“Everyone is in favor of free speech. Hardly a day passes without its being extolled, but some people's idea of it is that they are free to say what they like, but if anyone else says anything back, that is an outrage.” ― Winston Churchill
A basic fact of discussion, or argument if you will, is that one side will resort to ad hominem attacks and/or name-calling when they can’t defend or articulate their opinion. If you’ve spent even a nanosecond on social media, you’ve seen this in action. The running joke is that when the other side calls you “Hitler,” you’ve won the argument. Sadly, there is much truth to that joke.
Name-calling, or labeling, has been used likely as long as humans have been communicating. Typically, it is employed to gain some sort of advantage. The most successful 20th Century use of labeling was when the National Socialist German government blamed the Jews (and other groups) for every wrong, leading to a pogrom of extinction. But America also has a long history of labeling. Early on, Papists (Roman Catholics) were a targeted group. Then followed any ethnic group that immigrated to America in large numbers: Irish, Italians, Eastern Europeans, Scandinavians and Chinese. The American Indians and Blacks got it worse than everyone else by nature of their origin (indigenous “savages” and “slaves”) with their skin color making them easily targeted. We’d like to believe we moved beyond this, but sadly, not so.
One of the primary tactics of the Democratic Party is to divide people. After more than a century of denigrating black Americans, the Democrats got on board with the Civil Rights Act in 1965 and used that as a platform to pander to black voters. If anyone looks at history, a black American should never, ever vote Democrat, yet they still do by overwhelming numbers. Look what they have to show for it: generational poverty, a huge percentage of single-parent families, unemployment, substandard education, huge incarceration rates, high murder and crime rates. Moreover, any successful black person who doesn’t toe the Democratic Party line is demonized and called names. Witness the ongoing smear campaign against Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.
Being so successful with the black population, the Democrats, started working on other segments of the population. In the 1980s they began idolizing the homosexual population, which has turned into their worship of LGBTQ+Pedophiles today. People who didn’t get on board were called “homophobes,” today they are "transphobes." When the “religious right” began gaining power, they vilified Christians, mocking them as brain-dead, mouth-breathing, bible-thumpers. When the TEA Party became a thing a decade and a half ago, they began calling middle-class white Americans names. After 9/11, anyone who called out the Muslim religion for what really is, was vilified as an “Islamophobe."
Obama and Hillary! turned name-calling into an artform. “Gun-toting, bible-thumping, rednecks,” and “Deplorables” have entered our national lexicon. The demented puppet and his regime have doubled-down on the name-calling. If you didn’t follow the orders of Dr. Fauci, you were labeled a “science denier.” Anyone opposed to people streaming into the country across our borders is “anti-immigrant,” which is hugely ironic since we are all immigrants. Hypocritically, they sport bumper stickers claiming “Jesus was an Immigrant.” Funny how Christianity and the Constitution, both of which they despise, are employed when convenient for them.
Which brings us to today. There recently was an opinion piece published by the New York Times that was written by Susan Stubson, a lawyer from Casper. Mrs. Stubson has jumped on the “Christian Nationalist” bandwagon and blames whatever that group is supposed to be for all the ills of the Wyoming Republican Party. Being unable to actually articulate what she believes, surprising for such an educated person, Mrs. Stubson immediately resorts to name-calling. Reading between the lines, a Christian Nationalist is someone who puts America First and believes in Judeo-Christian values. She mocked members of the Wyoming Legislature who quoted scripture on the floor to support their arguments.
What is Mrs. Stubson’s actual problem that she is unable to articulate? She, who claims to be a Republican and a member of an evangelical Christian church, doesn’t like it that the crony establishment’s power in Wyoming is being threatened. The members of the Wyoming Legislature she targeted are those who support limited-government, fiscal responsibility, the Wyoming and US Constitutions, and individual rights. In other words, YOU, the grassroots. Elitists, like Mrs. Stubson, don’t like you to be independent. They want the wealthy, connected few to run things and you to follow along like good sheep. You’ll note that she, and all the others like her, can’t speak the truth because then the cat will be out of the bag. Hence, they resort to labeling and name-calling.
So what’s an “Ultra-MAGA, Deplorable, Christian Nationalist” do? We tend to do what is best: laugh at them, embrace their labels, and mock them. As someone commented on social media, “If Susan Stubson is not a Christian Nationalist, does that make her a Satanic Globalist?” It is a legitimate question, especially since she is unwilling or unable to articulate her beliefs.
Why don’t they just move someplace with a population that embraces their beliefs and leave us alone?
Those of us who believe in Wyoming and the Freedom this state represents, don’t understand why the people who hate individual responsibility, small, limited government, liberty, and freedom continue to live here. They embrace the edicts of the Democratic Party and the dictates of the federal government. They mold our state government to benefit them and their cronies and sign on to every federal program to get funding and the associated reduction in freedom that comes along with the money. Why don’t they just move someplace with a population that embraces their beliefs and leave us alone?
In the sake of fairness, we admit to calling people names in our blogs, but other than the “blue-dot republicans” and “crony establishment” we try to limit our name calling to descriptive adjectives of an individual. Unlike “them,” our goal is not to divide, just to reveal the truth.
This blog post was written on Memorial Day, which is fitting. Originally called Remembrance Day, the origin began with families of Confederate dead honoring their soldier’s sacrifice before it quickly was adopted by families of Union soldiers. Today, we honor all those American’s who paid the ultimate sacrifice to maintain not only our freedom, but the freedom of many others around the world. The funny thing is, all of those we honor have been labeled and called names at one time. Death does not care if you are black or white, male, female or confused, straight or homosexual, Christian or Muslim, rich or poor. The price of Freedom and Liberty has been paid for by every segment of the American population. When we honor the dead today, we honor an American, not a Christian Nationalist, a White Supremacist, a Communist sympathizer, a Jew, a Catholic, or any specific race. They are all Americans.
Recognize name-calling for what it is, a sophomoric attempt to deflect and the inability to articulate an opinion, all with the goal of dividing us and making us fight amongst ourselves. We are better than that; we are Americans.
We’ll leave you with this quote from Winston Churchill:
“When there is no enemy within, the enemies outside cannot hurt you.”
E Pluribus Unum
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