This is an open letter to the DNC and all progressive, liberal, forward thinking PACs, campaign committees, and organizations. I'd like to propose a sweeping campaign that – if implemented by the DNC and all progressive, liberal, forward thinking PACs, campaign committees, and organizations – could reap great gains in the 2016 elections.
The idea is this, “DEMOCRATS DO.”
Details below the fold.
This is an open letter to the DNC and all progressive, liberal, forward thinking PACs, campaign committees, and organizations seeking to make gains in the 2016 elections.
Like many of us, I was upset that progressives didn’t fare better in the 2014 mid-terms. Given the nonexistent legislative accomplishments of the GOP, I didn’t sincerely believe they had a chance of capturing control of Congress. But they did.
Why? I believe liberals lost because they refuse to call out Republicans on their enormous pile of bullshit. Too often the cry is, “Gridlock in Washington!” That is a lie. Let’s get real. The problem isn’t gridlock. The problem is Republican obstructionism. John Boehner has presided over the LEAST PRODUCTIVE Congress in our nation’s history. He and his colleagues have done nothing about anything – unless of course you count as accomplishments; saying no to every single proposal from the White House, giving massive tax breaks to millionaires and billionaires, interfering with the Iran nuclear disarmament treaty, and shutting down the government.
Immigration reform? No. Equal pay for women? No. Equal marriage rights for homosexuals? No. Any alternatives whatsoever to the shortcomings of the ACA? No. Any jobs bills to get the country working again and repair our pitiful, crumbling infrastructure? No. Any action on global warming? No. Any effort to repeal Citizens United, rein in Wall Street, or restore the sections of the Civil Rights Act gutted by a misguided conservative Supreme Court? No, no and no. The list of Republican failures and non-accomplishments is a long and sad one, but what’s worse is they don’t care. They are actually proud of their intransigence, seeing it as a sign that they’ve prevented a crazy, liberal president from moving his radical agenda forward and leading the country to a socialist hellscape. Never mind the fact that the DOW has never been higher and the economy is in far better shape than it was when George W. vacated the Oval Office.
Which brings me to my point. Democrats seem unwilling to call out the GOP. The rhetoric never gets that nasty or the remarks that pointed. Maybe it’s high time it did. Why should liberals try to reason with unreasonable people? Why even bother “reaching across the aisle” to people who are absolutely convinced that their way is the ONLY way and all others are evil, socialist, communist, unnecessary and/or unacceptable? Poll after poll after poll shows the majority of Americans want a higher minimum wage, immigration reform, marriage equality, gun control, action on climate change, and a host of other issues. However, the Republicans disagree and they aren’t the least bit concerned with facts. Keep in mind, this is the same party that has made it illegal for government employees in Florida to even say the words, “climate change” lest they be sent for psychiatric counseling. You cannot reason with people this delusional.
There have been studies in recent years that indicate those on the extreme right have a worldview that is fundamentally different from the mainstream. Sadly, this distorted construct is directing the Republican Party and preventing any chance of addressing our nation’s problems. Remember that a month before President Obama took office, the GOP leadership met and decided they would say no to every policy and proposal the new president put forth. “Stopping Obama” would be their claim to fame to their fearful, white, fundamentalists, gerrymandered constituents. That and nothing else.
I ask again, why even try to reason with unreasonable people?
The Republican Party has gone off the deep end. They deny facts, polls, basic math, and hard science to the detriment of not only our country, but the whole planet. Given that, they should be electorally irrelevant on the national level – but unlimited donations, fear, voter restrictions, and gerrymandering are powerful tools and no group implements them better than the GOP.
So what are liberals to do?
