America’s cadre of blustering boors have always embraced rallying cries, and this season’s rationality-challenged bunch has introduced its own charming additions to the national vocabulary. “MAGA.” “Snowflakes.” “Build the wall.” “Lock her up.” “Fake news.”
Sorry for the typo. That last should be in ALL CAPS. With EXCLAMATION POINTS!!!
Lately, I’ve noticed one old fave conspicuously absent, and that absence is surprising considering the word’s ubiquity just a few short years ago.
It’s not a matter of the word being old and played. Heck, if it’s worth going back the better part of a century to drag “America First” from its well-deserved obscurity, surely a word on the lips of every tricornered Tea Partyer just a decade back can’t be that five minutes ago.
But somehow this word, recently as common on the Right as “Hello” and “OBummer,” no longer seems to be shouted by America’s “I’m Loud So You’re Wrong” set.
The word is “freedom.” And its fall from favor says a great deal about the current Right zeitgeist.
Had to throw in a little German there. Because the disuse of “freedom” and the rise of calls to imprison and deport and hunt witches reflects a shift in the core beliefs of the American Right from Libertarianism to Authoritarianism. The freedom to speak is answered with, “Fuck Your Feelings.” The right to trial is passé if one can simply lock one’s opponents up. The free press, cited by leaders Left and Right as the very foundation of our republic, are now “enemies of the people.”
I’ll confess I used to cringe when hearing the Tea Party set scream the word as though it were a challenge or call to arms. It was as if they were shouting, “I love you!” while snarling and shaking their fists.
Now I find I miss it. Whatever their tone, at least I could relate to their slogan.