[WS:] I do not think they "locked up" - they just do better than Democrats, which is not that difficult because the Dems do a really terrible job.
A lot of it is about metaphors that are being used to frame the public debate about the economy. The Republican metaphor of fiscal responsibility and living within one's means resonates with a lot of people because it seems to make common sense. It seems similar to how most ordinary people conduct their everyday economic affairs. The state in that metaphor is portrayed as irresponsible spender who goes into debt because it lives outside its means. So while people may object to cutting their favorite programs, they generally agree with the idea that the state must spend "responsibly" and "live within its means," just as most people have to do.
An alternative economic metaphor is that of a provident caretaker making investments to secure better future. This is a metaphor that can also resonate with how most people conduct their everyday economic affairs. They borrow large sums of money to buy a new home or to send their kids to college or even to pay for medical procedures. In that metaphor, the state is a provident caretaker' who invests in his family's or organization's well being. If that metaphor framed the public debate on economic issues - as for example it did in the socialist economies - people would look more favorably at government spending on public projects (just as they did in socialist countries.)
The truth is, however, that Democrats (and the US left in general) have done a really terrible job in popularizing the metaphor of the state as a 'provident caretaker' investing in the family well-being. Their economic agenda reads like a laundry list supplied by special interest group - give this to this special interest group, give that to that special interest group, compromise with those special interest groups, etc. Even otherwise very sensible publications like "Dollars & Sense" tend to read pretty much like a wish list of unions and low income people - which for the "middle America" are just special interest groups sponging off the middle class. This kind of economic discourse obviously looks like a backroom wheeling and dealing and pandering to special interests. It is not at all surprising that most people feel revolted about it and fall for the Republican trope of "fiscal responsibility."
Perhaps the last US (or Canadian, to be precise) thinker of an international caliber who tried to popularize the economic metaphor of a large institution / state as a 'provident caretaker' and a guardian of public affluence was John Kenneth Galbraith. He was a true left visionary - as opposed to left whingers or lit critters who are a dime a dozen nowadays. For a while I thought that Obama would effectively use the "bully pulpit" to popularize an alternative framing of economic debate - more consistent with a liberal world view. Regrettably he did not do a very good job in that respect, I would give him a C minus at best.
Wojtek
On Mon, Jun 13, 2011 at 3:34 PM, brad <babscritique at gmail.com> wrote:
> Woj wrote:
>
> What matters is not how the economy preforms, but how well the
> candidates are able to
> frame economic issues in terms that are favorable to them. To date,
> Republicans have been more successful in it than Democrats.
> Republicans portray economic issues as moral issues that resonate with
> many US-ers, whereas Democrats portray economic issues as a laundry
> list put together by pundits and lobbyists.
>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>
> How have Republicans been more successful? People really aren't
> buying their austerity at any expense attack on entitlements (despite
> the framing). While I somewhat agree that framing matters, I don't
> take it to be the end all be all. There is a limit to the ability of
> the right to frame all economic problems as the result of high taxes
> and despite their greatest efforts the public thinks taxes should be
> raised on the wealthy and corporations (as a moral issue of shared
> sacrifice). I agree that Obama and the Dems could be making much more
> hay with this fact and perhaps don't due to their donor base. It
> isn't at all clear to me that the right has locked up the moral
> argument about the economy. Especially if you look at state races and
> the proposals/laws put forward by the right in those places. I know
> folks don't like to make a case for Republican over reach as a
> building block for the left, but that doesn't mean it isn't happening.
>
> Brad
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