Republican & Democrat: The Political Practice of False Dichotomies & Argumentation

Politics in America is typically framed, discussed, and understood through the binary of Republican and Democrat, while argument in America is typically framed, discussed, and understood within a binary, by having a debate over an issue with two sides, and by having two ways to argue, either for or against; however, understanding arguments and politics through such binaries are problematic and create limits how issues, advertisements, argumentation, and rhetorics are understood.

Our determination to pursue truth by setting up a fight between two sides leads us to believe that every issue has two sides—no more, no less: If both sides are given a forum to confront each other, all the relevant information will emerge, and the best case will be made for each side. But opposition does not lead to truth when an issue is not composed of two opposing sides but is a crystal of many sides.  (Tannen, 1998, p. 10).

Argument as Issue Campaigns: WI Walker Proposal Issue Ads

Argument as Issue Campaigns allows inquiry into its metaphorical constructs and practices, as well as argument itself and issue campaigns. Study into such a metaphor demonstrates that argument can be inquiry, it can be intertextual, it is rarely a black and white issue, it is layered, it has exigencies and constraints, it is something that when placed into dichotomous and binary frameworks becomes overly simplistic and ultimately problematic. The campaign ads that aired during the WI Walker Proposal debate highlight how not only do they function as larger rhetorical texts, but they have micro texts within them that work to construct metaphors and layers of reinforcing texts aiming to strengthen messages. Additionally, by examining different sponsors of campaign advertisements Argument as Issue Campaigns highlight the role of interests in argument, in campaigns, and in rhetorical metaphors.

Argument as Issue Campaigns

The metaphor Argument as Issue Campaigns invites us to think of argument as not only a verbal speech act, but also as something nonverbal, and even visual. Argument could then be thought of outside of a binary construction of a claim for or against an issue, and could have more than two sides. It could be marked on bodies, it could be a body, it could be symbolic, metaphorical, a lie or misinformation, it could be a rhetorical act, a combination of texts and performances, a compilation of messages from different sources, and/or it could be without an explicit solvency or call to action. Although this list is not exhaustive, it is suggestive of the importance of thinking of arguments potentials, what it can do, instead of confining argument and frames of information to static, misleading, and limiting conceptions. Arguments and the framing of information is to shape how we perceive, think, and act. Entman suggests that to frame is to

Select some aspects of a perceived reality and make them more salient in a communicating text, in such a way as to promote a particular problem, definition, causal interpretation, moral evaluation, and/or treatment recommendation. (Entman, 1993)