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Much of political discourse is conducted in a code designed to express a particular point of view to supporters, while being able to deny that implication to the rest of society. This is the definition of Orwellian Newspeak, as described in the novel 1984. The key code words in the novel were

Peace: War
Freedom: Slavery
Strength: Ignorance

Any resemblance to any actual political regime is purely intentional.

Talking in code has been called dog-whistle politics, after the high-pitched whistles that dogs can hear but not people. This is itself Liberal/Progressive code for Racist: Dog, i.e. non-human. The following is a partial list of Republican code words.

  • Abstinence-only sex education: Get AIDS and die.
  • Accountability: Sovereign immunity
  • Affirmative action: Organized discrimination against Whites
  • American people: White male Republicans
  • Balanced budget: Trillions for war, but not one penny for social programs
  • Bipartisanship: Our way or the highway
  • Big government: Social programs for the poor and minorities
  • Class war: The oppression of the rich by the poor
  • Culture war: This is a Christian country! How dare you quote Thomas Jefferson?
  • Communist: Your sort
  • Competition: Oligopoly
  • Consensus: What we think
  • Culture war: The oppression of the Christian Right by atheists (everybody else, including other Christians)
  • Democracy: Oligarchy; rule by our sort
  • Due process: The rules that apply only to Real Americans
  • Economics: Fairy tales, "Voodoo", Market Fundamentalism, Reaganomics
  • Enhanced interrogation: Torture
  • Elitism: Wanting everybody to get a real education
  • Equal rights: More equal for our sort
  • Family values: Our families, not yours
  • Fascist: Your sort
  • Fiscal responsibility: Cutting social programs for the poor and minorities
  • Free markets, Free trade: Free for corporations, not for natural persons
  • Freedom of religion: Freedom to accept our True teaching, but not any of the unChristian lies from others
  • Freedom of speech, and of the press: When I want to hear your opinion, I'll tell it to you.
  • Human rights: Property rights
  • Immorality: Sex education
  • Judicial activist: Not a strict constructionist
  • Law and order: Keeping the riff-raff down
  • Liberal bias: Any concern for facts
  • Liberal media: Mainstream media
  • Liberty: Property rights, gun rights, no regulation of business, no enforcement of civil rights for the poor and for minorities
  • Loony Left: Moderate Republicans
  • Mainstream of American thought: Right-wing selfishness; White Supremacy
  • Mainstream media: Right-wing media
  • National security: Keeping the world safe for kleptocracy.
  • Obama is Hitler, Stalin, the AntiChrist, not a US citizen, etc.: He's Black.
  • Original intent: In Constitutional law, slavery and exclusion of women and the poor from voting
  • Ownership society: Way more for us with a few crumbs for you
  • Person: Corporation; White male
  • Personal responsibility: Do as I say, not as I do
  • Pork, wasteful spending: Social programs for the poor and minorities
  • Conservative principles: "All for us and nothing for other people"--Adam Smith
  • Quotas: Organized discrimination against Whites
  • Racism: Alleged Black and Hispanic hatred of Whites
  • Real Americans: White male Republican Christians
  • Republic: Oligarchy; rule by our sort
  • Right to life: Rights of the unborn, but not of anybody else. In extreme cases, Death to abortionists!
  • Small government: No social programs for the poor and minorities
  • Special interests: The public interest
  • States' rights: The right to oppress their own people
  • Strict constructionist: One who upholds slavery and exclusion of women and the poor from voting; one who maintains that the 14th Amendment protections for ex-slaves are primarily meant to protect corporations
  • Starve the beast: No social programs for the poor
  • Terrorist: Your sort
  • Thoughtful: Unprincipled
  • Truth: What we say
  • Tyranny: Enforcement of civil rights legislation and regulation of business
  • Unamerican: Counter to the interests of Our Sort
  • Unitary executive: King
  • Uppity: Thinking that equality applies to you
  • Voter Fraud: Anything that lets more poor people and minorities vote

Resources

Frank Luntz is the principal architect of Republican code language. He has publicly praised the idea of Newspeak.

George Lakoff has written extensively on this subject, and gone into it much more deeply than we can here.

The language used to discuss this subject is often intemperate on all sides. Not all of the following sites are objective or reliable sources, but they demonstrate the nature of the controversy.

  • Bowlingual: translating Republican code words
  • The GOP-to-English Dictionary: Cracking the Republican Code
  • Gergen: McCain Using Code Words To Attack Obama As "Uppity"
  • DIVISIVE WORDS: NEWS ANALYSIS; G.O.P.'s 40 Years of Juggling on Race
  • Much of political discourse is conducted in a code designed to express a particular point of view to supporters, while being able to deny that implication to the rest of society. This is the definition of Orwellian Newspeak, as described in the novel 1984. It has been called dog-whistle politics, after the high-pitched whistles that dogs can hear but not people. The following is a partial list of Republican code words.

  • Accountability: Sovereign immunity
  • Affirmative action: Organized discrimination against Whites
  • Big government: Social programs for the poor
  • Culture war: This is a Christian country! How dare you quote Thomas Jefferson?
  • Class war: The oppression of the rich by the poor
  • Culture war: The oppression of the Christian right by atheists (everybody else, including other Christians)
  • Democracy: Oligarchy; rule by our sort
  • Due process: Never mind the rules
  • Economics: Fairy tales, "Voodoo", Market Fundamentalism
  • Elitism: Wanting everybody to get a real education
  • Equal rights: More equal for our sort
  • Family values: Our families, not yours
  • Fiscal responsibility: No social programs for the poor
  • Free markets, Free trade: Free for us, not for you
  • Human rights: Property rights
  • Judicial activist: Not a strict constructionist
  • Law and order: Keeping the riff-raff down
  • Liberal media: Mainstream media
  • Liberty: Property rights, gun rights, no regulation of business, no enforcement of civil rights for the poor and for minorities
  • Mainstream media: Right-wing media
  • Original intent: In Constitutional law, slavery and exclusion of women and the poor from voting
  • Ownership society: More for us
  • Personal responsibility: Welfare cuts
  • Quotas: Organized discrimination against Whites
  • Racism: Alleged Black and Hispanic hatred of Whites
  • Real Americans: Our sort
  • Republic: Oligarchy; rule by our sort
  • Right to life: Rights of the unborn, but not of anybody else. In extreme cases, Death to abortionists!
  • Small government: No social programs for the poor
  • States' rights: The right to oppress citizens
  • Strict constructionist: One who upholds slavery and exclusion of women and the poor from voting; one who maintains that the 14th Amendment protections for ex-slaves are primarily meant to protect corporations
  • Starve the beast: No social programs for the poor
  • Support the troops: Support the war
  • Tyranny: Enforcement of civil rights legislation and regulation of business
  • Unitary executive: King
  • Uppity: Thinking that equality applies to you

Resources

Frank Luntz is the principal architect of Republican code language. He has publicly praised the idea of Newspeak. His principal public work is Words That Work, Revised, Updated Edition: It's Not What You Say, It's What People Hear, Aug 5, 2008. ISBN

George Lakoff has written extensively on this subject, and gone into it much more deeply than we can here.

The language used to discuss this subject is often intemperate on all sides. Not all of the following sites are objective or reliable sources, but they demonstrate the nature of the controversy.