.