Creating the Union: Parties Shape America with their Speeches

On February 2, 2005, President George W. Bush delivered his first State of the Union address for his second term.

As is dictated by the Constitution, the speech painted the President’s perspective of the nation and detailed his plans for the future. Bush also presented his policies and philosophies to the American people and issued warnings to the world.

Democrats responded to the president with a rebuttal, and the two presentations collectively create the political culture of our nation.

By defining what is important and what is not, the two parties actually produce the state of the union. Through language and through the technology that distributes their messages, Republicans and Democrats help shape the condition of the United States. And the parties’ words often lead to actions, including legislation, executive orders, and court decisions that affect everyday American life.

So we must decide if we agree with the parties’ words. Which party has described the United States that you live in every day? Which party has identified the problems that you experience? Because when it comes to politics, language is not inconsequential; it makes America.

Bush’s words - creating an ownership society

In recent speeches, Bush has verbalized his dream of an "ownership society," or a culture in which individuals own and manage all of their needs. The centerpiece of this ownership-society plan is the privatization of Social Security, the public retirement insurance plan on which many Americans depend.

By bringing Social Security to the fore, other issues are necessarily pushed back, issues like education, affordable housing, prescription drug costs, and even security. We have to decide if Social Security is our number one issue, and if so, how do we want to approach it? But if other issues are more pressing to our everyday lives, perhaps our vision of America is different from Mr. Bush’s.

Of course, President Bush talked about a variety of domestic concerns, including taxes, immigration, marriage, health care, stem-cell research, security, and the economy. And because his philosophies and policies on all of these issues are interrelated and all are significant, WomenMatter will continue to track them and discuss them as they develop.

But Bush has put Social Security reform in the spotlight. Does it belong there? Does it demand the energy and resources that Bush has granted to it through his speech?

Democrats’ words ' a different domestic agenda

In their rebuttal, Democrats doubted the urgency of Social Security reform. They spoke to the importance of other issues, such as homeland security upgrades and educational opportunities for all Americans.

Democrats painted a very different picture of America: one where the cherished motto, "opportunity for all," is quickly fading. This perspective is a direct response to Bush’s ownership society, a concept that Democrats believe to be contradictory to the very essence of the nation.

Instead of Social Security, Democrats have put the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan at the top of their agenda, followed by security, economic opportunity, and affordable healthcare.

The Democrats’ rebuttal offered an alternative - what Americans would have gotten had they voted for the other guys and gals.

Again, we must scrutinize their priorities. Are veterans’ benefits, tighter security, and a larger military at the top of your list?

The language of morality

The Democrats’ rebuttal proved that powerful expressions like "our nation’s values" and "we are all God’s children" are no longer unique to Republican speech.

Democratic Congressional leaders House member Nancy Pelosi (California) and Senator Harry Reid (Nevada) described their proposals as morally superior to their opponents’ plans, a tactic borrowed directly from the Republicans. Although the Democrats have adopted their strategy, Republicans continue to use the language of morality. President Bush used the words "sacred" and "foundation of society" when proposing the Federal Marriage Amendment, which would prevent gay and lesbian couples from the many rights that exist only for married couples.

Essential to Bush’s State of the Union arguments against stem-cell research were the words "human dignity," "ethics," and of course "culture of life," now an idiom within the anti-abortion movement.

With both sides using language to invoke a sense of moral responsibility, it becomes more difficult to call one or the other "the values party."

But even before Democrats began to adopt the language of morality, both sides represented strong but conflicting value systems. To better understand the philosophies behind the policies, take a look at this.

Language is an essential tool in politics. The State of the Union speech and its rebuttal create the political climate for the year. But your speech is powerful as well. In order to affect the parties’ proposals, use your voice. To contact your representatives, click here.

What do you think?

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WomenMatter encourages women to educate themselves on the issues and then approach their representatives with ideas.

Even though the election is over, your voice is vital. Make sure your leaders know what’s important to you. To see how your representatives vote and to contact them, click here.

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Update Posted on: 2/4/2005