‘Language, a key mechanism of control’

Ah, good old Speaker Newton Leroy Gingrich, Ph.D., a failed history associate professor at bottom quartile-tiered West Georgia College (denied tenure yet again). He finally won the 1978 election to Congress on his third try representing Georgia’s Sixth Congressional District. Little of significance occurred until 1990 when as Minority Whip in Congress he consulted with focus group upstart and pollster Frank Luntz and distributed his infamous 1990 GOPAC memo titled “Language, a Key Mechanism of Control.” The memo was intended to overturn 40 years of Democratic control of the House.

Not that everything between parties and people on The Hill had been kumbaya, but most of those on both sides of the aisle got along fairly well and could keep their arguments within the bounds of respect, civility and decency. Gingrich’s 1990 GOPAC memo changed all that and represented nothing less than a demolition-derby in terms of parties and people getting along with each other. He declared in his memo that words henceforth were to be used as weapons of complete destruction to demonize the Democratic party and its members.

The word “disagreement” was stricken from the Republican wordlist and substituted with words connoting “all-out war.” All mild to moderate words implying disagreement were to be substituted with words connoting the most extreme levels of prejudice. Words describing others’ characters were to be written in the most spiteful of terms possible. With this memo Gingrich planted the seeds of his party’s eventual implosion. What was supposed to be a bully show of strength turned out to be a wasting malignancy.

From Gingrich’s memo: “Often we search hard for words to define our opponents. These are powerful words. Apply these to the opponent, his record, proposals, and party: anti-child, antiflag, betray, bizarre, cheat, collapse, corruption, crisis, decay, deeper, disgrace, devour, destroy, excuses, failure, greed, hypocrisy, incompetent, liberal, lie, machine, obsolete, pathetic, radical, red tape, self-serving, sensationalist, shallow, shame, sick, status quo, steal, taxes, they/them, traitors, welfare.”

Notice his reference “opponents” rather than the more user-friendly reference “colleagues.” For the last 33 years the commity of acrossthe-aisle relationships has reached a nadir. And until we find a higher plane on which to communicate there is little chance of things getting better. Once things reach the level of where we are, governing stops, legislation stops, dialogue and cooperation stop. That’s Gingrich’s legacy. He’s a hero to the right. An elder statesman to conservative extremists.

Using words as weapons ends all possibility of conversation across the aisle. Those conversations are what move us forward. This stalemate didn’t begin with the former president, although he, by his 37,000 lies while in office, was an accelerant for the fire that had been started before. Where we are now is the calculated result of the accumulation of forces begun by Gingrich’s 1990 GOPAC memo. This was his plan. This is what he wanted and intended. Once his memo found purchase within Republican circles, the die was cast.

Once patterns of language get normalized, they get deeply set in the brain and become second nature, automatic. We stop thinking “about” them as we “think by way of” them. They shape our thinking about the world and our conduct within it. Once this happens, we get caught up in a self-reinforcing loop of weaponized thinking, speaking and behaving that’s nearly impossible to shake ourselves out of. We get caught in our echo chambers and silos and stop listening to whomever and whatever doesn’t agree with us.

Gingrich, by way of his memo, put the Hill on the trajectory of which we are now seeing the poison fruit. Problem solving requires creative thinking, which means taking in other points of view. Where creative thinking is lacking, problems can’t be solved, and we get stuck running in our hamster wheels going nowhere. And that, dear reader, was Gingrich’s real “Contract with America.”

Brik McDill, Ph.D. is a retired psychologist and author of “Dangerous Marriage”; “Parenting the Prodigal”; and “Raising Safety-Smart Kids.” His newest, “Instilling Ethical Excellence... A Guide for Instilling Ethical Excellence in our Children,” is in production with an international publisher.