The Politics of Parenting

My oldest daughter Sylvie has learned how to invoke fairness whenever she does not like something. She is an intelligent kid, and often gives a plausible reason why she should have her way. But recently, she has been using "unfair" against us at every turn. She did not try to explain why and if we asked her why it was unfair, she would just say that it just is. And once she resorted to the unfair tactic, she would dig in her heels. But a few weeks ago, perhaps out of frustration, I told her she was being unfair because she was not doing what she was told (I think it had to do with her cleaning up her toys). I insisted that it was unfair the she did not pick up her toys. But the key is, I invoked "unfair" before she did. She tried to turn it around and say I was being unfair, but I again insisted that she was being unfair. And then she just stopped arguing and started cleaning up her toys! Eureka! I tried out my theory at other times she was being stubborn (I didn't want to overuse it): if I invoked the mighty "unfair" before she did, she stopped putting up a fight!
Sylvie: I don't want to listen to this music (Indie rock) - I want to listen to toy story music!!!
Me: Sylvie, it is UNFAIR to make me turn off my music. I was listening first and you are being unfair!
Sylvie: <silent, begrudged acquiescence>

Did it matter that I could not always explain why it was unfair? No! For example:
Me: Sylvie- it is UNFAIR that you are not going upstairs for your nap.
Sylvie: but I'm NOT READY YET
Me: Sylvie you are being UNFAIR!
S: <silent, begrudged acquiescence>

Am I playing with fire with this parenting gimmick/goldmine? Maybe
Does she ever beat me to the punch? sometimes
Does it really work? 90% of the time, EVERY TIME!

It got me thinking. My negotiations with my five year old are really no different than the political gimmick-ry of our day. Whoever yells "no fair" first, loudest and most insistently generally wins over public opinion. Does it matter that they don't have a coherent legal or reality-based argument to back them up? No.
All that matters is that they identify something that they don't like and start pointing at it, yelling "UNFAIR!!!" They frame the argument, they claim some injury (real or perceived), and they make sure they are first to decry their target as the alleged cause of their assumed injuries. The debate is as good as won. Works every time.

So do I think this trick will work on my 5 year old forever? She's a kid, but she is getting older and smarter everyday, right?

Well, grown adults still fall for the politics of "the winner is the first to insist UNFAIR" on matters of much greater importance than picking up toys and claiming the stereo- so I hold out hope that I can use UNFAIR in my parenting bag of tricks for some time to come.