Where We Went Wrong
How the Public Lost Faith in Democrats' Ability to Protect Our National Security, and How to Stage a Comeback
Democrats began losing public trust in national security after the Vietnam War, and the confidence gap has remained large and steady ever since. As security issues rise in public importance, the Democratic loss of the national security "issue" (a situation in which simply discussing national security, regardless of content, aids Republicans with voters) will hurt Democratic chances at the polls. For our country to have the debate and discussion that national security issues deserve, we need two parties with credibility and voter trust in issues of national security.
This Truman Paper analyzes what the Democrats did wrong, and Republicans did right, in three crucial areas: 1) policies, 2) political positioning and timing of those policies, and 3) the presentation, or narrative, which links policies into an overarching framework so that they resonate and make sense to the public. It ends with a case study of the Republican renaissance in education to provide a roadmap for how Democrats could regain credibility in the national security arena. This paper is about process, not content. It is the first step down a long road towards giving America a real national security debate once again.
