Boy, you can say that again…and again, and again. Remember everybody, it’s never to late to come to your senses and unite with the right! That comment nearly motivated me to do a remake of that song by The Guess Who, featuring the late Wolfman Jack, “Clap for Wolfman” (in this case, “Clap for the Wolfe Man.”)

Help! This is harder than it looks.

And the reason, I think, that the Democrats don’t have a clear message is because they’ve turned their backs on the historical parts of their platform that provided a clear message. Nationalized health care, a REAL minimum wage, and a strong social safety net are clear message programs. But when’s the last time you heard a Democrat talk about those things? Unless, of course, it was Clinton’s promise to “end welfare as we know it”.

And we live in a nation full of people who think that the man who committed himself to ending the program that fed hungry poor kids was slightly to the left of Lenin. Is it any wonder I’m ready to wash my hands of this whole mess?

I suspect part of the problem is, actually, that when liberal groups get money, they tend to spend it on their cause, homelessness, available reproductive care, immigrant kids, land preservation, puppies, whatever. It never really seems to go to things like PR firms and marketing studies.
Which is a distinct disadvantage since there’s less money going to them to begin with.
But the thing is, that’s kind of one of the things I like about us.
It takes a particularly cold pragmatism to stand there as a group dedicated to battered women and children, and to spend money not on getting the women and kids to safe places but on lobbyists or PR firms or researches to tell you how to get your message across better.

I know it helps more people in the long run, but I’ve always seen the liberal position as one where you know that politics isn’t a game of strategy, it’s real lives of real people who need food and heat and jobs *today*.
And how do you walk past them and say, “Well, it won’t do a damned bit of good for you, but maybe for your kids…”

Republicans seem to be perfectly willing to sacrifice people in the name of their larger goal. And for some reason, the pawns seem happy enough with the arrangement.

1.) The growth of wingnuttery in the South and Midwest

2.) Bush using 9/11 to scare the shit out of people (and indicentally, I think the growth of wingnuttery is directly related to 9/11- look what happened to poor Chazmo).

3.) Failure of the Democrats to campaign effectively with a clear, concise message. The Dems are divided sharply between the Dean wing and the Clinton wing, and the in-fighting between the two factions has yet to result in any kind of consensus message.

I think we’ve historically shunned marketing because it feels deceptive and manipulative to have to lead people into voting for their interests–we like to think that if we explain to them why something’s a good idea, they’ll get it.
And heaven knows, it’s not so. Some people are too busy to get it, some too dumb, and some determined not to.
I think more are too busy, and that’s probably where marketing ideas comes in.

Heh, this is overlong, too, now. Oh well.

And that’s why most people have abandoned the political process and are getting fat on fried shit.

It’ll all end in tears, eventually.

Right now, the Right paints the progressives, liberal, and Democrats a single, fringe entity: “The Move-on crowd” or “Michael Moore” or “Goerge Soros” (pick your demon du jour).

At the same time, you hear the Right-wing spokespeople say things like, “I’m an independent, but George Bush is god!” or “I’m a jewish libertarian, but I can see how the liberals are persecuting Christians.” This give their message an third-party objectivity halo that they strip from Democrats by reducing the disparate voice of the party to “You just hate Bush and love Gays (pun intended)! Note how Republicans tout themselves as the “big tent” party and bristle when anyone points out the white-straight-rich-Christian-male hegemony that controls the party. They see our “big tent” strength, claim it for themselvess, and berate us for not having it. Standard Rovian psychology.

So if I were in charge (scary thought!), I would encourage unity of message on only a single issue: unions against the war, veterans against the war, parents against the war, students against the war, Christians against the war, etc. Pick two or three issues at a time and encourage all our disparate groups to come together on those issues only. In a perfect world, we can pick issues that clearly benefit all groups even if they don’t address a group’s “top issue”. We pledge to support other issues where possible, and most importantly, to NOT BETRAY the other groups’ issues, even if we can’t actively promote them right now. (e.g., I will block any attempt to restrict women’s rights if you help me get out of Iraq. Once we’re out of Iraq, then we’ll turn our attention to women’s rights.)

What issues? There are three obvious ones, to me:
1) Iraq. It’s a money pit, a blood pit, and a reputation pit. The message should be, to me, something like: 1) We must make it clear to the Iraqis and the other nations in the area that we are not staying, perhaps by setting a series of conditions that trigger our departure when met; we must stop construction on the 14 permanent bases; we must reign in out of control contractors and hold all US personnel accountable for their actions; we should ask the UN to help stabilize the country–ideally, we should try to replace contractors with UN troops; we must demand close accounting of the corruption and fraud in Iraq reconstruction; we must turn over the majority of reconstruction projects to Iraqis. And, most of all, we make it clear that these are our best suggestions considering that we are not in possession of all the “classified” information. Exact details on how best to implement these plans cannot be provided under those circumstances.

2) Corruption, cronyism, and incompetance. Why do we not have have job descriptions and minimum requirements for every appointee in the government? What kind of “CEO president” is this, that runs the largest organization in the world without a Human Resources department? The realtionship between lawmakers and lobbyists needs to be reviewed, particularly Delay’s entire K Street Project. The GAO should be expanded and strengthened. There should be a law that Congress must address all reports of illegal or unethical activity that comes out of the GAO.

3) National health care. This helps businesses, labor unions, and average workers who are all struggling with rising health care costs. It increases productivity and reduces lost wages due to unpaid sick leave. It helps doctors, pharmacies, and hospitals by reducing administrative overhead. It helps the very old and the very young. It empowers women (in my personal experience, gynocological procedures have the least support from insurance companies), and it will enable many women who feel economically forced to choose abortion to have more options open to them.

Progressivism is about the most good for the most people. That should be the unified message.

No, no, the extent of their circle jerk’s coverage is far too wide.