Sloganeering
I'm dealing with a lot of administrative stuff right now, so this is all I've got time to post.
I've been considering the Democrats' lack of simply-stated principles, and the corresponding godawful tendency to talk in technocratish. This is something that should be easy to remedy.
On the domestic policy side, everything meaningful that the Dems stand for can be boiled down to these three principles, which everyone should recognize:
- We're all in this together.
- Pay it forward.
- Everyone gets a fair shot.
Every one of these has an unspoken corollary (and truthful) attack on Republican policies, and can be tied to specific policy choices (to the extent that policy means anything any more).
On the foreign policy/security front, I freely admit my weakness. The best I've come up with so far is "Use every tool. Not everything is a nail." I like that for a number of reasons, but it doesn't quite create a positive agenda, and while I, as a reality-based individual, don't mind the notion that the world is complex, that relatively straightforward idea really seems to bother a lot of people.
The strength of the Republican foreign policy position, of course, is that it can be boiled down to "Bombs fulla freedom!" No matter how wrongheaded, entangling, and pernicious it is, it sounds really simple. Oh, wait, that's every Republican policy position.
A-a-anyway, constructive comments welcome.
"Bullies never prosper"?
"Only in a community of nations can you count on having friends at your back when you need them."
Hmm--pithy nuance is tough.
Posted by: lahke | Mar 03, 2005 at 05:29 PM
"Use every tool. Not everything is a nail."
"Use the tools you have effectively. Not everything is a thumb"
Posted by: Hal | Mar 03, 2005 at 06:58 PM
"Don't be a dick."
Posted by: Chris Clarke | Mar 03, 2005 at 08:20 PM
I had originally thought "Don't be a dumbass" in tribute to Red Forman. Seemed about right, but sadly not sufficiently posititive (in the sense of tying to a policy position).
Posted by: paperwight | Mar 03, 2005 at 10:50 PM
Is that, "Everyone gets Paperwight's Fair Shot?"
For foriegn policy, how about "You gotta be a friend to have a friend."
Posted by: bill | Mar 04, 2005 at 04:06 AM
Most folks here are probably already familiar with Oliver Willis's similar "Brand Democrat" idea, but just in case some aren't, here's a link. His slogans are less succinct: quotes of Obama, Kennedy, for example. But there's something where you can build your own poster, which might be fun.
Posted by: Thomas Nephew | Mar 04, 2005 at 07:44 AM
Re foreign policy:
"If we go to war, you'll know for sure why."
"Allies, not servants."
Posted by: Thomas Nephew | Mar 04, 2005 at 07:49 AM
There is always the classic ..... 'Eat the Rich' for hard core class warriors.
More seriously
"Fairness First".
Posted by: Desert Donkey | Mar 04, 2005 at 12:38 PM
"Don't put all your eggs in one basket."
"When you shit the bed, don't sleep in it."
Posted by: John | Mar 04, 2005 at 03:56 PM
I just read on the NYT op-ed page today a slogan the Dems used in 84: It's not fair ... it's Republican.
Posted by: eRobin | Mar 05, 2005 at 02:04 PM
My major problem with the whole foreign policy of the Bush administration from a macro level is that they still seem to think that nations are the only units of power in the world. This is even after the was attacked by a terrorist organization who has members and operations in dozens of countries. In Iraq, they talk about the insurgents as if it was one coheasive group of bitter Ba'thists, when in reality is a smorgasboard of groups and people opposed to the occupation of Iraq as a muslim country.
The whole foreign policy shop still lives in the Cold War, and they are still refighting the battles of Nixon, Ford, Reagan and Bush I. That's why China and Russia are more on their radar screen than OBL. That's why they talk about military campaigns in terms of countries (Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria?) instead of groups.
I don't know how to make this a slogan except "the Bush Aministration is so 1989"
Posted by: DaveB | Mar 06, 2005 at 08:57 AM
DaveB .... or so 1984
Posted by: Desert Donkey | Mar 06, 2005 at 09:11 AM
With the nomination of John Bolton to the UN, I'm afraid that the US foreign policy slogan just became "Up yours".
Posted by: lahke | Mar 07, 2005 at 05:58 PM
Don't forget: "With malice towards none, with charity for all."
If the Reps are stupid enough to leave THAT one behind, then the Dems should be more than happy to pick it up from the battlefield.
Might even reach out to a few moderates who remember where it came from, as opposed to the radicals at the helm today.
Course, it might just piss off the South even more. Then again--maybe that's why the Reps have dumped it.
Posted by: donzelion | Mar 08, 2005 at 09:54 AM
"They're not Right. They're just Republicans." But that's anti, not pro; doesn't set up the right set of contrasts.
Still fun, though.
Posted by: paperwight | Mar 08, 2005 at 10:14 AM