A Blueprint for Winning....This is borrowed from the Introduction.....
Read it; see if you don't agree....
Original Editions in Limited Availability.
From a review:
"If this doesn't move you, report immediately to your Emergency Room!...."
A Curmudgeon’s View:
What we need to do in
order to win the next election
A Democratic Life Preserver By Les Aaron
Introduction:
What we are seeing before us is the death and destruction of the Democratic Party.
Until recently, we were dying the death of a thousand cuts. Everything and anything Democrats did was vilified; we were accused of being pinkos, commies, fellow travelers, peace-niks and all of the other things we’ve been accused of for the last fifty years.
In the meantime, the Republicans were hard at work trying to disassemble government, trying to do away with benefits and filling the larders of their buddies in lobbies at the same time.
What the heck was wrong with this picture? Why were democrats running scared and looking to keep a low profile?
Yes, the truth was that we were being attacked from a hundred different directions; and, overall, we seemed to be afraid to speak our minds. In that kind of framework, it was easy to draw comparisons with the Parliamentary system where the opposition is always out front and always on the attack.
I think after the Democratic speaker was targeted and dropped from Congress, it became amazingly clear that as Democrats, you either hang separately or hang together as a Party that has the courage and gumption to stand up to the withering and inaccurate attacks of the opposition. There can be no alternative!
The lesson learned:
If we want to survive as a party, the Democrats have to rethink their strategy and be willing to make the kind of hard choices we face.
To do that, we have to understand where things are and what we need to be doing as we move forward in a new century with new challenges and an opposition that is willing to say anything and do anything in order to win. The sooner we realize that they are about winning and nothing else, the better off we will be.
However, there is a fundamental difference between the Democrats go about trying to win the election and the way the opposition does it.
For clarity, it may be referred to as the individualist vs. the corporate approach.
Why that analogy?
In the best corporate style, you have the robotic approach where the same ideas, the same words have been codified and shrunk into capsules ingested by the faithful and regurgitated on demand. Everybody has been whipped into agreement; there is no difference of opinion that is either suggested or tolerated. Everyone is lined up and standing tall! Under this kind of scenario, all of the arguments have been thought out in advance and all of the questions have been set up in advance of going into the conference room.
Simplistic? Yes. But that’s the entire point.
If you repeat an argument, whether it is true or not often enough, the masses will believe it. And that’s the entire premise. This is not about belief systems. It is not about principle. It is about one thing: Winning! And that’s all that counts. And until we liberals, progressives, greens, independents and others learn that truth, we will always lose..
Let’s contrast it with the typical Democratic approach to any issue.
That is virtually the contrapunctual opposite of what happens among democrats.
It seems that democratic notions are an extension of the old debates that seemed to dominate events at Columbia and CCNY before and during WWII, New York’s liberal zenith. It is based on that old nugget that if you have two democrats facing off, you will have three discussions and four arguments!…
We saw it regurgitated in the Rainbow Coalition when at that particular time every segment of that coalition was in conflict with each other as to whose nationalistic or personal values were better. . It seemed that we were more interested in drawing blood from each other than the opposition. Coalition? No way, Jose. That was a misnomer that helped fractionate the party until Clinton came along
Something had to change!
Since then, several elections have reinforced the idea that the Democrats still do not seem to get it although we’re getting close. We are committed to a kind of Ground Hog day where we seem to do the same things over and over again. And it’s called suicide.
But with newcomers and fresh opinion perculating up from the bottom of the party and the hinterlands, it just may be that things are beginning to change. And, if so, it is welcome.
Now, let me reaffirm that the reason for this has nothing to do with right or wrong. Because Democrats are the party of the people and oftentimes whatever we do is moral, its humanistic and it is designed to be oriented towards the betterment of man and society. But those arguments have little to do with winning in the self aggrandizing time we find ourselves in at the beginning of the 21st century.
And so there we are. Where we go from here is pretty much up to us!
If nothing else, we have figured that democrats for the last twenty years have allowed the democrats to frame the debate!
That is a major “no, no.” But understanding that the Republicans hold the high ground in strategy and tactics should provide sufficient momentum for democrats to coalesce around some new people who bring imagination and big thinking to the challenges we face and, mostly, new ideas that can transform the party of the common man. .
And that’s where this little book comes in.
I decided to write it because of the last two elections where I believe it is we who failed to do the needed job and it was not the brilliance of the Republicans that won the day. Sorry! Our loss was due to our failure to define the issues, coalesce as a party and communicate. We failed in all three categories!
But before we get smug or overly high brow, let’s start off underscoring the fact that the worst thing we could do is underestimate the opposition as we always do….We need to agree that we are up against some pretty smart dudes who understand how to use the dialogue, the media and communications, in general, to control and shape the debate.
Republicans understand it all:
They understand the use of words, timing, and pulling rabbits out of hats or simply saying what it needs to say and then worrying about the fall-out later. For them, a strong offense is a great defense.
Democrats seem to know that if you put one foot out in front of another, you, hopefully, won’t fall over.
Therefore, despite the fact that most of the needed information to compete was retrievable and at our fingertips from Day One, we chose to ignore it in a despicable display of hubris that was undeserved.
And the other side failed to go away as we would have wished; instead, they stayed around long enough to win!...And I think that sometimes we forgot that that was the point afterall.
It is now time to do penance and play catch-up!
This little book, I hope, will serve as the proverbial “irritant”—that will work on an unresponsive, virtually invisible DNC, a DNC and a suppliant Congress and an entire party that had until the past year believed that the best way to beat the Republicans was to become more like them or fall into a death-like trance.
Fortunately, a few realized that this was the kiss of death for a Democracy predicated on a two party system where there was almost parity.
With the marriage of TV and politics, the formula for running a campaign has changed. The people have been sidelined by business and money considerations.
Politicians when asked what is more productive: Get advertising money from the business lobbies or spend time in the precincts or districts, dealing with the lobbies wins every time.
Unfortunately, democracy suffers in the process! Something happens when the political process is played out at the bankers and not in front of the voters…where the candidate is so intent on raising money from special interests, that he or she forgets to get out there and press the flesh.
It is something that that old pol, Speaker Tip O’Neal never forgot in his long service to the people of Massachusetts and later to the Democratic Party.
