Terms of Endearment

The last comment on the previous post here made mention of my phrase "Those People" in referring to Democrats. Please allow me to elucidate:

I've mentioned it before over at ScrappleFace, but I'll spell it out for any lost strangers who might've wandered in here and don't care to chase the link at the right. "Those People" was the term employed by Robert E. Lee for Yankees, during the War of Northern Aggression. Lee was a devoted Christian, and eschewed the more profane descriptions used by his troops to describe the enemy.

Name-calling is the territory of the "progressive" elements, and since they are the enemies of faith, tradition, and common sense, "Those People" seems suitable for a public forum that generally prohibits obscenity. Those People break down into two sub-species: Obstructionists, and The Usual Suspects.

Obstructionists are Those People who follow the party line. They live in a grim, cheerless alternate universe where Utopia is just around the corner, if only everyone would listen to them. To their way of thinking, most folks are incapable of thinking for themselves, and making informed decisions. Only the enlightened few who have a clear vision of what comprises Utopia should be allowed to lead, kind of like Moe of The Three Stooges constantly telling Larry and Curly "I'll do the thinking around here!" (Or as Ricky repeatedly told Lucy, "I'll do the thinnin' around here!") Anyone who would grant a degree of autonomy to the unwashed masses, and even suggest that they might know how to spend their money or battle evil better than Those People, is obviously dangerously insane. Crazy people have to be restrained, for their own good as well as the common welfare. If crazy people have somehow taken the reins of power throughout the government, they must be thwarted at any cost.

Tax cuts for everyone, so they'll have money to spend as they see fit? Insane! Fighting back against an evil that seeks to enslave or murder us? Insane! In the Utopian anti-world, all that's needed is to raise taxes, and provide Those People with some spare money to pay off the murderous enslavers. It's okay for crazy people to sit around and mutter about what they might do, but if they start to act on it, they must be stopped before they can cause harm. If the crazy people in the White House and the Congress make a proposal, and begin to act on it, they must be obstructed! Hence the term "Obstructionists". They have been given their marching orders by their top leadership, and like good little soldiers they march selflessly into the legislative wars. I say "selflessly" with great sarcasm, because they know that their actions may result in their being lynched at the polls by the unwashed masses, who are smarter than Those People think. They might not take a bullet, or get a bayonet in the gut, but if they're voted out of their cushy political sinecures, they might have to go out and find a real job. Most Obstructionists would prefer the bayonet, so they assure their constituents that they alone are the balance to the schemes of the sinister crazy people. That ploy gets them re-elected, and they get some good face-time on TV, but the inmates have taken over the asylum, as the red/blue map of the last election shows.

The Usual Suspects are the generals of the Obstructionist army. They are the senior politicians who can be counted upon to organize the little battalions of Obstructionists into unified resistance. The Usual Suspects make the strongest appeals to the peons to support them, and reject the crazies they oppose. Hillary, Chuckie-doll Schumer, Ted and John, the Massachusetts version of Laurel & Hardy. . . you know who they are. They're on TV spouting a rebuttal before the president can give his speech. You shall know them by their actions and words, to paraphrase something I think I read in the Bible a long time ago.

I hope this clarifies some of the obscure euphemisms used in my incoherent little rants here. When I see The Usual Suspects in action, or hear of the latest ploy by the Obstructionists, I call them a lot worse than Those People in the privacy of The Possum Den. General Lee's enemies wore blue, so "Those People" seems doubly appropriate to this Southern boy as a term of reference for Democritters. The picture at the top of this story is a prime example of the compassionate tactics employed by Those People when they don't agree with someone. I think I'll stick with General Lee.