THEN: “Ask yourself, ‘Are you BETTER OFF than you were four years ago’?” [Reagan Oct. 28, 1980]
NOW: “Ask yourself, ‘Are you SAFER than you were four years ago’?” [the question that must be posed for 2020]
As Victor Davis Hanson — noted Neo-Con National Review contributor, Senior Fellow at the traditionally conservative Hoover Institute, recipient of the William F. Buckley Prize, and the National Humanities Medal from George W. Bush — writes in a 2012 piece for Real Clear Politics:
“There was only one presidential debate in 1980 between challenger Ronald Reagan and President Jimmy Carter. Just two days before the October 28 debate, Carter was eight points ahead in the Gallup poll. A week after the debate, he lost to Reagan by nearly ten percentage points…. [Most] devastating was Reagan’s final, direct question to American voters: ‘Are you better off than you were four years ago’? No one, it seemed, could muster a ‘Yes’! ”
Reagan’s complete final statement is even more revealing — and a more specific and comprehensive guide for the question the Democratic candidate should ask in 2020. (I know, I know: it’s Reagan! But read it anyway):
"Next Tuesday is Election Day. Next Tuesday all of you will go to the polls, will stand there in the polling place and make a decision. I think when you make that decision, it might be well if you would ask yourself,
are you better off than you were four years ago?
-Is it easier for you to go and buy things in the stores than it was four years ago?
-Is there more or less unemployment in the country than there was four years ago?
-Is America as respected throughout the world as it was?
-Do you feel that our security is as safe, that we're as strong as we were four years ago?
And if you answer all of those questions yes, why then, I think your choice is very obvious as to whom you will vote for.
If you don't agree, if you don't think that this course that we've been on for the last four years is what you would like to see us follow for the next four, then I could suggest another choice that you have.”
Reagan may have been guilty of some terrible acts as President, but he knew that he (or she) who “frames” the terms of an election wins that election. We must learn that lesson. We must frame the terms of the 2020 election with the same compelling clarity and power that Reagan framed the choice in 1980 .
Of course, we might well ask the very same questions Reagan shrewdly asked Americans 40 years ago. I suspect the answers would be the same, and once again Americans would resoundingly vote for Change.
However, our “frame,” — given all the domestic violence and global threats unleashed in the wake of Trump’s American Carnage — might need a different focus. It might instead be:
“Ask yourself, ‘are you SAFER today than you were four years ago’?”
-Has Trump’s policy of ripping children from their asylum-seeking parents at the border and imprisoning them in cages made you feel Safer?
-Has Trump’s racist language in the wake of Charlottesville and El Paso and his failure to act against White Supremacist Terrorism made you feel Safer?
-Has Trump’s inaction on Universal Background Checks and Commonsense Gun Safety laws, in the wake of Parkland and other mass shootings, made you feel Safer?
-Has Trump’s love letters to Kim Jong Un and attempts to lift sanctions against North Korea made you feel Safer from North Korea’s Missiles & Nuclear Weapons?
-Has Trump’s unilateral withdrawal from the Nuclear Weapons Control Agreement with Iran, and the resulting Iranian resumption of Nuclear enrichment made you feel Safer from the spread of Nuclear Weapons?
-Has Trump’s unilateral withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement with 174 other countries made you feel Safer from the dangers posed by the Climate Crisis?
-Has Trump’s Tax Cut for the 1% and the Multi-National Mega-Companies made you feel Safer and more secure financially than you were before?
-Has Trump’s support of the GOP’S attack on Affordable Health Care made you and your loved ones feel Safer from the threat of illness-related financial disaster?
If such a “framing question” is posed again in 2020 as it was in 1980, the answer will still be that “No one,... [will be able to] muster a ‘Yes’!”
The consequences — an electoral victory, and with it a fundamental change in the direction America takes — will parallel the consequences of four decades ago. — but this time the consequences will be for the better.
Please Note: This is only a very rough draft of how the “Framing Question” for 2020 should be posed. If you think the basic idea has merit, please feel free to edit, revise, amend or contribute anything that might strengthen it. TIA!