And it is something that today’s Democratic pols can ill forget to remember if they want to not only serve their country but win elections!
Let’s start with the first remark And it has to do with Organization and what happens when you either forget to be organized about what you are doing or think you have greater priorities.
I call it:
.Things to Do When You Want to Win An Election
And Your Name is Not Rove.
Things to Remember:
1. Because you have a Higher IQ,
Doesn’t Mean You Have the Superior View.
If nothing else, Republicans are unified to the point that most of their legislation
Gets by because they’ve already put everyone to sleep. They are the great speech-a-fiers who get by on colossal chutzpah and seldom have much to say to the bulk of America, the middle class. They are notoriously self-centered and self=righteous; they can cut up to ribbons but should you say “darn,” they will run themselves ragged to demand that there is civility in the dialogue and will find a way to claim that what you said was somehow religiously incorrect so that they could tap you on the head with a mallet—nothing of course would give them more pleasure!
They are the Party of the double standard. They will criticize your war record; but more often than not they were too busy to serve (See the lament of Cheney and his cadre of “super patriots” about the reasons they didn’t serve.)
They will talk about smaller government but they will expand government as never before.
They will talk to death the idea of a balanced budget and conservative bookkeeping but they will manage to increase debt levels to unbearable highs!
This is what we are up against!
The deal is that they’ve gotten all of this worked out. They seem almost militaristic in the extent of their organization and rule which emanates from the top—or at least as far as the desk of Karl Rove, the inhouse orchestrator who has changed the entire structure of Republican methodology by taking Lee Atwater’s attack dog philosophy and making it less belligerent perhaps but harder hitting on so many more levels.
The Republicans have a thirty year advantage over Democrats when it comes to organization! They recognize it’s not just something you do during elections but all year round so let’s defer points to them for continuity. We need to learn the game from the git-go.
Ignoring it will not make it go away!
In view of all of this, it must be every candidate’s avowed goal to bring into the fold every single voter possible.
And you can only do this through a tremendous organizing effort.
An effort that begins at the beginning and carries right through election day.
And organizing is an activity determined by what will and won’t work in your district or state. Let us not forget that….
Organizing is an all encompassing term that takes into consideration everything: Staffing, volunteers, position papers, a viable calendar, a PR effort, seeking out important opportunities to identify with the appropriate measures and standing tall and being visible. It is about being sensitive to the needs of the voters you identify with and being prepared to take appropriate counter-measures against the opposition. It is all of those things and more.
And the candidate who ignores all of those things and flies by the seat of his pants stands the least chance of success.
2. Unity does not mean saying “I love you…”
Unity does not mean the same thing as Organization. You can have an organization that has no unity.
Where the Republicans have succeeded, they have done so because they have both and both pose a dangerous threat to the kind of seat of the pants strategy that is dictated more by Republican tactics than what should be our own objectives.
In this context we have failed to be “pro-active.” We have allowed the other guys to set the agenda. And the reason they can do it is because whether the Republican is in Oklahoma or Maine, he or she has been briefed in what appears to be a follow the dots scenario that says you say this now, and then you say that…
It is simplistic; it is programmed and it is dogmatic.
But it works!
And if you admit to not liking to play follow the dots, you will find yourself called on the carpet by the likes of a Tom “the Hammer” Delay who will beat you close to death for stepping out of line. But even worse, he will cut off an important source of funding. Tom is “the enforcer” no one in their right mind wants to meet. And if you still don’t play ball, the party will not invite you to its parties or its meetings and before you know it, there will be a qualified candidate of your party running against you at the next election. The operative word here is “vindictive” and it is a trait of a party addicted to “bring it on” scenarios that call for bad guys and good guys.
It’s not the words, it’s the structure
This lesson cannot be completed unless we have a good understanding of where the Republicans have taken what they’ve learned since the fall of Tricky Dicky.
3. The Liberal Tag: Overcoming it!
Republicans mince no words when it comes to putting labels on others… We have been saddled with the liberal or progressive label as if it were a pejorative term. The problem is that the Republicans have freighted these labels with so much baggage that we have not addressed, that it is already too late. The sad part of this story is that both of these words should be worn with pride; yet, now, the majority of public opinion equates them with words like ‘terrorist” Commie and all of the other negative terminology that the other side is good at accusing us of. And while none of these terms should in and of themselves be viewed as “negative,.” we have no choice but to avoid them so as not to let the other side frame the debate.
Keep in mind, that this country would have been transformed into an oligarchy of haves vs. have nots were it not for the liberals who conceived of the “New Deal” through the GI Bill which created an expansion this country had never seen before to the TVA to the last great economic surge that came with Sillicon Valley. While the rich and the ‘haves’ would rather have you believe that this came from private pocket books committed to the public good; nothing could be further from the truth.
Here are the facts: Sillicon Valley was spawned by government largess to institutions like Stanford from where the eventual break-throughs were made.
And should anyone be unclear on this, let me repeat it. For the last twenty or thirty years, we “liberals” have been pulling the Republicans chestnuts out of the fire. And lest we forget, although they will drove you witless with their conservative dialogue, the fact is that the government grew faster under Republicans than it ever did under Democrats; that government debt increased faster under Republicans than Democrats and that most of the great programs that got this country moving again were Democratically inspired. So, phooey I say to those who would so misuse terms that were so important to the growth and health of this country and made it the destination of choice for the needy and the victims of oppression.
4. Our Stand Politically
As contrary to Republican thought as it is, the fact is that the Democratic Party has not stood still. In fact, we have pre-empted the ‘centerists’ on most issues!...
Although Republicans would have you believe that we stand further to the left than Mao, the simple fact is that the Party was transformed under Clinton and moved to what might have been considered where the mainline Republican Party was back in the fifties.
This should give you some idea of how far to right the Democrats have moved.
We are not—if we ever were—a Party of ‘leftists” but instead hug the middle and if anything, we are right of center. So, don’t let the Republicans have you believe that you are some kind of leftist geek. We are the Party that is representative of the people.
And while we are conducting this exercise, let’s take a look at the Republican Party of today.
