Myth Taken Politics

A Rhetoric of Life

I will not fault politicians from scoring points by latching on to a cause celebre. But what irks me  about the Sunday late night session to reinstate the feeding tube of a person who is either alert and possesses cognitive powers or is essentially brain dead is the bitter irony. Many of the same people who claim to support this one life battle day and night to risk millions of other lives at the foot of the almighty dollar. Who speaks for the uninsured millions in our country whose life and death choices fall on deaf ears in those hallowed chambers? Why do most of these same pontificators stand mute on child poverty? How can such hollow words of concern ring true as thousands breath polluted air and drink poisoned water unprotected by crippled environmental laws? When will the light shine on these shallow men whom we have entrusted our lives to, but to whom we are little more than worthless pennies? What shall we do beside shed tears for their silent victims?

Adroit But Sinister Politics: A Big Myth Redirected

Should Dean allow the Democrats to go further to the left? Is the Bush administration going to far to the right?

Political strategy has nothing to do with left and right. Talking heads pontificate about moderates and the right and left wings, but all they are doing is wasting our time. In fact, the sooner you forget about left and right when talking about political strategy the sooner you will be able to understand it. Political strategy is about us versus them. PERIOD.

The Democrats are failing because they prefer to defer to the right on defining issues in us versus them. Democrats must adopt a populist attitude and define every issue as us versus them. (Repeating this until it sinks in). Republicans have gotten away with using unnatural divisions, able to somehow allow the powerful and wealthy, a very small subset of the U.S. population, with various divisions of the population, especially the rural (again small numbers but over-sized electoral power) and white Christian males (solid minority). Although this seems obvious, Democrats are notorious for blowing it. For examples, see below:

Winging It

Watched West Wing last night (a source of escapism that makes living under the current regime a little easier). One issue raised on the show was how to take EITC (Earned Income Tax Credit) and make it politically powerful. The first lesson of the show was to understand that EITC is a non-informative, non-pronounceable, non-hip acronym. Second lesson was how to make a catch-phrase that would help protect it: Poor Tax. I am not sure how successful this gambit would be in the real world, but it helped to raise the issue of promoting policy by coming up catchy names that make propaganda easier.

One potent example that the Republicans use is the "Death Tax" instead of the boring former appellation, "Estate Tax." This succeeds as political propaganda, because it inflames people into believing that it is unfair and mean-spirited. Democrats lost this fight by explaining and explaining and explaining. I am not sure why they did not come up with an alternative name immediately that could have caught on and surpassed "Death Tax." My thought was "Spoiled Brat Tax," which is much more accurate (only affects heirs to the most wealthy, who not unfairly can be considered spoiled brats if they are against the estate tax-must-see the documentary Born Rich for a peek at the lives of the rich kids).

But the phrase should be both witty and simple and easy to get. For example, calling the Bush Administration plan to emasculate Social Security, Privation of Social Security, is lame. Calling it the plan to make it Social Insecurity is better.  Take a shot at coining your own terms. Best one gets a prize, being ignored by the Democrats who will lose this battle.