John Powers writes in The American Prospect that:
Today’s right-wingers have their own TV network, their own branch of Congress, and their own Supreme Court (which unfortunately is ours, too). They have their own Jacobins in the Tea Party and their own shadowy financiers in the Koch brothers (who are presently, or so I’m told, attempting to wrest control of SPECTRE from Ernst Stavro Blofeld). They have their own science (Intelligent Design, global-warming denial) and even their own “stupid things,” as Ronald Reagan once famously called facts.
They also have their own language-you betcha, they do-and they wield it with such demagogic effectiveness that George Orwell himself would stand in awe. …
The last point has inspired Powers to attempt a glossary that should allow even the most apolitical soul to plumb the almost cabalistic mysteries of GOP-speak. You should read it and recommend it to your friends. It hits all, or at least, most of the high points of this sub-dialect; my only complaint is that it is almost too polite. Consequently, I have tried my own hand at compiling some additional terms and refining a few definitions, which, I believe not only captures the essence of many terms in use among GOPers, but also suggests why they feel so frightened by the 99% movement. Hint: the clue is in the first term defined below, “job creators.”
Here, in the spirit of altruism, are a few of my additions to Powers’ glossary. Although they are not specific to Missouri politics, they may prove useful to puzzled Missourians whose only thought after listening to some of our state’s more polished speakers of GOP pidgin is WTF:
Job Creators: Folks who contribute $$$$ to GOP election campaign and who fund lobbyists who, in turn, share the good life with GOPer pols.
Class Warfare: Insisting that the job creators pay their fair share to insure the common good.
Moral hazard: The state that ensues if working or middle class folks take advantage of government subsidies which only job creators are supposed to enjoy, (e.g., big oil).
Free Speech: Campaign contributions from job creators (cf. Citizens United)
Regulatory Uncertainity: The state that ensues when government contemplates subjugating job creators to rules that reflect the need for common industrial standards or fair treatment of workers and customers.
Picking Winners and Losers: The process whereby government subsidizes any job creator other than those who contribute massively to GOP election campaigns (e.g., green industries).
Lobbyist; consultant: Often – although not always – a retired politician or political staffer collecting the premiums earned by faithful service to job creators during his/her political years.
Religious Freedom: Christian triumphalism, usually reflecting the beliefs of those sects who consider President Obama to be the Antichrist and who really, really want to support GOP candidates from the pulpit. Useful in animating folks who otherwise might not understand how important it is to placate job creators.
Small business: Any business enterprise large enough to help support GOP politicians in the style to which they have become accustomed.
Left-wing hippies (also socialists, communists, mob, and thugs, occasionally even facists or Nazis – although most pols still have enough of a sense of shame to be very sparing with the latter two epithets): Anyone who speaks up and complains about the special relationship enjoyed by job creators and the GOP political establishment.
Envy and divisiveness: The emotions that animate left-wing hippies; may be deleterious to the well-being of job creators.
Member of the middle-class: There’s one born every minute, i.e., suckers.