POLITICS
Two Political Slogans, One Inspiring Hope, The Other Despair
We’re Not Going Back vs. Make America Great Again
When trying to facilitate social change, “the pen is mightier than the sword,” Edward Bulwer-Lytton famously proposed in his 1839 historical play Cardinal Richelieu. While you’re not likely to find many men or women, for that matter, settling their disputes with swords in the modern era, the sentiment of this line still holds — the written word is powerful, much more than any act of violence. What separates a society on the brink of anarchy from one where order is sufficient to sustain life and liberty? One could argue that it’s our ability to use language to communicate effectively. As Mao Zedong, a Chinese statesman, suggested, “Politics is war without bloodshed while war is politics with bloodshed.” That is why political slogans used in presidential campaigns are consequential — they are a public effort to settle disputes civilly.
Let’s consider two of the most pressing political slogans of the moment. One slogan was employed by Donald Trump and was coined by Ronald Reagan during his 1980 campaign: “Make America Great Again.” And the other was used by Kamala Harris’ campaign, “We’re Not Going Back.” It’s hard to escape the discourse these slogans seem to have, where the second slogan reads as…