Stop trying to reason with unreasonable people. Call out Republicans for what they are – batshit crazy obstructionists who refuse to work in the best interest of the country. Instead of seeking what’s best for the majority of Americans – affordable healthcare for example – the GOP consistently appeals to the most greedy, selfish, ignorant, and extreme members of their ever-shrinking constituency. They shut down the government. They’ve constantly refused to confirm nominees at all levels from attorney general to circuit judges. They refuse to raise the debt ceiling until the eleventh hour. They don’t believe that women deserve equal pay for equal work, that minorities need civil rights protection, that the EPA has any purpose, and that poor people should have access to affordable healthcare. On major issue after major issue they are on the wrong side of opinion polls and the wrong side of history. Yet, they continue to get elected because the DNC – and progressive groups in general – have done a poor job of communicating that Democrats ARE on the side of the majority of American people.
Democrats Do
Therefore, allow me to propose a sweeping campaign that – if implemented by the DNC and all progressive, liberal, forward thinking PACs, campaign committees, and organizations – could reap great gains in the 2016 elections.
The idea is this, “DEMOCRATS DO.”
In ad after ad, video after video, social media impression after social media impression, the message to every demographic and constituency should be DEMOCRATS DO, Republicans Don’t.
• Seniors, do you want to protect social security and medicare? Democrats do! (Republicans have made drastic budget cuts to both and want to eliminate the programs altogether.)
• Immigrants, do you want meaningful reforms in US immigration policy and a pathway to citizenship? Democrats do! (Republicans don’t. They’ve done nothing.)
• Women, do you believe you should receive equal pay for equal work? Democrats do! (Republicans don’t. They’ve voted against it.)
• America, do you believe in marriage equality? Democrats do! (Republicans don’t. They’ve voted against it.)
• Students, do you believe you should pay the same interest on your student loans that the giant Wall Street banks pay on their loans? Democrats do! (Republicans don’t. They’ve voted against it.)
• America, do you want an end to endless and senseless wars? Democrats do! (Republicans don’t. In fact 47 of them directly interfered with White House negotiations to prevent a nuclear disarmament treaty with Iran.)
• Hard working Americans, do you want to earn a livable wage, have access to affordable healthcare, have the right to unionize, drive on safe roads and bridges, breath clean air, drink clean water, protect the environment for future generations, and not have local, state, and federal laws subjected to the whims of multinational corporations? Democrats do! (Republicans don’t. They refuse to raise the minimum wage, have voted time and again to kill the ACA, voted for union busting legislation in several states, refuse to pass any jobs bill, want to do away with the EPA, and ratify the Trans Pacific Partnership Treaty that would make any American law subject to review by a tribunal made up of lawyers from multinational corporations.)
• Etc. Etc. Etc.
As a companion to this campaign there should be another along the lines of DEMOCRATS WILL, Republicans won’t.
It is imperative that the DNC, progressives, and liberals of all stripes put forth a unified message that Republicans – their asinine policies and their refusal do anything except cow-tow to their corporate, special interests, billionaire handlers – are the problem. Americans need to realize that things would get much better for all concerned if Democrats are elected. Hundreds of well-done ads, targeted to micro and macro demographics would go a long way toward winning the hearts and minds of the electorate and achieving electoral gains in 2016.
But Democratic candidates, YOU MUST DELIVER. Too many of us, myself included, believe that the DNC is just as corporate, just as bought-and-paid-for by special interests and giant corporations as the GOP. The difference is that on most policy decisions, the DNC is making an effort to work for the betterment of average Americans and strengthen our democracy. GOP policy blatantly caters to the top 1% with no regard given to anyone or anything else. Democrats need to stick up for progressive values, stand firm against special interests, and be willing to say no to fat donations in exchange for votes. (I’m talking to the Dems who voted for Keystone XL and for fast-tracking the TPP. You’re a disappointment to liberals everywhere and should be ashamed.)
“Hoist with his own petard…” – Hamlet, Shakespeare
We progressives need not play nice. We need to point out the insanity of Republican policy and positions with such consistency, and on so many fronts to so many different constituencies, that the electorate realizes that voting for the GOP is a vote against their own interests.
