24 February 2009

How to Annoy Republicans

How many times have you heard this basic argument? "Democrats and liberals don't want to end poverty because they want to keep poor people dependent on government programs so that they'll keep voting Democrats into power."

And how many times have you heard the claim that "Republicans and conservatives [or religious people] give more to charity than liberals or Democrats [or non-believers]?"

Be ready when the time comes! If you find yourself debating a Republican who uses one or both of these talking points during the course of your discussion, try this snappy comeback on him: "It sounds to me as if you Republicans want to keep people poor so you can have the ego gratification of giving them charity, so that they'll feel dependent on you and keep voting the way you want."

You can phrase it however you like as long as it hits the right notes. Then, when your Republican antagonist splutters that "that's not why we do it!" tell him that the logic of your argument makes just as much sense as the Republican argument against social programs.

This might not shut your for up completely, but at least you'll have taken some arguments from his rhetorical arsenal that he'll never use again.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Oh, they'll keep using the same arguments anyway. It is what they are programmed to do. Just like, say, Jehovah's Witnesses are programmed with certain answers to certain questions, Republican'ts are preprogrammed with certain responses to certain actions prompted by a true sense of nationalism and social responsibility committed by Democrats.