Pathos in income tax debates

Abstract

This dissertation theorizes the patheme, a new rhetorical figure most simply defined as an emotionally full signifier. The method used to theorize this figure is applied rhetorical history with a focus on the pathos of significant public address deliberating about the income tax. The findings of the rhetorical history are then synthesized with theoretical approaches to emotion and metaphor to craft the theory of the patheme. Beginning with the proposal of the first peacetime income tax in 1894, this project’s analysis continues through 2013 with President Obama’s campaign for “A Better Bargain for the Middle Class.” This analysis tracks the oscillation of public feelings about the nation and the place of the individual in upholding national values. Tracing the tension between justice and virtue, which is expressed in income tax deliberations, illuminates shifting attitudes towards the “American Dream.” President Obama deploys the “American Dream” as a patheme in order to unify conflicting approaches to the Dream, emphasizing a democratically secured virtuous individualism.