Tom-A-ta,
Tom-MAH-ta ... Patriot, Nationalist …
What’s in a Word?
Published in Marietta (GA) Daily Journal, 11/4/18
Oh,
the stir recently created by a simple, easy to understand word. Words are the vehicles on which our thoughts
ride. The rub comes when someone takes
exception to our choice of vehicles.
Boldly
– how else would he do it? – President Trump at his Houston, TX rally used the
word “nationalist.” That unknowing,
uncaring fellow even declared, “I am a nationalist.”
Well,
so am I. And so is anybody else “who is
devoted to his or her nation” (Webster’s New World Dictionary), “who advocates
for national independence” (The Merriam-Webster 2004 edition) and “who is
patriotic, favoring an independent nation” (my smart phone).
And
how did the chattering class respond?
They threw onto the President’s verbal vehicle a load of fake
definitions. “Nationalist,” one media
star pouted, means “white nationalist.”
Another self-appointed lexicographer insisted that the word means
“nativist,” and “nativist” is an ethno-centric expression that no President
should use.
Of
course the President was using the word “nationalist” in the context of and in
opposition to the word “globalist.” The
semantic path he was taking he had taken before. During his first year in office he stated,
“I’m the president of a nation, not of the world.”
It’s
true that “nationalist” has become a pejorative term, that is, one that has
moved at least partially from respect to disrespect. Consider the word rhetoric which means “the
art of oratory.” Today in common usage it
has come to mean “hot air” (“The politician was merely engaging in rhetoric,”
we say), but not so in formal usage. So
is it with “nationalist.” The word long
pre-dated Hitler, had a noble meaning, and the chattering class knows it. Even so, CNN and MSNBC used the word’s
pejorative meaning as a weapon to associate the President with Hitler.
So it goes. Mind readers are everywhere these days, claiming
the occult power to read our minds and hearts.
Please. Family, tribe, nation, globe. This sociological arrangement has been with
us from Day One. Free sovereign nations
with borders are a good idea, partly because they are typically a coalition of
tribes. I don’t believe I would like
living in a white nation. My black friends
are too big a joy to be without.
Is American liberalism, which in times past
fostered lofty ideals (integration, voting rights) so exhausted that it fusses
about vocabulary words and searches for the President’s every imagined slight? Martin Luther King, Andy Young and other
icons of the 1960s dressed up in coats and ties to march and lead the way for a
cause that was just. Their dignity and
eloquent, precise words contributed to their success.
Contrast
these fearless, rhetorically skilled men to the leftist protestors of today who
dress like the homeless, scream in anger, and hurl vulgar words that do nothing
but turn ordinary people off. To these
people and the progressive elites behind them, nationalism and populism have
become unacceptable words.
In
a span of 25 years the focus of liberals has shifted from the working class to
the themes of multiculturalism and globalism.
The constituency whose support they could always count on is now the
deplorables they can’t corral. This
working class is now the “populists,” another term that repulses and frightens
political elites. These populists, of
course, are also nationalists, and as Salena Zeto puts it in her highly
acclaimed book, “The Great Revolt,” these Trump-supporting populists/nationalists
are “a culture craving respect.”
This
Tuesday, the nationalists/populists will know how much political power they
hold. Will Joe Lunchbox prevail in the
midterm election? Or will victory go to
the media and to Target, Delta, Google, Dick’s Sporting Goods and other
corporatists who have turned their backs on regular folks, siding with the
cultural left instead of their customer base?
Regular
folks rejoice that Donald Trump has flustered the previously untouched news
media, driving them to distraction. They
crave action on several fronts, particularly the growth of the administrative
state with its bureaucrats and unelected executive branch agencies that
actually run the country. They also
desire proper response to migrant mania.
If this makes them “nationalists,” they proudly wear the label.
Trump
has won the hearts of the Democrats’ base, creating a blue collar revolution. If his personal negatives, which are many,
don’t prevent a midterm victory, we can assume that the word “nationalist”
wasn’t a bad choice of words after all, and that normal, hardworking folks, the
demographic that keeps the nation humming, are back in play.
Roger Hines
10/31/18
No comments:
Post a Comment