On any given morning 8 months ago after I got out of bed, made some coffee and waddled into my studio to check email, I’d see about 15-25 unread emails on various subjects - heart health, dental health, skin health, prostate health, weight loss, the Sierra Club, Costco weekly specials, recipes for eggplant, penis enlargement, baldness cures, some barrister in Africa begging me to inherit several hundred million dollars for a $250 fee - a veritable cornucopia of ways designed to manipulate me into parting with my retirement cash…dollar by irreplaceable dollar. Thankfully, through a judicious application of spam filters, the penis enlargement, African barrister and recipe emails have all but disappeared.
However:
Fast forward to this morning, a typical morning these days, in fact… I awoke to 97 new messages in my in box. 87% of them were from Democratic candidates all over the United States, asking for campaign donations anywhere from $3 to $500. I’ve donated to just 5 candidates this year because I only donate to those who I have studied and researched to verify that they are legitimate, established progressives with regards to both policy endorsements and legislative temperament. (… and before someone throws the word “purity” at me again, I’ve got two words for you: SINEMA and MANCHIN)
But that’s not the point of this missive. My point here is to address two extremely large elephants in the room: Democratic Party optics and Democratic Party election cycle communication.
Before I performed my daily morning email triage, I leaned back in my chair and took a second look at that long list of people, both the candidates and the businesses, begging me for cash (and some asking for even MORE cash… after my having donated a few previous times). My memory flashed back to the early ’70s after my presidential candidate, George McGovern, was sandbagged by lies, deception, criminal activity and bald-faced slander. I began to realize a painful fact: should that kind of rapacious political butchery continue in this country, the weaker, uneducated and undisciplined people in the electorate would eventually turn to fascism in a massive way. And the republican party was just the organization to imagine, develop and implement the tools required to make that happen sooner than later. They dismissed Jimmy Carter as weak and ineffective. They sharpened their knives on Bill Clinton. They practically burned a cross on the Obama White House lawn (they even called his wife “an ape in heels”). Each election cycle became more and more recklessly brutal from republicans while the Democrats carried on as if nothing was going on behind their backs. All three men were fundamentally decent human beings with a strong desire to unify the country and move it forward… but what they and others couldn’t grasp is that the republican party had configured their tried and true believers to reject any attempt to unify with anybody other than other neocons on any level for any reason; and to avoid allowing any cracks in their message, they obtained a 98% corporate grip on the Media. “When they go low, we go high” sounds noble and (dare I say it?) morally superior - until the ones that go low are aiming a gun at your head.
But just as the DNC was finally beginning to figure out that maybe - just MAYBE they should have taken a more aggressive approach to campaign messaging, the neocon fascist Supreme Court (courtesy of McConnell and his harpies in the senate) decided to codify the republican wet dream that money is “free speech” including nearly unrestricted under-the-table campaign contributions from corporations, the country’s wealthy elites and foreign dark money sources. Purchasing television and radio air time requires tens of millions of dollars, but in that department the Democrats have consistently been sent to the back of the bus — a self-inflicted, honorable position for refusing to take corporate donations or PAC money. In fact, it’s a class war when seen for what it is: someone recently observed that there is no such thing as a “self-made billionaire” - and with that said, if 1% of the people in this country can afford to foot the bill for tens of millions of dollars in media exposure saturation during an election cycle, they have far more resources to protect their interests than everyone else. And so, instead of broadcasting our message that espouses Democratic policies and issues - from Abortions to Zimbabwe - Democratic candidates have been forced to beg like homeless people on street corners for spare change through emails. In my opinion, not a great image — even if the reasons for it are noble. They do try to put a brave face on it - they call it “grassroots funding”. But the jarring reality is that in this country, policies and issues are way down on the list of priorities for candidates and their handlers - cash and the efforts to acquire it supersedes pretty much everything else. You want to get a candidate elected? You’ve got to buy one. And make sure that candidate passes the “electability” specifications of the DNC: are they attractive? Are they “camera ready”? Do they avoid giving “the vapors” to MAGATs, moderates, Proud Boys and armchair militias if they mention issues such as women’s rights, BLM, voting or immigration?
