When Funnel Issues Go Wrong
One of my best friends from college suggested I call common-ground, consensus-building issues "funnel issues", and I think that's a lot better than the "glue issues" terminology I'd been using.
It's interesting to me how sometimes extremists on both ends can team up to adopt issues, even when their moderate counterparts can't.
Check out gun control. The Black Panthers were against it, as are loony right-wing militias.
Or try anti-capitalist populism: Michael Moore and Glenn Beck are both hitting Obama for hiring ex-bankers.
Racial separatism has been a popular funnel issue for crazies on both sides.
So, you've gotta watch out for those.
In addition, funnel issues should avoid being distractions from real disagreements. My friend recommended firemen as a funnel issue-- nobody is against firemen. That's true, but what controversy does that solve? Would hiring more firemen or paying them more do anything to resolve any of the wedge issues currently plaguing our politics?
It's true that fire departments are often centers of affirmative action controversies, but IMHO agreeing to support firemen in general doesn't resolve or lessen divisions in that debate in the same way that agreement on contraceptives helps shift the abortion debate.
Yo, check out the latest: Gas taxes! Old news: Cap-and-trade is a front for corporate welfare to Big Energy. New look: Gas taxes can lower income taxes while decreasing emissions. A lot of conservatives are signing on to them. Most economists enthusiastically support gas taxes. Liberals and conservatives both love the idea of independence from foreign oil. Funnel that issue! Find someone whose ideals you hate and get them to discover that they agree with you on this.
I really think there are also some issues in the current health debate that pretty much everyone is currently agreeing to, but the Dems are refusing to separate out and pass b/c they want to pair them with their own agenda. I think that is really a shame. Obviously you don't want to vote on each issue or proposal separately because there can be cross-effects between proposals. But if there is some subset of proposals reasonably distinct from everything else, and those are agreed to by everyone, I think they should be passed independently, rather than one party threatening to use them to hold up the process.
Right now, I'd say agreement has been reached on tougher laws restricting the use of recission, and getting rid of the tax exemption for employer-based health care spending. It looks like everyone loves Medicare now, too, which is a little weird...
I haven't followed the debate closely enough to identify others, but I think the Republicans will have a huge incentive to identify the common ground here and then bash Democrats for obstructing those reforms.
It's interesting to me how sometimes extremists on both ends can team up to adopt issues, even when their moderate counterparts can't.
Check out gun control. The Black Panthers were against it, as are loony right-wing militias.
Or try anti-capitalist populism: Michael Moore and Glenn Beck are both hitting Obama for hiring ex-bankers.
Racial separatism has been a popular funnel issue for crazies on both sides.
So, you've gotta watch out for those.
In addition, funnel issues should avoid being distractions from real disagreements. My friend recommended firemen as a funnel issue-- nobody is against firemen. That's true, but what controversy does that solve? Would hiring more firemen or paying them more do anything to resolve any of the wedge issues currently plaguing our politics?
It's true that fire departments are often centers of affirmative action controversies, but IMHO agreeing to support firemen in general doesn't resolve or lessen divisions in that debate in the same way that agreement on contraceptives helps shift the abortion debate.
Yo, check out the latest: Gas taxes! Old news: Cap-and-trade is a front for corporate welfare to Big Energy. New look: Gas taxes can lower income taxes while decreasing emissions. A lot of conservatives are signing on to them. Most economists enthusiastically support gas taxes. Liberals and conservatives both love the idea of independence from foreign oil. Funnel that issue! Find someone whose ideals you hate and get them to discover that they agree with you on this.
I really think there are also some issues in the current health debate that pretty much everyone is currently agreeing to, but the Dems are refusing to separate out and pass b/c they want to pair them with their own agenda. I think that is really a shame. Obviously you don't want to vote on each issue or proposal separately because there can be cross-effects between proposals. But if there is some subset of proposals reasonably distinct from everything else, and those are agreed to by everyone, I think they should be passed independently, rather than one party threatening to use them to hold up the process.
Right now, I'd say agreement has been reached on tougher laws restricting the use of recission, and getting rid of the tax exemption for employer-based health care spending. It looks like everyone loves Medicare now, too, which is a little weird...
I haven't followed the debate closely enough to identify others, but I think the Republicans will have a huge incentive to identify the common ground here and then bash Democrats for obstructing those reforms.
posted by AdamB at 9:08 AM
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