It is a far cry from the mainstream Republican Party of our youth—the party of Lehman and Rockefeller. For the first time in recent memory, the Republican Party of today is dominated by right wing extremists. This is something we need to keep in mind when Republicans are ready to cast aspersions on the extreme views of the Democratic Party. The fact is that the Republican Party is presently opposed to what most of us believe in who cluster around the middle. . The right of choice. The right of gays to lead lives of their own choosing protected the same way against loss or illness as heterosexuals.
What is most alarming is the way the rigid right wingers are trying to introduce their extremist religious beliefs into government. Currently, while the administration denies it, the government has turned over taxpayer money to religious groups for the ostensible purpose of using that money to help the poor and unfortunate. Unfortunately, many of these groups demand that those seeking help are forced to endure a religious lesson and prayers before receiving any benefit. It is also claimed that many of these groups are reallocating these government funds for their own uses such as repairing their churches, maintenance, etc—a clear violation of the use of taxpayer funds. In addition to the misuse of government funds, the Christian Right attempts to force their views on others. This has resulted in a school body that in many states is afraid to teach evolution. Attacks on stem cell research. And positions that are against women’s right to choose. They are anti-gay and against marriage between people of the same sex. In fact, wherever science comes up against their theology, they speak out against it.
They believe that government and religion go together in opposition to the thinking of our Founding Fathers. And they subscribe to a type of teaching that embraces end of the world scenarios more recently adapted from eighteenth century English writers than the New Testament itself. /They see nothing wrong with 5% of the population controlling more than 60% of its wealth. They do not believe that people are entitled to help or benefits if they’ve been dealt a bad hand. They subscribe to two forms of education, one that supports their own view. They also believe that government should take a hand in supporting their view.
Many of those who support this government’s point of view is quite clearly politicized and polarized; they don’t want to mix it up with people having other views, people of other races, people who speak other languages or subscribe to ideas that are not part of their belief system; in effect, they support their own views at the expense of the majority. On the other hand, while they are against abortion, against cellular research, against genetic progress, they are also against providing benefits and support for those who are brought into the world without love or a support system.
They talk about religion and Christ’s generosity; yet support war and conflict to advance their own particular views of the world. In effect, the Extreme Right is creating a conflict that does not entertain discussion or debate; only acrimony and a single perspective that does not change with new information.
In other words, we as middle of the roaders are finding ourselves coming up against a growing population is inflexible, tends to take others of their kind as infallible, considers those who don’t practice in the same way that they do as “outsiders”, and generally is unwilling to change their minds in the presence of new information.
This, ultimately, is scary when contrasting that kind of absolutism with the past and the damage caused by others holding such views.
5. Changing the Mind-Set
It is clear to me that the toughest thing that most Americans will have to do if they want to see a revived, energetic and effective Democratic Party, is to acknowledge that with the exception of one eight year gap the advantage over the last twenty-five years was held by the other party. And then we must move on! In the process, we must come to grips with what Republicans have done so efficiently to build and solidify their position so that we can go about leveling the playing field—something we have failed to do to date.
The problem is that no one wants to admit it. It is the extreme case of the Emperor has no clothes….Why? First of all, it is going to be expensive; secondly, it is going to take a lot of talent. And, thirdly, that talent will be committed to changing the way the party goes about its business…
But this still begs the larger issue: Why have we failed to take our lead from the ‘other side?’
Once we understand what it is about our nature that we cannot face up to this ultimate truism, we can begin to prescribe a solution that will work. Until then, the opposition will continue to hold the high ground.
6. Differentiating Ourselves
Part of that answer has to do with the organization of the opposition: The fact remains that the Republican Party is well organized to react virtually instantaneously with fundamentally the same voice to virtually any argument we bring to bear.
This wields enormous power in gaining leverage and in controlling what the receiver hears and believes.. That’s because the mechanism is geared to the vagaries of the media so that as soon as an argument is heard, there is a rebuttal that is well thought out and seems objective because the other side has had until now the option of framing the argument.
How do they do that?
They are organized this way, that way and every other way you can imagine—all for the same purpose: To leave us hanging, without the depth of a counter-argument and what’s worst of all, unquoted when and where we need to be quoted.
How did that happen? And where were we?
We were frankly asleep at the switch, admittedly naïve little waifs believing that truth and honesty were the American way while the Republicans ran circles around us, finding the arguments, tweaking them ever mindful of the power of words to influence and persuade—and, incidentally, not much concerned about what they meant except as tools for their own ends!
It all happened about the time of the “dirty tricks” under Donald Segretti, henchman of the Nixon campaign and hired to lay traps and put obstacles in the path of all of the Democratic candidates to embarrass them and render them otherwise impotent in the race. Segretti made sure that the planes needed maintenance, that the landing strips did not have lighting, that schedules got misplaced and a whole host of other things to foul up Democratic efforts to get the candidate’s message out. Well, it worked!
And the lesson was never lost on Lee Atwater who gravitated to the head of the Party; Atwater was a genius of political opportunity and skillful manipulating, and sometime after Nixon was driven out of office by events around the Watergate affair, and he didn’t leave a stone unturned in promoting their man and attacking Democrats. Atwater decided to give a mainstream approach to political manipulation and the war of words.
In the process, a network was set up around the country that operated at every level to control the output and shape it as desired through the appropriate vehicles and techniques to control and influence public opinion.
It became the Great Barrier Reef of communications—virtually a living organism connected in oblique and poorly understood ways one to the other to cover all of the communications bases that influence and shape views and opinions.
Atwater recognized that he who can craft the better message and controls the media controls the game of politics. So he set out to do it anyway he could. Fortunately, there were a lot of other Republicans with deep pockets and aligned commitments who felt that it was worth doing. And anted up one of the biggest and deepest political funds ever.
Another thing, Atwater made it easy to do. For one thousand dollars, you could become part of the Inner Circle of Advisers, friends, whatever. That meant trips to Washington, tours of the White House, visits with key personnel, photo ops all over the place, parties and dinners with important Washington insiders. It could be a heady experience. And if that wasn’t enough, the Republican Party even boasted a catalog of things you could buy from ties to cuff-links to plates and you name it.
If there was a way to get a dollar out of a Republican, these boys had thought of it.
And if they didn’t get you the first time, they would add you to their list and hammer you with mailings…all telling you that unless you contributed, the sky would fall and destroy you and your family!—a pretty compelling argument.
