Ted Cruz Scored Points for the Anti-liberty Left

STORY AT-A-GLANCE

• Senator Ted Cruz’s big mistake was in advancing the cause of the anti-liberty left by using their terminology
• The pro-freedom right is in a war of words with the anti-liberty left, when we use their words or phrases, it is a victory for them
• The authoritarians who incessantly self-label as liberal, progressive or democratic are neither liberal, progressive nor democratic
• It doesn’t matter what we think of the terms liberal, progressive, or democrat, only that they have positive connotations to liberty, progress, or democracy
• Everyone on the pro-freedom right needs to stop using the words of the anti-liberty left to the detriment of freedom

Senator Ted Cruz’s national self-immolation was the best recent example of why everyone on the pro-freedom right needs to be precise in the words they employ. His unforced error centered around the use of the word terrorist in connection with Jan 6, 2021. It’s also a favorite of the national socialist media, a prime illustration of how using their terms advances their agenda against the cause of freedom.

Anti-liberty leftists are fresh out of ideas and with everything in their socialist national agenda imploding, Jan 6th is the only thing they have to distract attention from their failure. So being this time of year it was expected that they would heavily exploit the issue, that and the day ended in ‘y’. One only needs to read their words to understand that they are going to try to use it all through this year up to the midterms.

The Senator’s mistake was an extreme version of a very bad habit exhibited by the pro-freedom community, the intellectual laziness in continuing to use the terms of the anti-liberty left. It’s vitally important to understand that using their words always advances their agenda. The pro-freedom right is in a culture war with the anti-liberty left. Words are the weapon of choice in the culture war and language is the terrain of the battlefield of ideas.

In his video commentary on the controversy, Tim Pool made the same point that the people on the right need to set their own narratives. That most of the time the pro-freedom right reacts to the framing of the debate set by the authoritarian far-left.  Paraphrasing his words:

The problem here is that people on the right always react to the mainstream narrative instead of setting their own. Sometimes people on the right will set the narrative but typically they do not. This means that you are always fighting an uphill battle.

[Emphasis added]

This is why he has been tweeting that Jan 6th should be known as ‘freedom day’ referring to the 100-day siege of the states from the White House to Federal courthouses to small-town America.  His point – and ours – is that instead of accepting narratives and framing from the fascist far-left.  Scoring points for their side and setting ourselves up for an uphill battle.  We start with our words and narratives from the high ground setting forth the truth of the matter.  Making the anti-liberty left fight uphill for once, forcing them to justify their words and terminology.

Anti-liberty leftists have always taken a strategic view of the labels they use. Deliberately choosing terms that have a positive connotation but are patently false when applied to their collectivist ideology. Everyone is all too familiar with the fact that they have wrongly appropriated the words liberal, progressive, and democrat. Despite the fact that they are neither liberal, progressive nor democratic. So, when we use their terms, we help them in their propaganda efforts.

Thoughtlessly using their terms is akin to scoring touchdowns in our own end zone or shooting baskets on our side of the court. No sane person would do that in a game of Football or Basketball, so why would anyone do that in the political arena? As Tucker Carlson pointed out in his interview with the Senator, he was playing into the other side’s characterizations, allowing them to define an entire population as foreign combatants.

Some in the freedom community have learned this lesson and use leftist instead of liberal. After all, both words start with the same letter and are the same length, so they are easily interchangeable. The important aspect is that one doesn’t have the propaganda effect the anti-liberty left craves in the war of words.

In most respects, left or leftist should be used instead of progressive or democrat for the same reason, to deprive them of the propaganda effect of these positive-sounding words. There are a number of other examples, but the general rule is that if the term exploited by the authoritarians has these connotations, it’s best to use something else.

Despite the fact that the left has shown itself to be virulently anti-liberty, especially over the past two years. Many on the pro-freedom right still insist on propping them up by using their favorite deception. For some reason, Fox News and Sean Hannity never seem to understand that the left is no longer liberal and that calling them that only helps them out.

It doesn’t matter what we think of the term liberal, progressive, or democrat. When bringing up this subject, some on the side of freedom will counter with the negative connotations of those words in the community. That is entirely irrelevant since those words are still connected with liberty, progress, and democracy. The propaganda effect remains.

Senator Cruz damaged his credibility by parroting the propaganda of the authoritarian left. It is vitally important to remember that we do the same when we use their words. Anti-liberty leftists are extremely careful in their weapon of choice in the culture war. If we want any hope in winning against them, we need to have the same discipline.