Down with Slogans! The Sad Case of Ron Johnson

Senator Ron Johnson

Speaking at the Wisconsin Republican Convention on May 17, 2025, Republican Senator Ron Johnson recently parroted a slogan:

“We don’t have a revenue problem, we have a spending problem.”

We’ve all heard that one. 

Politicians love their slogans. “Make America Great Again.” “Stop the Steal.” “Make Love, Not War.” “Support Your Local Police.” Catchy? Surely. Do slogans make us think? No. Of course not. What a silly idea.

Slogans grab our attention. Slogans might state nationalism, prosperity, pride, anger, kindness, or hatred. But slogans rust our thinking. For example, “Stop the Steal” begs the question: was anything really stolen? If we say, “We don’t have a revenue problem, we have a spending problem,” does that excuse us from studying the numbers? Certainly not.

What about “Black Lives Matter;” “White Lives Matter;” “All Lives Matter?” Catchy slogans, fine, but are they sincere? Or do some people just say “All Lives Matter” to hint that “Black Lives Don’t Matter?” (Yes, they are all good slogans, but they do no good unless they inspire us to treat one another better. Right?)

The problem: slogans are not policies. They are just slogans. If we want good policies, well, we need to work. We need to get facts and and think a bit. Slogans don’t do that. Slogans give us an excuse not to think. Slogans excite us, and I enjoy slogans the same as everyone, but we get stuck in slogans the same way we get stuck on muddy roads.

Earlier Post: Critical Thinking on the Cheap

Back to Senator Johnson, whose slogan could, but does not, raise legitimate questions: how much money do we need to spend? How much money do we need to raise? Who should bear the most burden: the poor, or the rich? Those are policy questions, and the slogan does not answer them.

Johnson wants Congress to cut government spending. There is, however, no such thing as “government spending.” Not really. The government spends money on many different programs: national defense, law enforcement, national parks, border enforcement, various types of medical insurance, food support, agricultural subsidies, Social Security, and administrative expenses. And much more.

So, which programs does Johnson want to cut to solve the “spending problem?” Slogans don’t answer that tough question. No Republican wants to cut national defense. Although they talk about it, no Republican is foolish enough to cut Social Security. Social Security helps elderly voters, the Republican party’s main voter base. At the moment, Johnson’s party is trying to cut Medicaid spending. They are, however, not cutting Medicaid enough to balance the budget, just enough to create hardship. In general, making cuts is hard and painful. If you cut National Parks, you anger people (like me) who love parks. If you cut Medicaid, are you ready to face the fallout as rural hospitals close? If you cut defense, will the nation still be safe? Anyone can spout smug slogans, but slogans aren’t policies. Slogans are easy; policies are hard.

Yet, Johnson’s slogan is nothing new, while policy ideas repeatedly vanish into the mist. Indeed, back in 2010, Senate leader Mitch McConnell announced that, “We don’t have a revenue problem. We have a spending problem.” A year later, John Boehner said that, “Washington does not have a revenue problem. Washington has a spending problem.” Chiming in, Orrin Hatch avowed that, “We don’t have a revenue problem. We all know we have a spending problem.” Sound familiar?

Sadly, politicians mouth their much-loved slogan, over and over, in a thought-free rhetorical style that would horrify any public speaking teacher. If your slogan is your thesis, a teacher would ask, where is your argument?

Thus, we still ask, how does Johnson want to manage fiscal policies? His slogan fails to enlighten us. Worse, once our empty slogans fill us with pious but unthinking indignation, how can we then talk through our nation’s needs? For slogans are the ultimate conversation-stoppers.

Instead of parroting slogans, we need to work on our problems. Sit down. Figure things out. Never imagine that great policies will fall out of the sky. The world dumps massive problems on us every day. Mindless comments never solve them. Not ever. Fiscal slogans are the harbingers of fiscal disaster.By parroting a slogan instead of analyzing and discussing problems, Johnson displayed rhetoric at its worst.

America: Think, or Die! 

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

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P.S. In context, Johnson literally recognized that he was spouting a slogan, yet it never seemed to occur to him to couple his slogan with an actual policy: 

“Every other Republican leader saying some version of we don’t have a revenue problem; we have a spending problem. I would hope you all agree with that.”

I hate to think of our leadership as a cult where our leaders make do with a slogan - the same slogan, the same unargued dogma, the same vacuous absence of ideas, year after year, decade after decade - with the idea that “I would hope you all agree with that.” Surely the world's greatest republic can do better. 

by William D. Harpine

Copyright @ 2025 by William D. Harpine

Image: Official Congressional Portrait, via Wikimedia