Atwater’s plans were comprehensive. They ran from “think tanks” which largely frame the argument to advertising agencies, research affiliates, PR agencies, direct mailers and others who orchestrate and shape the argument—all with fundamental roles in communicating and reinforcing the message with the understanding that repetition builds conviction and belief.
It must be said that for the system to work as it does, the fundamentals of the argument have to be appropriately researched and ‘framed’ at the senior level. The external shops, agencies, research institutions and ‘think tanks’ decide how to do it and when. There is clearly a particular effort to make everyone’s voice engaged in the argument not only harmonious but to serve to reinforce the fundamental points to be made as planned by the upper echelons.
7. We Need To Regroup and Rethink
In view of the fact that all of the high ground has been staked out, it might seem an impossible task confronting the potential onslaught. And it would seem easy to say, why bother…We give up! But that would be precisely the wrong thing.
It should make us want to redouble our efforts for supremacy. Sure, It is too easy to say “ We did this wrong” or “That should have been different.” We know that. What we really need to do is back up several levels and rethink things from the very beginning. In effect, we need a total Genesis approach that will in effect give forth to a rebirth of the Democratic Party. A Crusade for a new Democratic Party that will bring new ideas and fresh thinking to the Party.
Why do I say this?
Because we are creatures of habit and we don’t seem to learn from experience; otherwise, why would we allow the salmon to die, the tides to rise, oil to blacken our skies, coal to poison us? Why would we sit idly by and allow these things to happen.
We are either cowardly or disconnected or otherwise humbled by the bureaucrats who run things—not for our betterment but for their self-interest and personal aggrandizement. There are still Democrats around, flapping on the ground like fish out of water. They shake their heads and go through their required motions—or so it would seem—but in the end, they give up! And that’s not what we need. We need leaders with the required fire in the belly; the desire to stand up and risk everything for an idea, a principle.
And it ain’t happening. So, we must go back to the drawing board and see if the path of inertia that we are on is capable of positive change.
There is an equivalent for what we must do. And it is the bitter pill called zero budgeting. It presupposes that the pre-existing budget is not a model to design this year’s budget; on the other hand, it suggests that by adapting last year’s budgets with modifications, we are only working with a patched up budget that didn’t do what we wanted to do the first time.
Zero budgeting presupposes that nothing that happened before was right, accurate, or effective. It says let’s take another look at the problem and let’s come up with a whole new solution that is not linked to anything else. It will force us to look again at previous funding that was funded because there was a line for it on the budget. It says ‘we will not allow ourselves to be hooked in this way again.’ From now on, we will look at everything with fresh eyes.
This is the kind of radical thinking the Democrats need.
We need fresh, inspired thinking on a whole range of issues. Once we are over that hurdle and committed to taking a fresh look at things, we find ourselves suddenly lighter, freed of the burdens of repeating the mistakes of the past.
Then we can sit down with all of our ideas, all of the fresh thinking and chart a new plan as if this were the first day of the rest of the Democratic Party. Harsh medicine? Yes, but necessary to reinvigorate a party that has become soft, self-interested, divided into petty squabbles and incapable of bringing the people out to perform their obligations and in that way, save the democratic concept.
What Next?
8. The name of the game is planning. And this is where the democratic party needs the best and the brightest. You cannot begin planning unless you can tap into the right kind of talent.
So the next order of the day is to attract the kind of talent that is capable of implementing positive and needed change in a party fractured by dissension, immobilized by fear.
As part of the landscape for tomorrow, it is not good enough that the party calls on its inside the Beltway hacks, we also need to embrace the new, the ideas that can transform the party of tomorrow. We need to bring new people with new ideas into the fold; otherwise, we will just do the things that cost us the election over the last twenty years with the exception of Clinton’s reign.
We can learn from our current assets. We have tremendous talent in the democratic party beginning with ex-president Clinton who aside from being a gifted and talented president was also a brilliant strategist. There is Mario Cuomo—the most underutilized asset I can imagine, the greatest orator of the democratic party. There is Senator Byrd who brings his freshly disseptic point of view to Senate hearings and reminds us of the fact that this country was begun by people of great courage and great vision. And there are many other remarkable talents who could prove invaluable in shaping a new party of ‘inclusion’ not exclusion.
9. How Do We Go About Expanding Our Franchise?
.
We can’t win until we learn how to reach out and down. Most state organizations are in stasis; they don’t know that they are not effective; they don’t know that they have proven incapable of doing the job. They think they are doing wonderful things and leave it at that. Well, that’s not good enough!
What was done in the past is no longer good enough. State-wide politicians have to risk getting their hands dirty in doing the work that needs to be done. We can no longer give up to the Republicans on questions like religion and values. We need new thinking and the courage to implement new ideas.
All policy always begin at the top. Look at a state organization that is not doing the job and you can guarantee that the person at the top is not doing their job.
This is where the courage comes in; the courage to replace those who are either unwilling to change or who believe that the status quo is just fine…
10. Strategy-wise: Winning in the local precints
In the last election, if we got single women out to vote, we would have won. If we got minorities out, we would have won. If we got those freed from incarceration out, we would have won. If we got the elderly, the ill out to vote, we would have won.
That’s just how close it was. Single women alone representing a 20 million plus voting block but for the most part they don’t vote! And we have failed to mobilize them, failed to get them out to protect their own interests. This is a travesty and this has to change. Minorities, too, fail to vote in the numbers necessary. Although blacks and Hispanics represent perhaps thirty to thirty-five percent of the population, they do not use their collective power at the polls to effectuate positive change.
That, too, has to change.
So, what can we do about it?
12. A State wide strategy:
It became apparent in the last election and the election before it, that the party reserved all of its funding for the national election and virtually all of the dollars went into national advertising programs or highly targeted state programs.
And although we spent millions upon millions of dollars, we still lost!
How can that be?
We failed to influence change at the local level.
And that was the kiss of death.
In every precinct, in every district, in every county, we failed to mobilize the forces that would effectuate change at both the state and national level.
How did that happen?
It was very simple. No money was spent at the local levels. No feedback was given to local leaders. No programs were available at the local level to inspire change.
Leaving it to the existing infrastructure was for the most part a prescription for losing.
And that’s precisely what happened.
Therefore, to win in the coming election, we will have to rethink how things need to get done.