The net effect is that this country has been poisoned in its ability to select a stable, proactive government that performs the actual primary directive the Constitution itself was designed to mandate: secure the well-being, security and quality of life for ALL of the People. Nowhere in that document does it specify that corporate interests and specific protections for the wealthy elite of the country are any higher priority than the rest of the country’s inhabitants. And yet after decades of cramming “alternative facts” and twisted opinions into the stunted minds of the intellectually bankrupt and racist elements of the country, they willingly vote against their own enlightened self-interests in the hope that their lords and masters will allow some crumbs of concession to fall from the dinner tables on which they feast upon the country’s wealth. Without any effective forceful counterpoint, the Democratic Party is tarred with the perception that our people only care about wedge issues and the intellectual elite… and although that generalization unfortunately is true to some limited extent, the crowd that claims “there’s no difference between republicans and Democrats” still uses it to beat that drum until the weak-minded start tapping their toes to the beat.
Which then segues to my second point:
In the 1974 comedy film, Blazing Saddles by Mel Brooks with Cleavon Little and Gene Wilder, there’s a scene where Sheriff Bart is in his office, saddened and downtrodden from the racist treatment he’d been receiving from the town people. Gunfighter Jim tries to enlighten Bart by explaining,
“You’ve got to remember that these are just simple farmers. These are people of the land. The common clay of the new West. You know… morons.”
Later in the picture, the town unifies and helps Bart repel the evil railroad baron and his hired thugs through intelligence gathering, messaging, example and action; they might not have changed their opinions about Bart’s skin color but they nonetheless unified behind him for self-preservation.
As I see it, our Democratic Party campaign strategists have spent far too much time with their noses buried in computer screens, trend analyses, polls and masters classes in political science, and nowhere near enough time studying and understanding the needs of that “common clay” and how to effectively communicate Democratic policies, issues and the plans necessary to implement them. Fox, Limbaugh and Sinclair have had years (and even decades) of demonizing Democrats as manifesto-thumping socialists that mutilate children and poison their minds with “lib’rul crap” in schools, mentally imprison the people with helplessness, mendacity and fear and stifle their liberties. Meanwhile, Democrats are left to turn to their base and beg for more money. Which then, for me, begs the question… where is the messaging? What are those campaigns doing with that cash? I’ve done phone banks — I’ve done door to door visits. They simply don’t cost that much money to do. And with all the campaign literature I’ve used and seen, not once - not anywhere outside Daily Kos except for Reddit or Imgur - have I seen messaging like this:
No differences between Democrats and Republicans? Let’s see:
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Democrats
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Republicans
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A woman’s right to choose
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Roe v. Wade eliminated via judicial review by Federalists and evangelicals
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Constitutionally guaranteed right to privacy
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Conduct warantless wiretapping, unwarranted law enforcement surveillance with no probable cause
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Equitable taxation for the financial elite
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Slash taxes on the wealthy, increase taxes on the Middle Class; privatize profits & socialize losses
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Universal health care
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Block legislation at all costs — “If you get sick, then die — and die quickly”; over ONE MILLION Americans did that recently.
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Strengthen and modernize Social Security
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Privatize it; put SS revenue in the stock market and expose it to market fluctuations
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Modernize the Postal Service
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Privatize it. Cut staff and facilities, de-fund postal delivery technology, increase rates, lobby to cut services and hours
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Campaign finance reform
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Block legislation at all costs
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Equal Rights Amendment
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Block legislation at all costs
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Reaffirm and expand voting rights to all eligible citizens regardless of race or national origin
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Block legislation at all costs
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Federal ban on gerrymandering
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Block legislation at all costs
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Renewable energy initiatives
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Block legislation at all costs — expand coal, oil and gas production
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Climate change initiatives
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Block legislation at all costs; “It’s just weather.”
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Immigration reform
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Block legislation at all costs; build expensive walls and ignore the real reasons for illegal immigration
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Eliminate the fillibuster
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Block legislation at all costs
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Modernize law enforcement training to “Protect and Serve” instead of “Stalk and Attack”
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Block legislation at all costs; reinforce “qualified immunity”
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Judicial equanimity
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Pack courts with Federalists and conservative zealots
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Separation of Church and State per Constitution
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“America is a KKKristian nation”
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Comprehensive education for the nation’s youth
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Ban books that depict unpleasant and shocking facts and images about the country’s history, its abuse of people and its mistakes
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Firearm licensing and modernization of regulations
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Block legislation at all costs; allow children to own and use semi-automatic military assault weapons
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Freedom to love whomever you love
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Intimate relationships between men and women only
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Freedom to be whomever and whatever you believe yourself to be
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Gender assignment at birth only
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Woman’s control over her body and mind
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Rape victims of any age forced to give birth and live with the stigma for the rest of their lives
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Outcome of elections determined by plurality of votes
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If candidate loses election, declare voter fraud and jam up the justice system for years
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See? Simple, concise, clearly written. Doesn’t require a philosophy degree or use any word bigger than 5 syllables. Easy on the eyes to read and easy on the brain to comprehend.
