Bush the Conservative p. 13
Exploring Ideology
The goal of this paper was to tie an ideological argument from an elite leader to a non-ideological group of supporters through the use of rhetorical technique. The above analysis only shows that President Bush uses different rhetorical techniques when speaking in informal settings than he does when speaking in formal settings. The identification of political keywords used in each of these techniques should provide some indication of whether or not it would be fruitful to pursue the larger investigation.
A review shows that the most commonly used keywords in formal settings are “tax relief” and some variation of “economic growth”. The most commonly used keyword in informal settings is “your money”. At face value, this suggests support for the literature that elite groups deal with more ideological arguments and non-elites eschew that ideology.
This only remains true so long as the analysis remains at face value. It is necessary to remember that it is not just money that is being discussed, but taxes. Thus, if a connection can be made between an ideology, or political theory, that ties “your money” with “taxes”; it would at least suggest an ideological bridge. That tie would be strengthened if it could be shown that the more ideological arguments made before elite audiences.
The immediate connection is that an ideology has been built on opposition to taxation. There is a whole slew of right-of-center political philosophies of various stripes that have a general opposition to taxation – libertarianism, conservatism, and neo-conservatism, to name a few. However, all of these have some mechanism for justifying taxation. The argument is over what level of taxation should be instituted for what purposes. Only one political philosophy contains an inherent objection to any taxation – Objectivism.
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The goal of this paper was to tie an ideological argument from an elite leader to a non-ideological group of supporters through the use of rhetorical technique. The above analysis only shows that President Bush uses different rhetorical techniques when speaking in informal settings than he does when speaking in formal settings. The identification of political keywords used in each of these techniques should provide some indication of whether or not it would be fruitful to pursue the larger investigation.
A review shows that the most commonly used keywords in formal settings are “tax relief” and some variation of “economic growth”. The most commonly used keyword in informal settings is “your money”. At face value, this suggests support for the literature that elite groups deal with more ideological arguments and non-elites eschew that ideology.
This only remains true so long as the analysis remains at face value. It is necessary to remember that it is not just money that is being discussed, but taxes. Thus, if a connection can be made between an ideology, or political theory, that ties “your money” with “taxes”; it would at least suggest an ideological bridge. That tie would be strengthened if it could be shown that the more ideological arguments made before elite audiences.
The immediate connection is that an ideology has been built on opposition to taxation. There is a whole slew of right-of-center political philosophies of various stripes that have a general opposition to taxation – libertarianism, conservatism, and neo-conservatism, to name a few. However, all of these have some mechanism for justifying taxation. The argument is over what level of taxation should be instituted for what purposes. Only one political philosophy contains an inherent objection to any taxation – Objectivism.
Go on to Page 14
© 2004 by Xpatriated Texan
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