Excellent article from (a friend of) Matt Singer at Left In The West. Excerpt:

There is something fundamentally different about the way conservatives communicate. When they talk about a topic they not only speak of an event, but they seem to dwell on the people involved. Think of the ugly stereotypes we’ve become acquainted with over time. The “Welfare Queen”, “Border Runner”, and now “Anchor Baby” are all part of our political vernacular. Instantly a mental image springs forth to fill in the hazy gaps in our minds, because the Right has not only built the narrative, more importantly they’ve cast the characters.

…But of course there’s no reason why we can’t learn from our mistakes by copying their strategy. And to those ends I’d like to suggest that our new villain is the “Tax Cheat”. The name itself tells us a few things. We’re not going to say that he’s rich, we’ll let the voters fill that one in for themselves. Which is great because this lets us play the class card, without offending any of our wealthy allies and donors who happen to have a conscience. But more importantly it says he has tax liability or that he owes something to society. Few people actually enjoy paying their taxes (although most people like what our taxes afford us), but we pay them nonetheless out of obligation to each other and future generations. Most importantly regardless of what we pay, each of us thinks individually that we pay our “fair share.” But the Tax Cheat doesn’t. He doesn’t contribute a dime toward all the things that make our system work. He still uses the parks, schools, and bridges like everyone else, but we the “tax-payers” end up footing the bill.

And it’s the entitled rich who get to play this game. I wonder if there are any “Tax Cheats” out there pretending to serve the People Of Montana while fleecing them? Does suing the taxpayers count?

Full story here.