Who Are We?

Ezra takes Kos to task for his proposed slogan “The Democrats are the party of people who work for a living” saying that it isn’t as effective as the successful Republican mantra “small government, low taxes, family values and strong national defense.” He says that the slogan should reflect an actual agenda, not some ephemeral platitude. I actually think they are both misunderstanding what that Republican list really is. Kos thinks it identifies who the party represents and Ezra thinks it’s a legislative agenda.

I don’t think it’s that simple. The Republicans say they stand for small government, low taxes etc, not that they’d like to pass “small government, low taxes, family values etc.” It isn’t a specific legislative agenda. Neither does it identify who the party represents. It’s a statement of belief. (Which, by the way, is used most successfully as a contrast to the “big government, high tax, ‘make-love-not-war'” hippie straw man they’ve constructed to represent liberalism.)

I’ll take a pass at a simple description of what Democrats stand for that we might successfully use to contrast our beliefs with the other side.

How about “fair taxes, a secure safety net, personal privacy, civil rights, and responsible global leadership?”

Update: Attaturk has a more straightforward idea:

“We aren’t as big a fuckups as those dumbasses.”

That’s good too.

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