Now nobody should fool themselves into believing that a visual tool like this would result in 10,000 Klanners, Proud Boys and MAGAts storming the polls to vote for Val Demmings or Alexandria Orcasio-Cortez. But if a few hundred moderately curious people see it and understand what the message is being conveyed, their votes just might tip a close competition and maybe keep certifiables like Green, Boebert, DeSantis and Graham away from responsible government positions that affect real people’s everyday lives. If it does comes together for them, the conclusion is a simple one: republicans tell you what books you can read, what medications you can take, what words you can say, what history you can learn, what gender you are, who you can love and what a woman can do with her uterus… while the fascist radio and television propaganda ads tell you that Democrats are “COMING FOR YOUR FREEDOMS!!!”.
It truly takes an idiot to buy into the republican party.
However there will remain the usual percentage of the truly unreachable numpties who refuse to trust any amount of factual information and instead vote for celebrity creds with their gut. A perfect example of this is a comment on Reddit I saw a short while back:
“If Liz Cheney runs for president in 2024, I’m changing my party registration from Democrat to republican so I can vote for her.”
This sentiment was, of course, expressed shortly after Ms. Cheney gave her closing remarks at the end of the first round of congressional hearings into the January 6th insurrection. Presumably it was said out of admiration and exhilaration for her stance and clearly defined analysis of the events that were testified to in the hearings, and NOT something that will actually happen. And yet it more than likely will happen. Why? Because of that old catch-phrase, “The enemy of my enemy is my friend”. I daresay that some facts about Liz Cheney will continue to remain unknown or deliberately neglected by her fan club:
- Liz Cheney voted with Trump’s policies 93% of her congressional career
- Liz Cheney voted 99% along republican lines to kill health care, prescription and voting rights legislation
- Liz Cheney voted for the confirmation of Barrett and Kavanaugh to pack the Supreme Court with Federalists and evangelical fanatics.
- Liz Cheney is pro-war and votes exactly as the NRA wants her to 67% of the time.
- Liz Cheney remains a sycophantic racist with highly developed skills in deception and image shape-shifting-
- Liz Cheney recently stated that she doesn’t regret having voted against impeaching Donald Trump… twice.
- Liz Cheney now emphatically wants Trump in prison as do most of us; but her back door strategy is to burnish her image with the January 6th hearings in order to run for president in 2024.
Cheney has never seemed to be interested in anything related to “silly populist ideas” like campaign finance reform, an Equal Rights Amendment or codifying the right to vote. And yet some believe that she should be sainted for doing the right thing just this one time- even if it does serve her long-term political intentions which are diametrically opposite of the country’s urgent, desperate needs.
Some patriot.
As for that old saw, “The enemy of my enemy is my friend”, I doubt that the adherents to that notion have cracked open a history book and read about how well the alliance between the U.S.A. and the Soviet Union during World War 2 eventually turned out…
(yeah, yeah, yeah: I know… “purity”, right?)
I sure hope that everyone won’t be fooled by people who spend all their information research time on this site and end up convincing themselves that this upcoming election is in the bag for Democrats. There are legions of religious evangelical drones, gun fanatics, dunderheads and neocon gunsels out there who have spent years deifying the fascist elements of our country, and they remain highly motivated to vote in droves as they do in every election. So for all those campaign volunteers out there going door to door as you visit the homes of fascist sympathizers getting spit in the face or verbally assaulted, feel free to copy the issue grid above and use it in your “talking points” if you think it can be of any worth. Remember that the only effective tool they have is fear; but you have proven, undeniable, verifiable facts. And after all is said and done, the fate of our nation is still all up to free agency and choice. Like it or not, that is the real litmus test for American freedom and liberty. God help us.
