Briefly Noted
Here are a few ideas for blog posts that have been kicking around in my head, but that I haven’t had time to give the full EA treatment. Since my work shows few signs of letting up, and I have an appointment with the Tax Guy later today, let me just throw them out raw and see what you make of them.
Ten Commandments
This issue, like opposition to the science of evolution, seems to be a litmus test for modern-day bozoism. What irks me about the whole deal, besides the blatant unconstitutionality of religious displays on public property, is how desperate and insecure the advocates must be in their own faith to foist this discussion on the public. It seems obvious to me that for the folks who want giant concrete Commandment plaques in front of every court and legislature, the ethical content of the Commandments falls a distant second to the symbolic value.
In short, the Commandments aren’t so much traditionally-wise tools for living or guidelines for all of us flawed humans to aspire to as totems of Red Tribe affiliation. They are three-ton concrete messages to the rest of that it’s not enough to tolerate the shrill and infantile religiosity of our Red State brethren, but we must affirmatively embrace and accept their ritual fetishes and idols into our public spaces.
To me, the most dangerously stupid aspect of the situation is that it presumes a supremacy of Biblical law – laws created 2-3000 years ago for an authoritarian, priest-ridden Bronze Age society – to the more enlightened notion of laws created by people in the spirit of democracy. I admire the ethical concepts in the Bible and respect the ingenuity of many aspects of Biblical teachings, especially in historical context. But at the same time, as a good American, I believe sovereignty (the power to make laws) is vested in the people, not a supernatural force and his self-appointed earthly spokespeople, because I believe the outcome of human-based justice systems tends to be more just.
Putting statues of the Ten Commandments in front of American courthouses seems to me like putting Chef Boyardi ravioli on the menu of a high class restaurant. I liked Chef Boyardi as a kid – lots of kids do. Some people never outgrow it. But at an establishment that caters to more sophisticated tastes, it is disconcerting to see it listed as the daily special.
Democratic Messaging Framework
As part of my job, I occasionally have to create a document known as a “messaging framework,” which sums up the basic selling points of a particular strategy according to a series of categories. At the top, you start with the “positioning statement,” followed by a “value proposition” that can be angled toward specific audiences. The value proposition typically has several components, each of which is qualified by a few subordinate messages and substantiated by facts or “evidence.” At the end of the process, you get a consistent story and way to talk about basic themes in a pithy, easily-understood way. The most common outputs are the “elevator pitch” (a story short enough to be delivered in the course of an elevator ride), the “golfcart pitch” and the marketing brochure.
I’ve been thinking about this a lot in terms of the Democratic party, in that a common subject in the blogosphere and in real life is, what do the Democrats actually stand for these days? For better or worse, that’s an easy question to answer for the Republicans, because they have spent a lot of time and energy creating and propagating strong messages. Republicans are “for smaller government, a strong defense and traditional values.” That’s their elevator pitch. Whether reality matches up to the promise is not the problem of the marketing team. It’s a good, strong message, easily understood, and it sits at the center of the Republican brand.
After much consideration, I would propose the following:
The Democrats believe a strong America depends on a strong middle class.
What does that mean, exactly?
Economic security for hardworking Americans, a common-sense foreign policy, and tolerant mainstream American values.
Together, policies that support those objectives will make us a stronger, more prosperous nation.
In my head, I have the framework developed much further, with supporting points under each of those three pillars that line up with Democratic policy goals and values, and particular legislative proposals behind each of the value statements. Once I get a little time, I will try to commit the whole thing to paper (or electrons anyway) and make it available for download here on the site. In the meantime, think it over. I welcome additional suggestions, with the proviso that the top-level messages be short and dead simple.
8:34:54 AM 
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