Slogans In Lieu of Facts

It is a well documented fact that humans rally behind salient agenda items with well-crafted slogans to unite them. Darfur is a great example of this phenomenon. While the problems of Darfur have been going on for decades, it wasn’t until several years ago that it finally became a common topic of discussion in America. Around the same time you see slogans such as “save Darfur now” or “Stop genocide”. While this case demonstrates their value as glue to keep large and diverse communities together on an important issue, during election time this benefit is distorted.

During election season discussion of the actual agenda item(s) moves to the back burner while slogans because the central focus. In this case the slogan itself can become so prominent that its meaning is lost in the crowd. Take for instance Obama’s slogan “Change we can believe in”. By the time we were into the general election the original meaning of this slogan had fallen to the way side in favor becoming a rallying call for Obama’s supporters, many of whom had no idea what kind of change they were supporting. This is unfortunate because in this situation the issues that affect us do not get discussed as more than soundbytes or bullet-points.

Contrast this to the famous debates between Lincoln and Douglas prior to the civil war. In these town hall style debates candidates would spend well over an hour making proof-laden arguments in support of their platform and Americans would sit around for the whole thing. Though this would be unrealistic to expect in our fast paced information society, we have clearly gone to the opposite extreme where we spend far too little time discussing politics and evaluating our leaders. In the words of Thomas Jefferson: “Educate and inform the whole mass of the people... They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty”.