And that’s not working down from the national level but working up from the local and state level.
That means money for programs; effective state-wide managers who take an interest in what is happening. In our own state, we saw the Party-appointed leadership so infrequently it was as if they weren’t here.
For the most part, that leadership did not have a clue as to what was going on locally and one suspects that they had no clout with the national organization.
One of the biggest problems we discerned was a lack of feedback from local leaders. Where there was local leadership looking to share ideas, present problems needing solution or just reporting on the local status, there was virtually no response.
The national organization, in effect, failed to support its local ‘troops’ and in the process, eviscerating any hope of a surge at the local level.
This has to change if there is going to be a shift in the election!
13. We Must Seek Media Empowerment
We all know the power of the Internet.
In the last election, it became the most powerful single tool for change.
Governor Dean showed how the Internet could be used to raise funds from small donors and how to use the Internet as a force for positive change.
The Internet allowed a virtual unknown in politics to become a powerful force.
It gave him the opportunity to build more than 660,000 activists around the country who would organize, raise money, hold parties on his behalf and do what was necessary to increase visibility and recognition through such other Online venues as Meetup. Meetup became the vehicle for people of like minds to gather around the country to air their views or express support. It produced a groundswell for the governor and allowed him to rise above the competition.
Meetup also allowed Governor Dean to disseminate his position papers, his thinking and his strategies to take the White House. What it did not do was create an effective vehicle for feedback. Question after question remained unanswered and shook the confidence of his supporters.
Therefore, while the Internet represents a tremendous asset and a great lever for change, it must be used as a two way vehicle for communication; not one way.
Secondly, anyone who uses the Internet and considers it to the exclusion of other media is making a major mistake. People who use the Internet are those who are typically ahead of the pack. They do not represent the overwhelming majority who decide issues. So using one at the detriment of the other can create an overpowering feeling of self-confidence that is not deserved. Remember that as we plan our campaign to retake the White House.
14. The Power of Issues:
A number of activists told me that the reason they didn’t support Kerry was because they didn’t think that he was that much different. And in so saying, they asked me what were the issues that Kerry was solid on? And I had to admit that one of Kerry’s real problems was communicating a unique and positive image for America.
He may have thought it. He may have created white papers to that effect. But he didn’t wrap it up with a nice bow and hit hard enough on his message for the future to win over the electorate.
Therefore, whoever is the next candidate must bear this uppermost in their thinking. They not only have to oppose the present candidate with a good alternative; they need to be able to present their own views in a convincing way that embraces the most glaring concerns of the electorate. If we fail to do this, we will be back at square one..
15. Strategic Planning:
Of course, all of this has to be embraced as part of stratetic planning and that should be at the heart of everything democrats do as we prepare to win the next election. Without strategic planning, we are reduced to responding to the opponents attacks and putting out fires. And then they have us!
Keep in mind that this has been very much part of the thinking of the Republicans: Throw out enough charges every day to keep the Democrats pirhouetting trying to dodge the accusations and respond to them. In the process, you have put your own agenda on the back burner and played into the hands of the opposition.
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16. Timing: It’s everything!
Much of life is timing. If you wait too long, you miss the opportunity; if you act in haste, you are seen as too ambitious, too self-interested.
In politics, however, this doesn’t fully apply. There is no such thing as responding too quickly; and waiting too long can be the kiss of death.
One would have hoped that Kerry would have learned the lesson of Dukakis that you can’t ignore attacks; you have to hit back and fast.
The trouble was that Kerry was done in in part by his failure to deal with the Swift Boat issue and the lies that were perpetrated around him were allowed to stand, investing them with the rubric of legitimacy. This was a mistake bigtime and shame on Kerry. He should have known better.
The job of the campaign should be to anticipate as many of the charges as possible so that there is always a stock of answers available that can be wheeled out when necessary. Remember, there is no reward for coming in Second and the Republicans will do whatever is necessary in the spirit of Segretti to pull off a win.
Let us not forget that.
17. The importance of sound-bytes
Today, it’s not what you say, it’s how you say it. Kerry learned the hard way that long drawn out, prevariacating answers do not work. Politicians have to learn to speak in the language of the medium they are using.
With television, you don’t often get the opportunity to spell out your ideas; therefore, you have to learn to fashion your answers with clarity, brevity and leave no doubts as to your answer in the process.
If you don’t understand that, then you have no business being in a national campaign where sound-bytes rule.
18. Never, never play on their turf; you will always lose
What I mean here is that no politician can afford to let the other guy frame the issue.
That is a no win proposition. You must turn the argument around so that the other guy is on the defensive, not you. This requires practice and it requires understanding the issues.
Take a page from the Republican guide book to winning elections: Never give a sucker an even break!
19. The importance of reinforcement:
One thing we learned during the Gore campaign that the opposition knew their script through and through. Bush made a speech or a remark and it was echoed twenty times by the Republican rank and file. Specialists from the think tanks came out of the wood work to appear on the Talking Head shows! Conservative PR writers in the employ of the Republicans echoed their sentiments. The researchers pulled out all kind of evidence, omitting anything contrary to their views, of course, to further reinforce the Republican message. They hit high; they hit low. But they hit over and over again, drilling in the same message.
With Gore, it was deliver the message and that was it. There was no line up of support to reinforce the message; nothing to drive it home in a timely way.
The added reinforcement also got extra lineage in the newspapers and more time on the radio and the television. It was a well planned strategy to build recognition and acceptance for a message that did not face a well planned rebuttal.
We should have learned our lesson by now and have all our ducks lined up before we face the Cross Fire sure to surface as soon as we announce our candidate.
20. Do Our Homework
You can be sure that the Republicans already have narrowed down the democratic choices and already have play books put together for each potential democratic candidate. They know everything about the candidate from their puberty up to the present day. They know the attack points, vulnerabilities and preferences; they know where they are weakest; and what could be turned into a political ‘negative.’
They know whether the candidate goes to church, their values, their ideals, where they stand on everything all for one reason—to launch an attack from which the opponent cannot survive. If you doubt that think about Clinton. He was attacked from Day One. People were drawn from his background as if that had been planned from the very beginning and no doubt it was.
