On Framing

The estate tax is in the news a lot lately, some repugs are trying to repeal it.
It has gotten me thinking about how folks fram the debate.
Republicans have very effectively brandished their framing weapon when they call opponents tax and spend democrats. We haven't ever had anything so effective.
their phrasing implies that democrats impose burdens on normal people. it suggests that they ought to vote for republicans so their money won't be taken and given to poor people. it is brilliant. not clear from their approach is that much of that spending is for the benefit of the individual hearing the slogan: roads, police, schools, the military, etc.

i was thinking today of how to focus on the fact that if we stop imposing an estate tax we will lose revenue. that revenue must be replaced somehow. either we will pay it or our children will.
how about if we call our opponents Borrow and Bury Republicans? It will focus attention on the idea that republicans are constantly and irresponsibly digging america into a deeper and deeper hole with more debt thereby crippling our long-term competitiveness. Our children will need to dig out of that hole, and the deeper we are in it, the harder time we and they will have retiring, paying mortgages, or even purchasing food.
this is what repugs do, they spend spend spend and borrow to do it. they are like the college students who get the alluring, glossy envelopes, sign up for 18 credit cards, and graduate with $22,000 in credit card debt. Most people look at those college kids and think "they really ought to be more responsible." I'd love to see those same people look at the republican party tax cut crusade and scoldingly say the same thing they say to college kids with too much debt--"they really ought to be more responsible." This would hopefully come to mind every time we call a tax-cutting public good underming sleazeball a Borrow and Bury Republican.