Why they say we have no ideas.

[More Than A Feeling]

As we have all heard, the Republican Party has come up with another reason why Democrats suck. Formerly it was that we were too liberal, out of the mainstream. Now it is that we have no fresh ideas. The two are related, though, as we shall see.

The first thing that is obvious is that what they say is false. We have many new ideas, in the sense that they are not traditional, they are different from what has been done before. From gay marriage to universal healthcare, these things are very new, at least in the United States.

So why do they say it? Well, one reason might be that they have not heard of these ideas, because we have somehow failed to communicate them properly. If that were the case, then they should stop doing their darndest to interfere with that communication via their constant manipulation of the media, so that cannot be it.

Another reason might be that they have no scruples, and so will say anything against us, true or not. However, in order for what Republicans say to be effective, someone has to believe it, otherwise it would be worse than if they had never said it, because of the loss of credibility that would follow.

So why do Republicans think they will be believed if they say that we have no new ideas, and why do some people believe that to be the case? The answer is they do not believe our ideas to be legitimate. Its part of their "with us or against us" mentality. In their minds, we have no ideas because we do not have their ideas.

Think of a hypothetical conversation between one democrat and one republican. The Republican says "you have no fresh ideas".
The Democrat replies, "Yes, I do. I think we should have gay marriage, which we have never done before."
Will the Republican say, "Oh, I was wrong, you do have new ideas?" No, he will not. He will say, "I don't like that idea, try again." Odds are, when he goes and talks to someone else, he will continue to say, "Democrats have no new ideas."

Well, since when has a Republican ever liked a new idea, anyway? Therefore, rather than bemoaning the lack of Democratic ideas, we should go on having them when we have them, not forcing them in response to a political critique that we could never answer anyway.

(Credit goes to Jonathon Chait and the Decembrist Blog for inspiring these thoughts)

[More Than A Feeling]

1. gratuitous self kick

:kick:

[jbm]

2. very good point...

Everytime I heard a repub con repeat the 'no ideas' line, I always wondered if they had managed to remain truly oblivious to the democratic platforms,or if they were that mindless that they would simply repeat what Rush told them, despite the fact that they were hearing dem ideas all the time. Your post makes the pieces fit though. Thanks for the insight!

[LeftyDarthBrodie]

3. I most often encounter this argument when talking about

the "war on terror" or the social security "crisis" that seems to have ended.

For the war on terror I simply explain to whoever I am talking to that we need to find bin Laden, whether for symbolism or for his actual continued involvement in worldwide terror, we need to work continuously and unbiased on solving the Israeli/Palestinian conflict and we need to ween ourselves off of our addiction to oil.

As for social security I simply debunk the myth of the crisis and state that privatization will only make things worse. We don't need any new ideas for Social security because nothing needs to be fixed.

[Debs]

4. I think the reason

They say we have no new ideas is that their ideas have proven so disasterous that they are now desperate. To take the focus off how catastrophic for instance their brilliant idea of invading Iraq was, they need us to come up with a plan, not to use, but to attack, they need to take the focus off the dimsons failures by attacking us and we arent giving them enough cannon fodder. On Planet Wingnut this is unfair, how dare we not play into their demented hands.

[Lexingtonian]

5. Oh Lordy, no.

Why, oh why, do Democrats get suckered in by such easy bait. It must be summer, where people don't have enough to do and waste their time on scurrilous sloganeerings of the opposition.

What Republicans mean is that Democrats don't have "ideas", i.e. things that get average people really fired up and tap some internalized resentment.

Forget this talking point, it's nonproductive for both sides.