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My personal musings about anything that gets on my radar screen--heavily dominated by politics.

2005-01-16

The Problem With Ten-Word Answers. . .

is that they're almost always incomplete, at best, and misleading at worst.

And that is the exact problem with discussing the current fiscal crisis in the state of Colorado. For example, in explaining his solution, the Governor could go something like this:

"What we have are a Constitutional requirement through Amendment 23 to increase spending on K-12 education, federal requirements to increase spending on Medicare, while being required by TABOR to only spend what we bring in. With revenues being down over the last four years due to the recession and 9-11, we have had to . . . " And here is where the voters--and POLITICAL REPORTERS--check out. Notice the Governor hasn't even gotten to the point where he explains the triggers built into TABOR and what role Amendment 23 plays in the whole mess, or how to remove or obviate that role.

Now, here is an example of what the Dems could--and would--say:

"They want to take money away from children, and TABOR is too restrictive."

Now, granted, that's thirteen words, but in that simple phrase the Dems have framed the whole issue in its most simplistic terms, employed scare tactics, and picked up the banner for children. Difficult to counter in ten words--just pointing out the deceptions involved would take too long for most.

This, unfortunately, is what the Governor and the GOP (along with their friends in the Alliance) have got to find a way to do.

And this is the problem with complex issues. Whichever side is first to define the parameters of the discussion, which is usually the side that has the most simplistic approach, is the side that will usually win the debate.
Posted by: Michael / 1/16/2005 11:49:00 AM

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