Yesterday
goldberry wrote an eloquent
recommended diary about his formerly right-wing mother's moment of difficult enlightenment after witnessing the Bush administration's murderously negligent response to Katrina. After recounting her story, he wrote:
She is royally pissed off, people. And she blames Bush. Did you GOP lurkers read that? You guys are toast. You lost one of your most ardent supporters and very likely more.
So I replied to him recounting my own traditional-minded, struggling, cynical and mostly apolitical Democratic mother's possibly equally difficult eye-opening. (Which I hope might offer some insight to any actual or potential Democratic leaders out there ...)
Since my mom's a lifelong Democrat - the kind of lifelong Democrat who was left behind by the DLC-era party - I took another cue from goldberry and veered off in the overly long comment to address any bigshot Democratic lurkers who might conceivably be listening about what nationally recognizable spokespeople can do in the aftermath of this sickeningly teachable horror show to bring back people like her, who used to be a rock solid cornerstone of the party and could be again if people at the top could somehow learn how to treat them with genuine respect and offer them something real even if they don't have a whole lot of formal education or cash in the bank. Because I swear to God that there are millions of people like her out here, that the Dems have been losing a hell of a lot of them to apathy or to the opposition, and that most of them don't necessarily have the benefit (or the trouble) of semi-educated, progressive-minded sons or daughters or brothers or sisters. Or the time or energy or easy internet access to read political blogs. They need people with a national voice to break it all down, in plain English. Or plain Spanish for that matter.
So matt n nyc graciously suggested I turn the spontaneous rant (plea?) into a diary of its own, and so I've posted it here with minor revisions. Sorry for the hubris in hoping I might actually have a chance to reach any of the folks near the top, or anyone who might have a chance to reach any of the folks near the top, or anyone who might someday be one of these folks themselves, but this latest atrocity has pushed me just about to the edge and I promised a close friend from New Orleans that I'd try to do whatever I could. And sorry if the diary is sloppy; I don't post often and I'm doing my best in a limited timeframe.
Anyway, after passing along my congratulations to goldberry's mother on her "conversion", I wrote: The scales sort of fell from my mom's eyes a bit too. She's not an R but a rural, white, working-class, Fox-watching "traditional" D with a bit of a nativist streak. Works two jobs, no benefits, can barely pay the bills; bare-boned insurance through her husband's current construction gig. She knows the Rs are jacking working people but also thinks that God is being driven out of everywhere, that the country is beings taken over by immigrants, gays, etc., and that nobody gives a rat's rear end about people like her. She can't stand Bush but also has about zero respect for Clinton or Kerry either or almost any politician with the possible exception of Sen. Dorgan and maybe one or two others. But this freaked her out. She called this weekend to ask me what I thought, why I thought it happened, and I answered basically the same as you, because they're black and poor. To my surprise, she agreed completely. Without prompting, she said they just use race to divide, and this might have been the first time she's really formed this conclusion and grasped its magnitude on her own. I added religion too because it was a teachable moment. I told her that one of my best friend's uncle is still missing and she was speechless. Her despair was palpable. She thinks everyone who isn't rich is next. She talked about moving to Ireland if she could afford it. "This is what our ancestors came here to get away from", she said. "Who's going to stand up for us?" She doesn't have internet access to read websites like this.
Did you bigwig Democratic lurkers read that? You better figure out how to start speaking to people like her and the other people in my hometown and in all of the other hometowns across the country just like it. Not the religious fanatics and Confederate revivalists and wealthy suburbanites who idolize their annual tax receipts above all else. Ordinary working people of all colors, cultures and creeds, who might have some traditional biases but could be persuaded by someone they actually respect, which means someone who actually respects them, as equals. (If you can't get your head around that, don't even bother to try.) Talk about our shared humanity and citizenship, about giving a hand up to working people, regardless of color, about having a government that actually looks out for us. All of us. By the people, of the people, for the people. All of the people. And you have to put this man-made disaster and everything else into the context of the whole damned program to destroy this nation and turn it into a neo-feudal country club for the rich. And how their constant attempts to divide us actively aid and abet this program. Contrast. Offer an alternative. Loudly and clearly and repeatedly. In plain English. Starting now. And then deliver or fight to your last breath trying. Gen. Clark? Sen. Edwards? Sen. Feingold? Sen. Reid? Vice President Gore? Are you listening?