I’ve been doing a little thinking about how to talk about values and choice. For the hell of it, I decided to see how Republican Party websites do it. Most of them were cookie-cutter, negative, and pretty boring — cut taxes, cut government regulations, and cut wasteful spending. The Texas Republican Party put a little more thought into building a positive vision. There was plenty I don’t agree with, such as:
Rugged Individualism
The entrepreneurial spirit of the individual that continues to solidify Texas as a world economic power….Honest Compassion
A society assisting those in need rather than a government trying to solve every problem by just throwing more money at it.
But I was surprised at some of the language that did work for me. For example:
Opportunity For All
The opportunity to chart one’s own course start a business, chase a dream, or build a life regardless of gender, race, or religion.
The most interesting piece was on Limited Government:
A government that promotes policies to unlock individual potential and unleash economic growth. Government that does not try to be all things to all people.
It’s a clever way of trying to have it both ways. They admit government plays a critical role. And who other than Stalin would say government should be all things to all people?
In contrast, although the Oregon Republican Party talked about individuals — “Our political party has a common belief of personal freedom” — when it came down to brass tacks, they came down in a very different place.
Protecting our environmentOregonians share a common interest in protecting the scenic beauty and livability of our great state. The Republican Party believes there is a balance between the environment and our natural resources. Healthy sustainable forests leads to a vibrant wood products industry that provides family wage jobs. Clean water flowing in our rivers and ocean estuaries benefits us all through tourism, recreation and fisheries industry jobs. We must use a common sense approach to balance these issues.
A nice job of saying they care about the environment without saying much else.
The one thing that struck me after reading a bunch of these sites is that using language like “choice” is a bad way to go. Although making choices can be one of the most profound things we do, it’s easy to end up sounding trivial, like deciding between Cheerios and Raisin Bran. These sites don’t make that mistake. When they talk about choice, they use much more powerful language, such as “unlocking individual potential” or “chart one’s own course” or “personal freedom.” Something I can definitely learn from them…
