Faith, Family, Freedom…and a Progressive Agenda

I was driving through a neighboring county and saw a political poster for a right-wing candidate. I had noticed his sloganeering over the past few months and knew that he was some sort of Tea Party-aligned individual. The slogan on his poster read: “Faith, Family, Freedom.” To be honest, I had a Pavlovian experience. In looking at those three words placed together all I could do was grunt. I knew exactly what this character was advocating.

My wife had a very different reaction. She asked me, why would we on the left side of the aisle permit the political Right to seize those words and define them? I had no response because I understood her basic point.

There is nothing intrinsic about “faith,” “family,” or “freedom,” together or separately, that should automatically convey a right-wing vibe. Yet, the reality is that we on the Left have largely allowed the political Right to do just that. In fact, we not only have allowed them to do so, but we have, at various points, turned our backs on these (and similar) words as if the ground had already been lost to the political Right.

So, my wife—and I need to credit her with this—offered a different strategic argument: why not have left and progressive forces take those words and offer our own interpretation? In fact, why not parade around with those words as central to our own agenda and hammer away at the Right? I know, I know…other people have made similar points, but we don’t seem to change our practice.

Let’s consider what we could argue:

In other words, there is nothing about these words, together or separately, that should have caused me to react the way that I did when I saw them. Knowing that this right-wing candidate wishes to bring to mind certain values should not dissuade me and others from contesting this turf. Instead, we need to use terminology as a battleground which we do not abandon.

In another setting, it is called flipping the script.