Argumentative stance and political faith healing: “The dream will come true”

Abstract

This essay analyzes President Ronald Reagan's speech “On Our Economic Recovery” as a means of exploring the argumentative resources of political faith healing. By exploiting the illocutionary ambiguity of “shall” and “must,” the faith healer as rhetor permits a state of healing to be seen as either prediction or command. By strategic identification and division, faith healers—both mystical and political—can take credit for successful acts of healing. In contrast, when healing does not occur, strategies such as those used in the Reagan speech can locate responsibility for failures of policy in the failed faith of the populace.