Electioneering

Orwell comparisons are so hackneyed. Libertarians really should be more sparing in their use. Like how too many TV shows try to use that song “Hallelujah” to make themselves seem more dramatic and emotional. Even so:

Animal Farm:

The birds did not understand Snowball’s long words, but they accepted his  explanation, and all the humbler animals set to work to learn the new maxim by heart. FOUR LEGS GOOD, TWO LEGS BAD, was inscribed on the end wall of the barn, above the Seven Commandments and in bigger letters. When they had once got it by heart, the sheep developed a great liking for this maxim, and often as they lay in the field they would all start bleating “Four legs good, two legs bad! Four legs good, two legs bad!” and keep it up for hours on end, never growing tired of it. 

The New York Times:

When a man sitting in the rafters of the stadium began shouting, thecrowd drowned him out, and he was taken away by security officers. Three other men stood up one at a time within the next few minutes shouting “abortion is murder” and “stop killing our children.” The crowd responded by shouting, “Yes, we can,” Mr. Obama’s campaign slogan, and “We are N.D.,” a Notre Dame chant.

The Captive Mind:

A few have become acquainted with Orwell’s 1984; because it is both difficult to obtain and dangerous to possess, it is known only to certain members of the Inner Party. [..] Even those who know Orwell only by hearsay are amazed that a writer who never lived in Russia should have so keen a perception into its life. (p. 42)

Maybe Orwell was so insightful about life under communism because communism has a lot in common with other forms of government.

By the way, my criticism here is of lazy thinking and shallow forms of public discourse, a tendency which is in no way limited to one or the other political party. Nor, come to that, is it limited to only the major parties.