Admittedly, this is not how Democrats work but to succeed we have to rethink our strategies and tactics from the ground up. Not that we have to be like them but to protect our candidates in the very early days when they are most vulnerable and to have defenses and positions lined up to mitigate the fears of those who have been reached by the opponent’s propaganda barrage.
21. Be Tactical
Operating from a plan does not mean that you shouldn’t take advantage of every opportunity to spot a weakness and home in for the ‘kill.’ That means that you and your staff has to be alert to changing conditions, a mistake made by the opposition, a news development that can be turned to your advantage, a comment made by the other side. You have to know when you can turn the other guy’s mishap into a plus for yourself. And this kind of attentiveness, an unwillingness to let the other guy get a free ride is at the very core of a winning strategy. It’s the ability to strike while the iron is hot and while the other guy is most vulnerable. At the same time, it means sticking to the game plan at all other times to avoid being manipulated and controlled by the other side. It means being on the offensive twenty four hours a day…and not playing according to Hoyle. Oftentimes, the mythology about the good guy being
The one who returns the sword to his opponent only to be struck down for his kindness is the kind of myth perpetrated by the winner who couldn’t care less about being gallant.
From Tactical to Practical:
To win, we have to make choices based on our chances.
We cannot expect to win every precinct, every state.
We need to focus hard on those states where we stand the best chance.
At the same time, we shouldn’t write off any place; but consider alternative strategies to make a dent. Like fielding local democratic teams; coming up with new initiatives to help those in local areas and working within the communities. School system and other activist venues where we can make a difference.
The Internet: Just another Medium?
The Internet is the new power in communications. It’s the venue with clout and increasingly more and more intelligent people are using it as a vehicle to reach diversified points of view.
However, and this is a big however, it should not be viewed in lieu of everything else.
We need to recognize that the Internet reaches only a small fraction of the marketplace we need to reach to make a difference and that was a mistake that some of our candidates made. They felt that if they could win over the Internet, they won the pot at the end of the rainbow. They didn’t. And that was that.
Yes, the Internet is important and it has vast potential but because we can use it productively does not mean to the exclusion of other media.
Media Clout!
We all understand the need for media clout. But at the same time, we fail to understand what we need to do to gain parity with the Republicans who have had thirty-five years to solidify their position and get all their ducks in place.
The fact is as we’ve said before the Republicans now get attention because they either own the resources—including the stations, the programming and the commentators who can make a difference—or they know how to dominate by structuring the argument and supplying specialists on virtually every particular issue. More importantly, they know how to discuss an issue while at the same time reinforcing their position. This doesn’t just happen! These are not just a bunch of wild cards having their say. They are synchronized and syncopated. They speak virtually with the same voice. And this takes organization and discipline.
To date, the Democrats have failed to understand the power that the Republicans wield in this important area, an area that shapes thinking and public opinon.
What can we do about it?
We can build up a media superstructure that allows us to have broadcasting that is liberal and progressive in every state. We can build up ‘think tanks’ to have specialists on every issue who can speak intelligently and authoritatively on the issues. We can have direct mail houses, advertising agencies and PR firms committed to getting out the message in an effective and timely way!
Right now, it seems as if every Democratic intiative operates in its own vacuum; there is no attempt to bring the dialogue together under the same tent and this is just one of the problems that this DNC must address if it is to be effective.
Reaching Specific Voting Groups:\
Young People:
For the most part, the Democrats failed to rally young people during the last election with a few exceptions. We can all take a page here from Howard Dean and Dennis Kucinik who were among the few exceptions to the rule..
Young people found something to relate to in these two candidates. Neither was really an inside the Beltway thinker, both were against the status quo and the establishment. Both brought a new way of thinking to a whole host of challenges; and both were anti-War.
Each also used unique and original ways to reach their market. Both employed the Internet to the maximum reaching down and out to gain support from those who were perhaps a little ahead of the curve in technology and the young who grew up with computers.
Democrats need to cultivate this media to reach and involve young voters.
Single Mothers: This is probably one of the toughest segments of the market to identify and reach. Many feel as if they have dropped through all of the safety nets and that they can only depend on themselves to survive. They feel isolated, unrepresented, insecure and unable to depend on anyone. They typically work at least two jobs, have to juggle schedules complex schedules to spend time with their children and as a rule don’t vote. Yet, they have the most to gain from a democratic, progressive government that is most sensitive to their needs.
If in the last election, single women/mothers got out to vote, it would have meant 22 million new voters shaping the election. If we forget single women/mothers we lose the vote. Period.
Elderly citizens:
Most of the local districts tend to forget the significant contribution of the elderly to the oputcome of an election. Today, new medicines and new treatments have prolonged life so that most people can now look forward to living easily into the 70’s and 80’s. And for the most part, these seniors have minds that are alert and attuned to the challenges of today. The problem: they are out of touch with the political influentials in their districts who can mobilize to get them to the polls. Come the next election, those who are active in the political process must be sure not to omit senior citizens from their thinking. In this regard, activists should mobilize to form services to bring seniors to the polls to vote.
Minority Voters:
Minority voters typically have the worst voting record of most identifiable groups; that is because they don’t feel enfranchised, don’t understand the process, do not understand the language well enough to be able to discuss the issues and want to keep a low profile.
Democrats have not done enough to mobilize this group to get out and vote. But while Democrats have taken most minority voting pretty much for granted, the Republicans have been getting out a message that they have room in their tent for minority voters. This administration has gone as far as to politicize illegal immigrants and has literally turned the other way when it comes to protecting against border crossings by immigrants coming to this country illegally.
On the one hand, it is the president’s obligation to uphold the war; turning his back on what is actually happening conveys the idea that it is okay to violate the law (wink! Wink!) while actually seeming to uphold it.
This neurotically skewed policy says one thing and does another. As a result, most voters are confused and disturbed by a government that refuses to uphold the law.
It is apparent that the lax attitude on the part of the government has to do with gaining new votes which has proven successful to a great extent with an increasing vote being recorded for Republican candidates.
The Democrats have failed to spell out comprehensive programs that support minority rights and are incorporated into Democratic platforms.
We need to take another look at the entire problem and concentrate our many fine resources on coming up with specific proposals that address the needs and issues of minority voters.
