I Don't Like Political Slogans Because They Tell Me Nothing

Too many political slogans, too little political thought. Most slogans commit a logical fallacy of one kind or another. Slogans are catchy, but they are bad for the mind. No catchy slogan contributes anything to our political talk. Nothing at all. Zip. Let's look at a few examples.

1. Let's start with "If guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns." True enough, but it means nothing. Philosophers call this a tautology. It's true by definition. It's like saying, "Pat has a spouse, which proves that Pat is married." Or, "If I drive very fast, I won't be standing still." Or, "If I'm standing up, I won't be sitting down." The outlawed guns slogan sounds clever, but it tells us no information at all. No possible evidence could prove it to be wrong. Something that is true by definition gives us no reason to act.

2. Citing Chicago's high murder rate, popular pundit Charlie Kirk tweeted, "All Democrat political control means suffering and misery." If he knew how to write in decent English, Kirk would presumably say, "All Democratic political control..." In either case, it's still a slogan, not an argument.

First, Chicago is only one example, and one example never proves more than the one case. You always need at least two examples, and even two example aren't usually enough. "My first friend was a jerk, so all friends are jerks." We know that's not true. The one bad experience doesn't prove that all friends are bad.

Second, Kirk implies cause and effect: that Democrats cause high crime. But maybe the crime would be worse if Chicago did not have Democratic leaders. Maybe it would be the same without Democratic leaders. "Correlation doesn't prove causation" is also a slogan, and it overlooks some tricky questions, but it comes close enough. Correlation between Democrats and crime doesn't prove that the one causes the other. We would need to know a lot more than just basic crime numbers to know whether Democrats do or don't cause crime. Kirk's simple-minded slogan contains two fallacies in one sentence. Not brilliant.

3. "Heal America Democrats Care" is a trademarked bumper sticker.  This is the fallacy of over-generalization. I have met Democrats who didn't care about a thing, and I have met Republicans who care very much. It also commits a cause and effect fallacy: if Republicans won't accept a liberal leader, no matter how good he or she is, that might not heal America: the divisions might just get

worse. I suspect that's what happened with Barack Obama: it's not that he did anything terrible and awful, but many Republicans refused his leadership. This slogan commits two fallacies in four words.

4. "Is That True? Or Did You Hear It on Fox News?" is another popular bumper sticker.  You can also find bumper stickers that say CNN instead of Fox. This is prejudgment. Some of Fox's hosts and opinion commentators are very unreliable, but that doesn't necessarily tar the evening newscasters' reputations. Fox evening newscasters generally do good work, presenting accurate stories with a conservative slant. The slogan submerges an important distinction between news and opinion. Distinctions make a difference.

So - life is complicated. Public life is very complicated. Most of us want easy solutions. Slogans give us easy solutions, but there are no easy solutions to public policy questions. None. Not even one. Not ever. Get over it.

Catchy slogans are like bait on a fishhook - they are tempting, but, if the fish bites the hook, the fish ends up steaming on a charcoal grill. Slogans express one element of truth by hiding the element of truth that the other side can tell. Slogans lead us to doom. Look for complicated solutions. When it comes to public policy, be afraid of easy answers.


P.S.: About slogan #4: all news reporters should be as accurate as humanly possible and correct stories that contain errors. By basic journalistic ethics, this also applies to opinion writers and broadcasters. Opinion writers and broadcasters can spin the facts however they wish, but ethics still requires them to get their facts right.