According to Merriam-Webster, “cliché” originated from the French word “clicher” (its past participle) meaning “stereotype,” and we know it as a word indicating some overused expression.i The term is expansive and may relate to a proverb or other “truism” as well as to a short phrase or description. Clichés are reliable. They're “tried and true.” People use them all the time. After all, “it's better to be safe than sorry.”
But more than that, clichés (and I'm most interested in the expressions and proverbs) are so obviously true that they sum up all that we need to know about something. They're the received wisdom – “words to the wise.” They encapsulate someone's thoughts. They're argument-enders. It's difficult to respond to some banal statement, whether true or false, when you know that the one who said it is smug and impressed with his own brilliance, and has no interest in a rebuttal. He'll simply smirk and turn away.
That's not to say that all proverbs deserve disposal. Their history and popularity attest to the fact that they “strike a chord” in speakers and listeners, and at one time they were fresh and original. Now, though, they seem more useful as substitutes for thought. They're comfortable and familiar. And, to a significant degree, they're political. Perhaps not intentionally so, but that's the way many may be understood. When someone advises you to “look before you leap,”ii to “think it through” and remember that “what can go wrong will go wrong,”iii so you must be cautions in order to avoid “unintended consequences,” and “never [to] burn your bridges before you cross them,”iv he is expressing a very conservative position, and many proverbs are little more than cautionary tales reduced to a few words. And they're likely to be wrong.
But those of a more liberal bent have their own bromides. They're quick to remind anyone who will listen that “the early bird gets the worm”v and “nothing ventured, nothing gained.”vi And if they perceive a problem they can't “just stand there,”vii they have to “do something.” And quickly. “A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush” and “a stitch in time saves nine.”viii And their quick thinking and bias toward rapid action often leads them to “think outside the box” and to “push the envelope.” But they're wrong, too.
Still, there are “cooler heads.” Following Aristotle, they favor a middle path – compromise. After all, “there are two sides to every story.” What they never consider is that at least one of those sides is wrong. Whatever their private thoughts, they never concede that a compromise between right and wrong is wrong, and “the lesser of two evils” is evil.ix And such an attitude gives credence and a platform to that “lesser,” as well as to the two evils between which it is a compromise. As I'm sure you've guessed, “half a loaf is [not always] better than none,” and because of their lack of sincerity, the compromisers are even more wrong than the “extremists” who actually believe the clichés they repeat.
But their words sound fair. And in modern-day politics, that's what counts. It's better to sound moderate – to be willing to compromise. And since the voters aren't always sophisticated, for many of them a middle ground seems like the best solution, one between the “extremes” rather than on one side.
And that's “where the money is.” Those are the voters who will decide most of the elections. “Dyed-in-the-wool” conservatives and liberals will vote for their own candidates irrespective of issues and positions, leaving the real decisions to those in “the middle of the road” in “swing states.” So our leaders conduct extensive polls to find out what those “independent” voters want and move toward those positions. It's much easier to lead when you know what the followers want. People are not interested in what is right but in what sounds right. So our representatives find out what sounds right to the voters and then courageously proclaim that position. A politician who actually says and defends what he believes is sure to be punished for it.x (He who lives by the word, dies by it.) The one who repeats the truisms on which we have all been raised will fare much better. Hexi will be received by the voters with a much higher degree of comfort, irrespective of true beliefs or ability.
So the best thing a politician can do is to soothe the voters with words of comfort and wisdom – “the wisdom of the ages.” Clichés may be wrong or, at best, insipid, but we respond to them. As William Claude Dukenfield said, “Never give a sucker an even break.” That's a turn of phrase dear to every “leader's” heart.
Next episode: “Remembrance Of Things Yet To Come” -- Death and the mad man.
i We also use it to refer to anything else that is hackneyed and almost meaningless, like clothing styles, an idea, someone's reaction or life, etc.
ii Perhaps we should sometimes be cautioned not to leap.
iii Some believe that Murphy was an optimist.
iv Of course some of those bridges shouldn't be crossed in the first place.
v Chestnut: “Early to bed and early to rise, and your girl goes out with other guys.” But chestnuts are tastier than worms.
vi Nor lost. Actually something may be lost. Especially if you expect prices to go down and you sell everything only to see them rise.
vii We'd often be better off if our politicians did nothing and just stood there.
viii If it's the right stitch. Otherwise it may require adding future stitches rather than saving some.
ix Compromise is too often viewed as the first step in getting your way. It is the starting point for the next debate – one you expect to carry you further toward your goal. But, of course, that's exactly what your opponent thinks.
x In 1964, Barry Goldwater, Republican candidate for the presidency, proclaimed “Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice. And moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.” With a war going on in Viet Nam, and many voters doubting their country's position, such a statement was viewed with suspicion, as the view of a dangerous superpatriot. Senator Goldwater only received 52 electoral votes to President Johnson's 486.
xi Or she.
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