The old Gramm-Rudman trick of scaring the two parties into compromising on fiscal policy by making the alternative politically unbearable for both has failed. Here come Democratic strategists talking up using sequestration’s $1.2 trillion in cuts against Republicans in defense-dependent districts in 2014. They may want to look into how well that worked for Republicans in 2012.
In some of the biggest races in the country, Republicans tried to jangle voters’ nerves by advertising the Democratic candidates’ “support” for looming defense cuts—not just as a sign of weakness on national security but as a jobs issue. The ads targeted defense-dependent media markets and put numbers on layoffs. Some ads singled out high-employing defense contractors and military bases as potential victims of cuts.
That Republicans lost every race was due to many factors beyond just a failed sequester scare, but the trend is cautionary for ad-makers of both sides and, really, for anyone wanting to sway public opinion on our thorny fiscal problems. There’s a lot about these problems for Americans to fear, but scaring them into action is getting harder
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