People. The Republicans have ratcheted up their fear machines, loosed a barrage of fear missiles. The MSM has risen to take the bait. Forget about corporate conspiracy. Fear brings traffic. Fear sells ads. End of story.
Ebloa. ISIS. Black and Brown people. Inner cities. Thugs. Immigration. Border Control. Voter Fraud. Socialism. Baby Killers. Rape Celebrities. Taking Away Your Freedumbs! Guns, guns, guns; they are coming for your guns!
You name it. They've got the meme for it, deadly, effective, base-riling memes that can control the narrative and win elections. And they aren't even guaranteeing any actions. Why? Because they know that voters know that Republicans will be Republicans once they get into office.
What do the Democrats have? The Democratic platform. And, regardless of what the Third Way says to defend lurching Right, the public supports progressive ideals in poll after poll after poll. Even on economics. They want to raise the minimum wage. They know the financial sector is corrupt, unstable. They know they are losing ground. They know the concentration of wealth is not only unfair, it is unhealthy to both society and the economy. They know that for every advance they get, such as ACA, the rich get more. Much more. And they know that over the long term, they're screwed.
Now the leadership knows this, and it will speak to these issues during elections. But, right or wrong, too many voters do not trust that their votes will translate into the kind and degree of changes they need to reverse these trends.
And so 60% or so of registered voters, give or take, will not be voting. And the tried and true GOTV will not be changing that in any materially significant way. Even with all the sophisticated databases. Especially with the October Fear Surprise of the Right Wing and the mainstream corporate media.
We are battling for parity with batshit crazy, not because batshit crazy is popular, as some suggest. Batshit crazy is only popular in a relative sense among the 40% of most active voters. So long as we confine the campaign to 40%, we will struggle for parity with batshit crazy. But among the 100% overall batshit crazy is most definitely not popular. Even among many Republicans. The polls say so.
Forget whether the 60% who currently will not be voting are right or wrong. Of course they are wrong. All that matters is that a) 60% WILL NOT BE VOTING unless Democrats do something drastic, and b) Democrats need a good slice of the 60% to change the narrative and win elections. Democrats cannot count on their own October Surprise to drop out of the sky. They have to create their own October Surprise.
Democrats have to bring out the big guns, change the narrative, win elections. Now or never. Why the hell not?
Fortunately, we have big guns, too. We have a popular platform. All we need to do is convince and assure people that Democratic representatives will represent once they get into office.
Right or wrong, they don't trust Democratic representatives any more than they trust government, the police, Wall St., or any other authorities.
How do Democrats instill trust? Follow below the fold...
The only chance the Party has for creating trust among the 60% THAT WILL NOT BE VOTING unless Democrats DO something radical is to GUARANTEE RESULTS.
Now we all know the Democrats cannot guarantee anything unless they have control. Anyone knows that it is reasonable to make guarantees CONTINGENT UPON CONTROL of both chambers.
Even if you believe there is no way in hell that Democrats can win both chambers, which is a perfectly sane belief, especially given current conditions, there is NO DOWNSIDE to providing these CONTINGENT GUARANTEES. None. We can't certainly can't do worse than possibly losing control of the Senate, as we already stand a strong chance of doing.
So WHY NOT A CONTRACT FOR DEMOCRACY?
We can debate the exact contents of the contract, but what is not debatable is that it must be compelling, extremely compelling, for several different key constituencies. Minorities. Immigrants. Seniors. Young Adults. Students. Women. The Middle Class. Those concerned with Climate Change. Etc. The 80-90% who have not recovered. In other words, the 60% who will not be voting unless something radically different is done. NOW.
The following is merely an example of red meat legislation and/or executive actions that could be included in this contract. btw, there's already draft legislation for many of this ideas.
One last thing: the Contract must be signed by every incumbent and candidate, as well as the President. Those in safe red or lean red districts will have to trust that their local Democrats will be so damn enthusiastic that they will turn out in record numbers to overcome whatever increase in voting on the Right, or crossovers, specific items may instigate.
Consider this our October Surprise to combat the Ebola-ISIS-SuperScare, change the narrative, take over the news cycle, and roll out a huge, unexpected booster rocket for the campaign.
"Here you go! You vote Democrats into the majority in both chambers and we will:"
Raise the minimum wage to $15 over three years! Make each increase (not cumulative) 200% tax deductible up to $1M, and decrease by 10% for each $1M thereafter.
Equal Pay! Dammit! Allow companies to a 200% deduction for the increases in pay required for compliance for the first three years.
Immigration Reform, starting with something very basic for the most "agreeable" cases.
Ensure student loans are available at the rate the Fed gives banks +.5%
Allow students to convert existing loans to that rate. Allow private lenders of those loans to convert the lost principle plus one year of lost interest to government bonds.
