This analysis of American culture is based on the assumption that human life, culture, is shaped by language, which is essentially metaphorical in nature. (see Lakoff and Johnson).
One set of metaphors:
"Liberals" (whatever that term connotes) believe that....
Rural America seek to impose Old Testament style Biblical morality from a punishing God on America. These individuals are white and patriarchal, macho and want to turn back the clock to time when equality was denied to various marginalized groups.
Metaphors on the so-called "right"-
Democrats, liberals, black activists, feminists, college students, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are committed to taking away one's freedom (to own a gun, to follow one's religion) and impose their own brand of secular moral relativism on America. They constitute a serious threat the American way of life which was once great, but had morally degenerated.
In future blogs I will explore the sets of metaphors of these two positions in more depth.
