When Newt Gingrich was head of the Republican Party, he and his cohort crafted a list of carefully selected words which they agreed the Party should to be identified with. They published a pamphlet entitled “Language, A Key Mechanism of Control” and sent it to Republicans across the country. The pamphlet contained “positive” words and “negative” words. The positive they would use as often as possible when describing their own – or the Party’s – initiatives and leaders. The negative would be leveled against their opponents.
Republican leaders where instructed how to use these words as often as possible in their speeches, so that Americans would hear these words consistently used by the Party, and thus would come to associate these terms as synonymous with the GOP. The strategy was incredibly effective and, deserving or not, when a poll was performed recently to determine which words seemed to go with which party, most Americans identified Republicans as being identifiable with the original list. For fun one evening, I sat down with the original list while listening to a speech by President Bush, and he utilized nearly every one of the original words. In addition, we all know how hard the Bush administration tried to associate the label of “flip-flop” with John Kerry – also part of the original strategy. Here are many of the words from Newt’s original list;
Building, Eliminate good-time in prison,
Candid(ly), Empower(ment), Peace, Truth
Care(ing), Fair, Pioneer, Unique
Challenge, Family, Preserve, Vision,
Change, Freedom, Principled, We/Us/Our,
Children, Humane , Pro, Workfare,
Choice, Incentive, Prosperity,
Citizen, Lead, Protect,
Commitment, Legacy, Proud,
Common sense, Liberty, Reform,
Confident, Mobilize, Rights,
Courage, Moral, Share
Crusade Movement Strength,
Dream, Opportunity, Success,
Duty, Passionate, Tough
No doubt you recognize many of these words which often saturate political speeches. (In fact, the Democratic Party has attempted to co-opt some of these words as well with limited success). My contention with the attempts by the GOP to brand these words as their own is that I have a problem with any term being rendered empty by anyone or group who fail to support these words through actions. We speak of prosperity, but we have seen the greatest concentration in human history of wealth in the hands of a few, while real poverty has increased in this country. We hear of rights, and yet our government has actively tried to limit the rights of gays, lesbians, and women, and has abducted people without due process. And don’t even get me started on the misuse of the term “peace.” But I do not blame the politicos in this country for this disconnect. We live in a disconnected culture, where words like “justice” are often lionized while real injustice abounds.
As ethical people, let us not live disconnected lives. For the founders of Ethical Culture, goodness was not a belief, but an action. Felix Adler himself, the founder of our Movement, said it “was more important to be, than to seem to be.” March is Black History month; an opportunity for us to reflect upon the disease of racism which has periodically ravaged this nation. We are a people who believe in diversity. Does this community demonstrate in thought and deed a true belief in this virtue? Do our numbers support our values? Researchers point out that only 8 percent of American churches are racially diverse (meaning that no more than 80% of the congregants are of the same race). Another group of researchers have pointed out that as diversity increases within congregations the members are more likely to support the integration of people of color into their neighborhoods and are more likely to say that they will vote for an African-American president. I believe in diversity, and more than that, I want our actions to support those beliefs. How might we create a more diverse community at the Society?