To be a Democratic political consultant is to work in the world's most forgiving profession. No matter how many presidential elections you lose, you keep getting richer and you keep getting hired. And it doesn't require much serious thought -- in fact, it's best to avoid ideas altogether and stick to slogans.
On that score, the cluster of consultants that attached themselves to the Kerry campaign certainly did their best. With the exception of Kerry's intriguing health care plan, his campaign was strikingly free of big ideas.
Instead, Kerry ran mainly on what The Onion, the satirical
online magazine, called his "one-point plan for America" -- getting rid of George W. Bush. In fact, Kerry made a compelling negative case for firing Bush, but he didn't do the other half of the sales job: give persuadable voters enough positive reasons to vote for him.
That's where big ideas come in. Consultants don't like them because they're hard to poll, or because they might offend some pressure group, or simply because they think they're too complicated to explain. But candidates need large-scale ideas to pique the public's imagination, define their distinct governing philosophy and aims, and infuse their campaigns with energy and purpose.
Ask Bill Clinton. His innovations -- replacing welfare with work, reinventing government, public charter schools, national service -- offered a welcome contrast to previous Democrats' tired litany of interest group demands. Sure, it helped that Clinton radiated charm and charisma, but if your candidate is short on these qualities -- say, he's dour and formal -- it's even more important that he have charismatic ideas.
Liberated by defeat, Democrats should now reach boldly for some big ideas that will shake the party out its intellectual torpor and give skeptical voters a reason to give them a second look. Here are three examples:
Turn NATO into a new anti-terrorism alliance. NATO remains a formidable military alliance on paper, but it is not focused on the most urgent threats facing America and Europe -- terrorism, and especially the frightening prospect of nuclear terrorism. Democrats should call for reorienting NATO around these threats, which arise mainly from the greater Middle East. If some of our European partners balk, the United States should forge a new mutual defense pact that would include willing European allies as well as Russia, India, and possibly even China, all of whom face terrorism from Islamic extremists. The Democratic Party shaped the alliances and institutions that won the Cold War; it should now lead the way in designing a new collective security system for the age of global terror.
Make every child a trust fund baby. One of Democrats' most successful ideas of the last century was the GI bill, which paid college tuition for millions of returning World War II veterans. Now it's time for another major public investment in enlarging the nation's stock of intellectual capital. Importing an idea from their New Labour counterparts in Britain, Democrats should call for staking every child born in America with $1,000 to start a college savings account. Parents and relatives could kick in, to take full advantage of the power of compounding interest. But Democrats should give this idea a distinctly American twist: At 18, the child could draw money from the account tax-free to pay for college -- but only if he or she agreed to perform a full year of national service. Otherwise, the public contribution would revert to government. Instead of a simple giveaway, this approach would link effort to reward. It would create, in effect, an earned entitlement to a college education for all Americans.
Tax waste, not work. The U.S. tax code is a study in perversity. Taxes are high on something we should encourage (work) and low on something we should discourage (pollution). Democrats should call for cutting the payroll tax, which takes a bigger bite out of most working families' pay than the income tax. By lowering labor costs, such a cut would also induce employers to hire more workers. To replace the lost revenue, which pays for Social Security and Medicare, we should tax carbon emissions, which are implicated in climate change. The most politically feasible way is a nationwide "cap-and-trade" system for carbon emissions rights, with Washington auctioning off those rights to raise money. By shifting the tax burden from work to waste, Democrats could simultaneously strike a blow for economic fairness and a healthier environment.
These three initiatives are merely illustrative: Democrats also need bold ideas for modernizing Social Security, raising America's game in global competition, cutting corporate welfare, helping poor families lift themselves from poverty, and more. But only by thinking bigger than its campaign consultants can the party begin to generate fresh enthusiasm for its causes and broaden its appeal to the voters.
