Did you hear about how former Republican presidential nominee John McCain has been mocking the Tea Party folks as “hobbits”? He apparently never read Lord of the Rings. The lowly hobbits ended up defeating the unlimited government of Mordor. And, according to Marc Thiessen, this is what happened in the debt reduction battle: How the Tea Party ‘hobbits’ won the debt fight – The Washington Post.
I think the Tea Party folks should drop the Boston harbor revolutionary label. They should do as “Christians” and “Protestants” and “Lutherans” have done: embrace the label intended as derogatory. Tea Partiers should change their name, trademarks, and stationery and start calling themselves “Hobbits.” That reference, with its connotation of ordinary down to earth villagers up against overwhelmingly superior power, would make them far more sympathetic. I know John McCain’s attempt at a putdown (what if he were president?), which he got from the Wall Street Journal, makes me appreciate more these populist activists who are forcing the government to control itself. Again, conservatives need to win the battle of language and the battle of metaphors to win over the nation’s imagination.
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