Special Groups: Those who have been dropped from Voter Roles
The most extreme example of this of course was reported by Greg Palast in Florida where the office of the Governor of the State approved that all those who not only had a former police record and had their rights restored and even those suspected of having had a police record-- either through sloppy database management or deliberate attempts to keep democrats from voting-- were dropped from voter roles in one of the worst violation of human rights since the 1940’s. Every outside consultant has agreed that the methods used to disqualify voters in Florida were clearly illegal. . In effect, more than 55,000 voters who were entitled to vote were dropped from voter roles.
In addition, others who were construed as being democratic voters were simply turned away from the polls by poll-watchers who sought to discourage democrats from voting in the past election. This did not only happen in Florida; however, Florida was the worst offender and a lesson to other democrats that we cannot afford to sit idly by and allow the Republicans to do as they like in violation of the law.
We must strengthen the bulwarks of freedom and reinforce our legal counsel and our surveillance to assure the voter that he or she will have the opportunity to vote according to the Constitution of our country.
The Voting Machines:
According to recent information, it turns out that 80% of the voters intentions are recorded on machines made by two companies. Both of these companies are managed by brothers who are Republicans committed to a Republican win.
For the most part, only 13% of the votes recorded on these machines bear a footprint.
Further, research has demonstrated that in the type of electronic voting machine now in use, there are several opportunities where the results can be changed with nobody being the wiser.
It is unacceptable for the American public to have a voting system that no one can have faith in.
The entire subject of voting machines needs to be rethought.
Every voting machine must have a tamper proof footprint that is incapable of being ‘doctored’ so that there will be no doubt as to the outcome of an election.
And we cannot delay on enforcing this dictum whatever the cost, whatever it takes!
If people lose faith that their vote is being counted, it will lead to the destruction of democracy and eventual entropy and resulting chaos. We cannot have a credible government that is not represented by voter mandate and the voter has to believe that that vote that he exercised was legal and counted towards the outcome.
Issues
The Issues that will decide this election:
The economy: It has become clear that while business leaders and a very small percentage of the economy are enjoying the benefits of strong business performance by a few leaders in their segment, the majority of voters are not benefiting and are experiencing the kind of economic pain unfelt in the last sixty years.
This is due in part to the redistribution of wealth in this country, the preponderance of benefit programs for top echelon managements, the “off-shoring” of jobs and other mitigating factors that have had the collective effect of affecting the majority’s quality of life. Today, fewer than ten percent of the population control more than sixty percent of the nation’s wealth. And that the top five percent of the population earn more than the bottom forty four percent of the population after taxes. That tells the complete story. Add to those figures, the fact that the new jobs being created are for the most part low wage, part time jobs with few benefits and you begin to see the economic crisis that the population is being forced to endure. Measures must be taken to deal with the current economic picture that will allow the middle class to survive and prosper. For the most part, this may take a complete rethinking of what has passed as economic rationality in the past but has proven unreliable with a negative impact on the working class.
Jobs:
Today, we are seeing the results of ‘off-shoring,” mergers, foreign acquisitions with the result that most of our manufacturing jobs have fled to greener pastures where manufacturers don’t have to sell more but reap greater profits from lower wages and the absence of benefits. Employers say that American’s earn too much therefore they cannot compete with American products in a world market. That may be true because we are competing on an unlevel playing field where workers from third world countries receive no benefits and work for under a dollar an hour and sometimes do not earn more than five or six dollars a day with no time off and no benefits. How can Americans maintain their quality of life when the only jobs left are minimum wage, part time jobs? These are the issues that America must learn to address.
In the original mantra spouted in the Eighties, it was good to ship jobs overseas because it would allow Americans to move up the economic ladder to better paying jobs that were cleaner and healthier and offered more benefits.
Investors scrambled to leisure time stocks figuring that Americans would have so much time off that they wouldn’t know what to do with themselves. Well, that particular fairy tale did not play out.
One of the reasons was that the American story-tellers did not tell the entire story. They did not mention that moving up the economic ladder meant better education for all including those in urban areas. And it was predicated on the idea that those off-shore could not compete with American ‘know how.”
Well, that proved to be a canard, too.
In fact, we soon learned that America was not the powerhouse we thought; that not all Americans were going to be privy to a good education and that those people in other nations were capable of doing well in mathematics and sciences and in some cases, were capable of putting us to shame.
Nevertheless, the Sillicon Valley had for the time being made it seem as if the parable of the American growing ever richer and enjoying a quality of life that was forever improving a reality—a short lived reality. Sillcion Valley proved that there was such a thing as an entire industry based on knowledge and aligned servies.
But when the bubble broke, the entire mythology fell apart.
Those technology companies that survived forgot the people who made them a success in the first place and shipped the routinized jobs overseas wherever they could. The service companies that supported this structure found that with modern technology, they could do likewise. Good bye American dream.
In the vacuum created afterwards, we’ve discovered that the only thing that filled the vacuum of ideas was the Wal-mart concept.
The Wal-Mart concept has turned us into the leading retail nation.
We look at our docks and they are crowded with and expansive container ships.
We off load literally tens of thousands of containers a day coming from all over the world. Our retail shops are crowded with the most unbelievable assortment of products.
So, we are well off? Or are we?
For the truth, we have to look deeper.
Why?
Our future depends on it.
Let’s see what the Wal-marting of America really means:
The Wal-mart concept sells products at the lowest possible retail prices but while on one level that is attractive to those who must make every dollar count, it does not reveal the depth of the entire picture and that picture is devastating to the American dream. It posits the short term benefit, which it seems we are incapable of seeing beyond, vs. the longer term loss!... And that loss is insurmountable!
Here’s how it works:
Toi get your products to be accepted by Walmarts, you have to be among the lowest bidders. To become the lowest biddr and eke out a profit, you have to keep your cost of manufacturing down. Most of those who qualify to be represented in Walmarts, have their products manufactured in Asia.
Of the twenty leading suppliers to Walmarts, 17 manufacture in China where the average worker makes less than a dollar an hour or indulges in piece work and has no days off and no benefits. There are many millions more where they came from anxious and willing to work on those terms. China constitutes in effect an economic juggernaut operating on a playing field that is not nearly close to level.
If we operate with china on a favorite nation status or without tarrifs, there is absolutely no way any American company that operates on a competitive basis can compete with products made in South Asia or China.
