{"id":1043,"date":"2016-09-14T07:31:51","date_gmt":"2016-09-14T11:31:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jparnell.com\/blog\/?p=1043"},"modified":"2016-09-14T07:31:51","modified_gmt":"2016-09-14T11:31:51","slug":"dog-whistles-donald-trump","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/?p=1043","title":{"rendered":"Dog Whistles & Donald Trump"},"content":{"rendered":"

I recently reread Paul Krugman\u2019s bestseller, Conscience of a Liberal<\/em>. My respect for Krugman has waned over the years, but I still try to give him the benefit of the doubt when I can. There are some decent economists on the left, but most of them just can\u2019t put the pieces of the puzzle in the right places. Otherwise smart people reach wrong conclusions and promote bad policy.<\/p>\n

Nonetheless, Krugman\u2019s book is an essential read for anyone seeking to understand the intellectual basis of the left. Most conservatives and liberals agree that the gap between the political left and right has widened considerably in the past several decades. Conservatives argue that socialists and other statists pulled the Democrat party to the far left. Liberals like Krugman tell a different story, maintaining that \u201cmovement conservatives\u201d pulled the Republicans to the far right. Krugman\u2019s argument is flawed in a number of ways, but I want to focus on one of his key themes.<\/p>\n

Conservatives\u2014which include most Republicans\u2014have held their own at the ballot box by blowing \u201cdog whistles\u201d to ill-informed, racist southern voters who are unable to see that their interests are really represented by Democrats<\/em>. This point is not merely a side comment in his book, but a major crux of Krugman\u2019s political philosophy. When Hillary Clinton claimed that half of Trump\u2019s supporters are deplorables of some kind\u2014\u201cracist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamaphobic\u201d\u2014she wasn\u2019t just getting caught up in a political speech. She was parroting the core argument of modern statists like Krugman.<\/p>\n

The problem with the Krugman\/Clinton argument is that it lacks a factual basis. Bigots vote too and are probably split between Clinton and Trump, but this does not make either candidate a bigot. The notion that a large percentage of Americans fall into one of Clinton\u2019s hate categories is hard to support, but that is not what is so problematic about her statement. Clinton\u2019s contention that Trump voters are either haters or confused suggests that she simply does not understand the intellectual arguments for liberty and limited government. Put another way, she argues for a more intrusive government because she does not see any alternative.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s impossible to have a meaningful conversation with someone who believes that their view is the only legitimate one. If you\u2019re in this camp, please understand the following. There IS a rational argument for strong borders that is not based in racism, isolationism, or xenophobia. There IS a rational argument for traditional family values that does not condone mistreatment of the LGBT community. There IS a rational argument that Islamic thought is a key issue with ISIS and other terrorists. There IS a rational argument for \u201claw and order\u201d that respects individual liberty and seeks to treat all Americans fairly.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re on the left, know that the dog whistle argument is a non-starter and offends thoughtful Americans who don\u2019t see things your way. If you want to have a productive conversation, dispense with the allegations of hatred and political correctness. You might find more common ground than you think.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I recently reread Paul Krugman\u2019s bestseller, Conscience of a Liberal. My respect for Krugman has waned over the years, but I still try to give him the benefit of the doubt when I can. There are some decent economists on the left, but most of them just can\u2019t put the pieces of the puzzle in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1043"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1043"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1043\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1043"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1043"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1043"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}