The culprit? Ramaswamy fell victim to Talking Points Disease. This terrible disease, which is endemic among American politicians, threatens to rot away our national polity. The symptom is that the candidate repeats false, often ridiculous, talking points that appeal to voters’ preconceived ideas. The infection’s cause is not doing research.
Earlier Post: Mike Pence Stepped on the Third Rail in the Republican Primary Debate
So, first, expressing his ideas about American education, Ramaswamy suggested that every voter should take a civics test. He wanted to—
Unfortunately, a few moments after mentioning the civics test, Ramaswamy complained about injustice and social harms supposedly caused by a government program called Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC):
Indeed, after hearing Ramaswamy’s comment, Nobel Prize winning economist Paul Krugman commented, tongue in cheek, that “It just occurred to me that a man who believes that the Constitution won the Revolutionary War might well believe that AFDC, eliminated under Bill Clinton, is still supporting the bums on welfare. But yes, let's require that voters pass a civics test.”
Will Ramaswamy’s talking point help him gain voters? I'm sure it will! Are voters who can't name the three branches of the federal government or remember the Bill of Rights going to correct him on the intricacies of long-canceled economic policies?
The cure for Talking Points Disease is to look up your information in credible sources before you open your mouth. Altogether too often, however, politicians simply repeat talking points that their aides have sketched out for them on little note pads. Sadly, in too many cases, the politicians’ aides have no more actual knowledge than the candidates themselves. The voters seem to be fine with that. Certainly, no one in the room challenged Ramaswamy’s audacious factual error. On the contrary, I suspect that many of them wished that they had said it first.
Earlier Post: Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump Both Suffered from Talking Points Disease
Can a nation long survive if its leaders are infected by the gangrene of unreality? Talking Points Disease is a serious business.
So, first, expressing his ideas about American education, Ramaswamy suggested that every voter should take a civics test. He wanted to—
“… revive our national identity, where every high school senior should have to pass the same civics test that frankly, every immigrant, including my mother, had to pass in order to become a citizen of this country.”Although I’m tempted, I cannot agree with Ramaswamy’s proposal. Every school system in the country already requires students to study American history and government, as do most colleges. Students seem to forget the material soon after they pass their tests.
Unfortunately, a few moments after mentioning the civics test, Ramaswamy complained about injustice and social harms supposedly caused by a government program called Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC):
“Part of the problem is we also have a federal government that pays single women more not to have a man in the house than to have a man in the house contributing to an epidemic of fatherlessness.”This was a standard Republican talking point from the 1960s and 1970s. Little did Ramaswamy know that President Bill Clinton signed a repeal of AFDC in 1997. Republicans, of course, have continued to complain about this program ever since, seemingly unaware that it no longer exists.
Indeed, after hearing Ramaswamy’s comment, Nobel Prize winning economist Paul Krugman commented, tongue in cheek, that “It just occurred to me that a man who believes that the Constitution won the Revolutionary War might well believe that AFDC, eliminated under Bill Clinton, is still supporting the bums on welfare. But yes, let's require that voters pass a civics test.”
Will Ramaswamy’s talking point help him gain voters? I'm sure it will! Are voters who can't name the three branches of the federal government or remember the Bill of Rights going to correct him on the intricacies of long-canceled economic policies?
The cure for Talking Points Disease is to look up your information in credible sources before you open your mouth. Altogether too often, however, politicians simply repeat talking points that their aides have sketched out for them on little note pads. Sadly, in too many cases, the politicians’ aides have no more actual knowledge than the candidates themselves. The voters seem to be fine with that. Certainly, no one in the room challenged Ramaswamy’s audacious factual error. On the contrary, I suspect that many of them wished that they had said it first.
Can a nation long survive if its leaders are infected by the gangrene of unreality? Talking Points Disease is a serious business.
by William D. Harpine
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P.S. Thanks again to the good people at Rev.com, a transcription service, for preparing a debate transcript for the public to read.
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© 2023 William D. Harpine