To understand China’s ability to humble any domestic manufacturer, just consider that China has entire cities that do nothing but make gloves or hats. Entire cities.
How can we compete against such economic power houses that see the worker as just so much fodder.
Consequently, if we continue to buy products in Walmart, we hasten the demise of American enterprise over the longer term.
We are between a rock and a hard place and few of our great western thinkers have focused on this issue that promises to reduce the quality of life of all Americans and reduce us to the status of the lowly Asian worker.
If that were to happen, America as we know it would no longer exist.
Because Americans would not have the jobs that would allow them to buy the products that sustain our economy and allow for our economic growth.
There would be cut-backs in every segmentr of American life.
And benefits that now exist, from both government and private employers, would evaporate as more and more companies either moved overseas to survive or simply went out of business.
We are right now on a very dangerous path that few want to address. But the irony is that unless we address it and come up with workable solutions, there is not much hope for workers in this country any longer.
Credit and Inflation:
What we need to do is deal with the problem faced by the middle class and for many that has to do with Survival.
The fact is that an alarming percentage of the middle class are tapped out.
They do not have credit card debt available.
Their homes have no more equity left in them.
Their bank accounts are gone.
They have lost their jobs.
And they have no place else to turn.
What do we do?
Do we abandon them or summon up some bright ideas?
What we need is a crusade on the scale of FDR’s CCC or
Kennedy-Johnson’s Great Society program.
We need vision; we need imagination if the middle class—and democracy—is going to survive in the US of A.
And that call has not been made. And that is an indictment of we the Democrats.
We have failed to rise to the occasion with great ideas!...
The WAR
What are we going to do about the War.
To many of us who found themselves facing a Vietnam scenario, it rings of deja-vu.
We are seeing the past repeating itself and are in a scene fresh out of
Ground Hog Day.
The last candidate hemmed and hawed and flipped and flopped unfortunately not being able to make up his mind as to where he stood. And the message that came across was that this was no time for an intellectual approach that was indecisive.
The fact was that this War is a war made on false premises.
Therefore, it ranks as an illegal war.
And we should do whatever it takes to forestall further involvement and further loss of life.
We have to be clear about that.
Right now, it looks as if we are between a rock and a hard place: That this war will drag on for a decade absorbing monies we can’t afford and cost us hundreds of our best and brightest every year.
We must address this issue as election time nears but in the meantime, we need to mobilize to end it first chance we get.
DEBT
Every time we elect Republicans, we find ourselves trying to figure a way out of debt. To put it simply, this level of debt cannot stand. We cannot allow it to frustrate our children and our grandchildren’s future. We must focus on solving this problem during the next couple of years.
The fact is that This administration has buried us deeper in dangerous debt than any other administration in past history.
This administration sees as an answer to this problem tax cuts in one of the most mind-boggling decisions of modern times.
How can true conservatives support this kind of baggage?
Clearly, balancing the budget means less to these people than their stand on being ‘right’. And might makes right.
The answer is simply to eliminate these tax breaks and return the country to a solid balanced budget by eliminating loopholes and holding manufacturers to paying their taxes on these shores even though their operations are elsewhere.
We cannot make it easy for business and the rich to escape their responsibilities and transfer all of the costs to the backs of the threatened middle class.
This has got to change and it has to change now with fresh ideas and white papers and editorials supporting the fact that we are in deep and dangerous waters.
The Overall Big Idea…
The Idea Vacuum: Right now, there seems to be a paucity of ideas to return us to our leadership position. Instead, we seem ready to squander our advantages in petty bureaucratic infighting while we lose sight as to what’s happening in the world. How many, for example, know what is happening in China these days…and how it affects our future? That’s an example of how poorly the media is doing in keeping us, the voting public, informed.
Nor can we look to our leadership to give us the big picture. The fact of the matter is that we are being manipulated and controlled. And we have to recognize that and we have to take appropriate counter-measures.
As part of our counter-measures, we must recognize that the times call for big ideas that people can respond to. We need to change the mood of the country again. It has gone negative and we as a people have lost our optimism.
This is not good for the country, its people, our future.
Overall, I believe we are now at a point that we need to gather the best and most fertile minds in the democratic party and lay siege to the Great Idea that will identify and differentiate us but, more importantly, benefit the population.
This idea will have to incorporate ideas to generate employment, enhance the quality of life and move us to a more competitive position in world markets.
Juxtaposed against the Big Idea is what we hear from the Republicans:” Nothing. They are against evolution. They are against science. Many of the State Department openings in science and research are still vacant. It took forever to get a Cabinet official to head up science that met Bush’s criteria.
What’s up?
The records tell us that America has filed for fewer patents than anyone can recall.
We are not coming up with new products, our pace of innovation has slowed and we are no longer the leading economic power in the world.
To confront this, we do nothing.
Therefore, there is a vacuum out there and it is the realm of ideas.
We need to set to work now to come up with the kind of thinking that democrats are famous for in order to pull the Republican’s buns out of the fire.
We need a Crusade that will re-invent America as we have done so many times in the past when laboring under Republican mis-management.
The Values Argument:
What is the main argument Republicans will use against Democrats?
Our Values do not match their own.
In their vainglorious attempt to hold onto power, they have made a fraudulent bid to control the high ground. Where do they come off. These people who don’t give a hoot about anyone but themselves, have the arrogance and cockiness to infer and impute that they are the custodians of good values and we are not. That is in effect the gist of the argument that they ran the election on.
And the voter seemed to buy into that.
How could that happen? How could we, those who represent liberal and progressive causes have to take a back seat to agenda-based, narrow interest and self aggrandizing republicans to set themselves up as the arbiters of what’s right and wrong. For this to go unaddressed is a travesty beyond travesty.
The question is what are we going to do on this issue come the next election; because despite the fact that they don’t even want to protect the air we breathe or the water we drink, their values are better than our own. These people who don’t give a hoot for the dead and dying in Africa because they have no oil to speak of. That don’t care whether prisoners are making goods for American markets or whether Wal-mart is depriving Americans of jobs, as long as they have their own have the audacity to demean the Democrats who built and rebuilt this country after rfepeated assaults on it by greedy or self-interested forces of republicanism who cannot see beyond their monthly dividend.
