Sunday, July 25, 2010

Refudiate Progressivism for A Return to Normalcy

"A Return to Normalcy." I first heard that phrase from one of my college history professors. He said it with this goofy grin on his face and than looked around expectantly at the class waiting for us all to join in on the joke. We simply stared back at him.

He was speaking about Warren G. Harding whose slogan of "A Return to Normalcy" was mocked by the Progressives as a sign of his stupidity. My college professor pointed out to us that "normalcy" wasn't really a word. I remember thinking 'actually I think I've heard it before' (in fact it passed the spell check test). He went on to explain that Harding and his V.P. choice of Coolidge obviously had questionable intelligence. I confess I don't remember what else he talked about that day but for some reason the whole "normalcy" controversy stuck with me.

Here's the thing normalcy was indeed a word, it was not used all that commonly but now you hear it on a fairly regular basis, I grin whenever I hear some leftist use the term on a news program :)

The past couple of years I've learned more U.S. history than I did in 4 years of University study. Of particular note to me is the history of Progressivism and the slow but sure erosion of our Constitution and freedom due to that ideology (and whatever name they try to disguise it as e.g. Liberalism, Social Justice, Populism). Progressives believe quite simply that they have superior intellect. Well, the problem with having a superiority complex is that you have to spend a bunch of time proving that you are superior and that others and their beliefs are inferior. Hence the attempts to paint Conservatives as dummies.

Woodrow Wilson was supposed to be some big brained intellectual. In fact he was nicknamed "The Professor". But, Harding and much of the nation saw the obvious, Progressivism had screwed up the nation, and work had to be done to get it back to normal, thus the slogan. Progressives rather than highlighting their policies, which are in a word foolish, instead tried to frame the debate in intelligence comparisons, and they've been doing it ever since.

No other politician these days can get the same amount of attention from writing a book as Sarah Palin gets from writing a tweet. Boy, did the media come down on her hard for writing the word "refudiate." I love how the media preaches to their own selves when they come down on her for anything. But, when they threw a fit about "refudiate" I have to say I was laughing out loud, and thought about good ol Harding and his "normalcy." Get this "refudiate" has actually had some use starting in the 1980's. It actually doesn't matter too much, but the fact that it is already being used more popularly in some circles cracks me up. They try and try to mock, but to no avail. I love the word "refudiate" now, and it definitely fits with how I'd like to treat Progressivism refute it and repudiate it, just get rid of it. Oh and by the way the revelations from the Journolist stuff while not surprising are very validating. Please spread the word on that, go to dailycaller.com buzzword journolist.

That same history professor tried to disabuse us of the notion that history repeats itself. I didn't really get that either. I mean the names change, but history is most certainly cyclical. Here in the United States we've been battling utopian ideals (which is Progressive's goal) from the very beginning. Alexander Hamilton stated in Federalist Papers #6 "Is it not time to awake from the deceitful dream of a golden age and to adapt as a practical maxim for the direction of our political conduct that we, as well as other inhabitants of the globe are yet remote from the happy empire of perfect wisdom and perfect virtue?" To that I say 'here, here Mr. Hamilton, Amen to that!' The reason my history professor has to believe that history does not repeat itself is because he has to believe that one of these times utopian ideals will work. The reality is their ideological attempts fail, every time.

So, we continue to stand up for the Constitution and for Conservative values, and Progressives continue to try and push the idea that society can be perfected by government oh and that Conservatives are dumb. Round and round we go on the history cycle. And time and time again principles of freedom turn out to be right and good policy for the nation.

It is a Progressive trait to keep trying the same tactics over and over again even when they don't work. And not just policies I mean campaign tactics. Well, Harding became president. They tried to label Coolidge as a dummy too, because he didn't talk much, roaring 20's anyway? Ronald Reagan was labeled an amiable dunce, well he was an incredibly successful president, ended the cold war and was instrumental in ending an evil empire and bringing down an iron curtain. Maybe that's why I got such a laugh out of the media/leftist/Progressives attempt to use "refudiate" to label Governor Palin. Are you sure you all wanna go there? I mean I hate to break it to you but history does kind of repeat, labeling someone as a dummy hasn't worked out for you all that well, it certainly has worked out well for Conservatives though :)

1 comment:

Robert W. Franson said...

I'm glad you mention "normalcy", because Harding's use of that "non"-word was one of the first things I also remember learning in school about Harding, as evidence of his stupidity; and I've seen it a number of times since.

Your essay prompted me finally to check the Oxford English Dictionary for myself, and sure enough, "normalcy" is listed as a word, with a couple of example listings from the 19ith Century. The OED's 1893 quote from the leftist "Nation" magazine is: "Believers ... in the mathematical normalcy of the female mind" -- whether they meant normality, averageness, limits, or rectitude I couldn't guess without the context.

I rather like "refudiate": it may turn out to be commonly useful, and at least it will generate some nice political-linguistic footnotes.