Forgive studens loans for people 65 or older! Ditto on above private lender compensation.
De-criminalize marijuana. Release prisoners with non-violent marijuana convictions. 2% Federal Tax to support education, research, and treatment for substance abuse.
De-criminalize ALL substance abuse (user crimes); convert prison sentences into rehabilitation programs.
Lift the cap on Social Security, increase benefits by 10% for those earning less than $40K in gross income.
Ban foreclosures on those who are less than three payments behind.
Create a $25B mortgage relief program for those whose home went under water as a result of the financial crisis.
Commit $50B to provide modest but meaningful foreclosure reparations to those who were foreclosed for being less than 1.5 payments behind!
Tax on Real Estate Sales in excess of million to support Affordable Housing programs, especially of smaller, sustainable, single family housing.
Buffet Rule (30% mandatory minimum income tax on ALL earnings for those with gross income exceeding $1M)! Apply the $30-$40B in extra funding for the first year to a foreclosure reparations program for those who suffered the most egregious cases as a result of the financial crisis.
Buffet Rule PLUS! 40% minimum tax on income above $10M.
Treat ALL income the same for tax purposes. Includes hedge fund managers.
Citizenship revocation program for those with large, proportionally excessive holdings outside the country; i.e., excessive tax "avoidance" schemes.
.5% transaction tax (1% on derivatives and dark pool transactions; apply the difference to regulatory development and enforcement), fund $280B jobs program, 60% Green Jobs, including mass transit infrastructure, 20% Jobs for Young Adults (21-29), 10% Jobs for Seniors (55 and up!), 10% SBA loans.
X, Y, Z improvements to ObamaCare.
Voter Protection Reforms! Gerrymandering reform, including funding to review and re-draw all districts by 2016? Outlaw Voter ID laws. Require and Regulate adequate polling stations and machines to provide 1 hour service to all voters. Ensure that everyone who arrives within 1 hour of closing is able to vote. Mandatory jail time (1-5YRS) and fine ($100 to $10,000 per verified recipient) for all involved in distributing inaccurate voting information. Regulated use of uniformed personnel at polling stations. Mandatory jail-time for those found intimidating, misinforming, discouraging voters on line at polling stations. All paper ballots remain under public supervision at all times from receipt until tabulation. All tabulations remain under public supervision at all times until the count is certified. All electronic ballots subject to regulation and monitoring by independent commission and official throughout polling periods. Effort to drastically reduce provisional ballots. Etc.
Establish and enforce libel and slander laws for political advertising and public campaign speeches.
Any and all legal means for limiting the use of Citizen's United, McCutcheon, dark PAC contributions.
Severely Penalize Corporate Inversions
Incent re-patriation of jobs.
Penalize outsourcing of jobs.
Eliminate Foreign Tax Shelters during 1-yr amnesty with 10% repatriation tax. Thereafter, 100% forfeiture and jail time (1 yr per million, pro-rated. Mandatory. For all individual(s) involved, including professional advisers).
Guarantee NET NEUTRALITY
Police de-militarization program.
Intelligence/Surveillance reforms.
Repeal Forfeiture Laws. Require review and provide full reparations to all historical cases--requiring disclosed charges and adequate proof of alleged crime--within a three year period, prioritized according to date and value of confiscation.
3-yr program to Break Up the Too Big Too Fail Banks
Reduce and regulate high-speed trading; prevent banks from front-running client transactions.
Outlaw the provision of opinion and advice on securities, bonds and derivatives by companies that also sell the them.
See how easy this is?
Boost CDC Funding by $3B, a 50% increase.
Boost non-CDC NIH by $9B, a 30% increase.
Boost mental health research, education and treatment by $3B, in addition to other contributions from overall increases in NIH funding.
Boost fitness and nutrition research, education and related treatment by $3B, particularly to combat obesity, Type II diabetes, and other conditions related to diet and exercise.
$2B increase in veteran's benefits and services.
More protections for Planned Parenthood, women's reproductive rights.
Mandatory MediCaid expansion in hold-out states.
Fund Human Trafficking Law Enforcement.
No Means No, Yes Means Yes
Revision of Estate Tax Schedule, dropping min. from $5M to $2M, and progressively increasing rates over $10M.
Registration tax on large, non-commercial vehicles to fund
Etc.
Pull out the big guns. Change the narrative. Win elections.
Every single signatory has a price, whether it is a carrot, a stick, or both. The Party establishment must pay that price and make it happen. For god's sake, if there are any opinion leaders who can influence the establishment leaders, now is the time.
Why the FUCK not?
Is parity with batshit wth the gamble with current strategies that are guaranteed to bring out only 20% of registered for Democrats? Is this acceptable or is it time to refuse to accept it?
It's time to stop calling the Party platform a unicorn and make it real.