Yet, we liberals know full well that Republican politicians have little use for facts. They will froth and they will foam when the ads described above start appearing everywhere. That’s when Phase 2 begins. When the GOP do-nothings start complaining that their votes or legislative accomplishments are being misconstrued, taken out of context, or misunderstood, or even deny that they said what they said, the DNC should be prepared to “hoist them on their own petard” to paraphrase Shakespeare. The DNC should have clips at the ready, John Stewart style, and skewer the clowns with their own words. They are clueless just how out of touch they are with reality and the average American so they spew forth to the media all the time. Have their voting record, their words, and their caught-on-tape-quips ready and waiting. Hang it round their neck like an albatross and let the weight of it drag them down. Let the combined weight of all their deeds and votes and comments drag their party down.
The Private Sector
The DNC should also be prepared the the GOP’s fallback position, their all-time favorite chestnut, “Government should get out of the way and let the private sector do what it does best - create jobs.” There are numerous variations on this theme and almost every Republican candidate has used it at least a dozen times per election cycle. I’ve never once heard a Democrat come back with a solid response, which is sad because there’s a great one. THE PRIVATE SECTOR BURNED THE ECONOMY OF THIS COUNTRY TO THE GROUND IN 2008 & 2009. Nor did the private sector recover on it’s own. It took a massive government bailout to do so - funded by taxpayers. What else has the “private sector” done? The private sector once employed children to work in factories, until government laws forced them to stop. The private sector once paid men, women, and children slave wages, until government laws forced them to stop. The private sector once dumped massive amounts of toxic pollution into the nation’s air, land, and water, until government laws forced them to stop. The private sector once had free rein to put shoddy, unsafe products on the market, until government laws forced them to stop. The private sector once utilized slavery as a means of production, until government laws forced them to stop.
The private sector has seldom ever ceased doing a harmful, destructive, or immoral thing until forced to do so by rule of law.
Our democracy is built upon a system of checks and balances. Without government, the private sector would have nothing to check its historically proven destructive behavior. Liberals need to make this point very clear and stop apologizing for it. Democrats are not the party of big government. Democrats are the party of smart government working to protect Americans. Americans want clean water, fresh air, toxin free soil, safe products, affordable mortgages, uncontaminated food, and retirement accounts that won’t evaporate simply because the greedy bastards that run their place of employment do something stupid.
Progressive groups adopting this strategy should pull no punches, make no apologies, and take no prisoners. The GOP dug in against President Obama before he even took office and have never let up. Yet, they hate Hillary Clinton with even greater passion. As reprehensible and scary as a black man in the Oval Office has been to Republicans, the thought of a woman, a Clinton woman, occupying the highest office in the land sends them into spasmodic fits of rage. If they opted to do what they did legislatively to Obama, you can bet your last dollar that they’ll do the same to Hillary. Tenfold. Maybe slightly less so if it’s another DNC candidate. Understand, the GOP is convinced that only rich, white, Republican males are fit to govern the United States. Anyone else, especially Secretary Clinton, is to be opposed at the expense of everything else, even national security, the nation’s credit rating, common sense, and the opinions of the majority.
This is also why it’s imperative that liberals take on not only the GOP field of presidential contenders, but all GOP candidates seeking office at the state and national level. As Obama’s presidency has shown, an intransigent Republican House and Senate makes it almost impossible to move a progressive agenda forward. Winning the White House isn’t enough. The DNC needs Congress as well to make any significant strides forward.
Finally, this strategy should be as deep as it is wide. Hit the GOP on all fronts and all demographics, and hit them at every level. The states matter as well because it is there that the most radical GOP policies have been put into place in recent years - Wisconsin, Florida, Indiana, Arizona, Louisiana, etc. etc. A “DEMOCRATS DO, Republicans Don’t, DEMOCRATS WILL, Republicans Won’t” campaign could prove very effective given the abundance of media materials with which to condemn the GOP. From union busting to denial of climate change to voter restrictions to denying affordable healthcare to millions, Republicans have provided all the ammo necessary. It’s time liberals picked it up and fired it back at them with extreme prejudice.
Here’s hoping the DNC will.