Security with Justice
A few months ago, Rayne and Kriselda initiated the Build-a-Meme project wherein many of us were invited to contribute ideas to help shape the upcoming political debate. At the time, I tossed out the concept of “Security with Justice” as a winning strategy for Democrats to address the key concerns of many Americans, and encapsulate it all in a simple formulation. Now that I finally have some time on my hands, allow me to elaborate on various applications of this message.
National Security
This is the obvious one, of course. Democrats need to emphasize security as a way to rise to eye-level with Republicans who have claimed this as their issue and use it as a blanket justification for every shabby power-grab and abuse of the Constitution they can come up with. “Security with Justice” makes a distinction between the toothless gestures that the Bush administration is making toward things like homeland security, airline safety, bioterrorism response, and many other areas where the President’s rhetoric is not matched by financial or organizational commitments, and genuine measures designed to keep Americans safe without infringing on cherished rights and freedoms. Under the rubric of Security with Justice, Democrats can provide alternatives to the over-reaching PATRIOT Act and Ashcroft’s hateful military tribunals (which even many conservatives find troubling); offer sensible plans to assist states with the costs of providing better security and response rather than bankrupting them with unfunded mandates; and, most of all, press the case for keeping America safe by carefully choosing where and when we deploy our military might, so as not to entangle American forces in costly and counterproductive foreign adventures when the real issue is keeping our citizens free from fear and attack.
Economic Security
The halting and uncertain nature of the so-called recovery still has many Americans worried about their jobs and finances. The promise of economic security means creating the basis for growth by providing benefits for working families, incentives to small businesses, infrastructure to support innovation (e.g., public investment in transportation, job training and education), and aggressive enforcement of laws and regulations to prevent abuse of the system by corrupt insiders and criminal corporations. Economic Security with Justice distinguishes the Democratic approach as one that prioritizes the needs of working families rather than offering one-sided tax cuts for the wealthy. It’s also a promise not to dismantle the current apparatus that guarantees economic security for the elderly, and to extend the benefits of economic security to those facing medical problems and other disasters beyond their control through a comprehensive health care plan.
Global Security
Here the Democrats can not only deliver a blanket criticism of the President’s foreign policy, but offer a clear alternative. Global Security with Justice means that Democrats will seek firm and decisive reckoning with those who threaten genuine American interests, but will do so within the context of international law and international cooperation. The candidate must stress that this is not just a matter of principle, but of practicality: the security problems facing the world simply cannot be solved by a single country acting alone, and the American people should not be made to sacrifice lives and money to pursue ill-defined, divisive and counterproductive missions whose purposes serve the hidden agendas of a small minority of ideologues. The evidence to support this is already thick on the ground, and is bound to be thicker by 2004.
Other Types of Security
“Security with Justice” can also be applied to other issues where the Democrats can highlight important differences in their approach. These include “Environmental Security with Justice,” “Personal Security with Justice” (safe streets, protection of lifestyle choices from attack), and “Energy Security with Justice” (promising a better, fairer approach to energy independence that does not cater exclusively to the interests of big oil companies).
Summary
“Security with Justice” is short, memorable, decisive and affirmative. It reinforces the idea that Democrats are concerned with security – potentially neutralizing Bush’s biggest strength – but it draws a key distinction by tying security to the basic notion of justice (e.g., fairness, balance, inclusiveness). Creating this distinction gives Democrats the opportunity to elaborate on the concept of justice, playing to their own core strengths, while forcing the Administration to defend its policies in a context that they were not designed to address. It aligns the Democrats with the concerns of many moderates who support strong, effective measures to keep the country safe after 9/11, but have growing reservations about the commitment and competence of the Bush team, and it’s also general enough to accommodate a range of other policy initiatives under the same general “brand” – thereby keeping the message simple and consistent across a range of issue discussions.
9:58:49 AM 
|
|
