Because we are out of power, we have the luxury of tying almost all corruption to the ruling party.  The perception that Democrats are weak thus is helping to open an opportunity for us. But we must be appreciative of how robust an opening it may be.  Chris Bowers has shown that being anti-corruption is one of the cornerstones of bringing over the non-ideological moderates and Western libertarians.  They are natural Democrats now because they are naturally anti-authoritarian and we are not the party with authority these days.

So how do we fight the war in our communities?  After the jump...

What about freedom?

Tarrant County College recently fired an English professor as a result of a complaint from an outspoken right-wing student about the showing of Fahrenheit 9/11 in class to illustrate the  use of propaganda and art in society.

Is this the freedom that the Republicans always say we are fighting for in Iraq? Academic freedom is in real trouble if this is allowed to stand.

Gaylard French, Waxahachie

I think this is a good letter, but its framing could be more effective.  This very personal power play should have been tied to Republican abuses of power at all levels.  Take a look accross the isle.  The right wing has so refined this technology of language that it is impossible for them to define an issue without it.  This whole Christmas controversy is a case in point: one situation and a specific set of circumstances elaborated upon by Bill O'Loofah, Hannity and others to make a broader point about liberals.  In fact, the smaller the story, the more personalized they are able to make it.  That is their secret.  We must begin to take the same advantage of smaller acts of corruption.  The more personal, the more people are able to judge what they find acceptable.   Would YOU fire someone for doing his job and teaching our children so that they can be healthy and successful?  No!  You are right, I AM outraged!

So that letter should have had a last sentence about how it is now clear that conservatives are corrupt at all levels, from the Defense Department to the English Department at TCC; that conservatives want to control your and your children's opinions for you because they think you cannot decide for yourself.  This letter writer, in fact, could have tied this in one sentence to a story that had appeared just this Saturday about the Republican sheriff destroying law enforcement in Dallas, now with the highest crime rate in the country, because he had a political axe to grind.  So they want to control you and they think politics is more important than safe streets.

Corruption, corruption, corruption, a thousand times corruption.  

Corrupt people are compromised people.  They are also powerful people wasting taxpayer's money for personal gain.  Non-ideological moderates and Western libertarians cannot stand that kind of person. Every time you write a letter about specifics to your paper, tie it to the rampant corruption at all levels and explain for people how it is starting to affect their communities as well.  If we learn to employ this technology, we will successfully frame ourselves as being anti-corruption and we will watch as Bowers' Western strategy begins to work.