A number of people have made the point that the Frost family, whose son Graeme went on the air to rebut President Bush's SCHIP mendacity and was subsequently attacked by right wing bloggers and talking heads, are actually a conservative Republican wet dream. E.J. Dione does it today:
Conservatives claim to be in favor of stable families, small businesses, hard work, private schools, investment and homeownership. So why in the world are so many on the right attacking the family of Graeme Frost?
Why? A number of folks say that it's because the right wing is always in war mode, always ready to attack anyone -- even a 12 year old -- who questions their political positions. Others say it's because they are just meanies, like Dionne says. Others are just perplexed and use this to demonstrate the idiocy of the right wing noise machine.
But I think it gets deeper than any of those reasons. Graeme Frost's family actually proves the conservatives wrong, demonstrating in one crisp clear shining example that even if you do everything the American myth tells you to your family may still need a helping hand to get by!
On the economic message the Frosts own their own business and commercial property, have two jobs, work hard and own their own home. On the social front, they are a white nuclear family that goes to church and stayed married even after the incredible stress of two kids being severely hurt in a car accident that was not their fault. On the education side, they used government support (like vouchers) to opt out of public school and go to private school.
They work hard, own property, didn't divorce, had children, use private schools and they still need extra help from the government just to get by.
This goes against everything the conservative Republicans tell us about how to live our lives. They tell us if we live like the Frosts we will succeed and have great lives and retirements. And if someone does need government help she is a welfare queen or he is a crook.
But the Frosts, and hundreds of thousands (and maybe millions) or other families in the United States, demonstrate perfectly that the conservative Republican myth is a, well, myth. The right wingers must prove that the Frosts are corrupt, cheating the system, liars in order to protect their ethos.
It's the same reason that soldiers who spend three tours in Afghanistan in Iraq who oppose the war are "phony soldiers" or too weak of mind to think for themselves. It goes against the Myth of the Valiant Soldier Who We Must Always Support.
It's the same reason evangelical Christian leaders who want to expand poverty programs or environmental controls are booted out of the Dobson family. It goes against the Myth That The Poor Are Poor By Choice and the Myth That Jesus Is Coming So Who Cares About The Earth.
It's the same reason the people stuck in the Superdome were perverts, child molesters and murders. It goes against the Myth That If They Didn't Deserve To Suffer They Would Have Gotten Out Earlier.
And now the Frosts show up with their pin and pop the The Myth Of The Hard Working White American Family and the rabid beast was awakened again. The right wingers hope that if they scream loud enough no one will notice that they were, once again, dead wrong and their policies and beliefs do not stand up to any kind of experiential or logical examination.
It's better to destroy a family than to destroy a Myth.
UPDATE: Thank you to everyone who commented and recommended this piece. I am VERY flattered. A number of people have suggested that this piece would make a good newspaper or "MSM" piece, but since this is not under my real world name I can't do it. So I am releasing it under creative commons. It's all yours, have fun with it!
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