LOSE CHANGE. I've just watched the new scare-mongering television ad from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC), and I can't say it makes me feel terribly cheerful. While I do think it's high time that the Dems played the security issue to their advantage, this thing has an icky feel to it, especially with its implication that the Democrats will be tougher on illegal immigration than are the Republicans. I'm no expert in these things, and I imagine that this thing was focus group-tested to death, but the tagline, "Vote for change," strikes me as more anxiety-provoking to the general public than inspiring. Fear of change, I believe, is exactly why we're living this right-wing nightmare; people tend to long for authoritarianism -- and stoop to scapegoating -- when the world around them is subsumed by the sort of change that flies in the face of everything they were taught to believe: America is invincible; women belong in the home; homosexuality is sin; hard work reaps class-elevating rewards; each generation is more prosperous than the one before. My sense is that people have had about all the "change" they can stand. A call to old-timey values, like community (did I hear "common good"?), shared sacrifice, and accountability, would imply the desired change in more soothing language.
--Adele M. Stan
