Open letter to Democrats: How to win next time.
Open letter to
Democrats: How to win next time.
Open letter to Democrats: How to win next
time.
A open letter to the Democrats by Mike
Smith.
I am the voter you lost. If you would win next
time, here is what you need
to do to get the
votes you need.
1) "Fly Over Country"
*IS* America.
Take a look at the map of
states won and lost. See all that red in
the
middle? You need to win *something*
there. Anything. Certainly not
"nothing",
which is what you have now.
The
Democratic party has been sucking it's own exhaust so long it
actually
thinks that the "Bos-Wash" corridor
and L.A. are representative of America.
They
are not. Get out of your jets somewhere in between New York and
L.A.
(and I don't mean Seattle or Portland)
and get to know some folks. Just
plain
folks. We are the voters you need, and the voters you presently
blow
off.
2)
Incest and inbreeding are
bad.
Democrats have spent so long just
exchanging and validating ideas within
their
elite that they think most folks agree with them. It's obvious to
the
elite that they are right since everyone
they talk to tells them so. This
is
intellectual incest at best. Such inbreeding of ideas leads to
weak
ideas lacking capacity to
motivate.
Step away from your radical
left leanings. Step away from Teddy Kennedy
and
the Clintons. As long as they set your
agenda, you will fail. Your present
agenda
smells of European Socialism and big money government handouts.
That
just doesn't work for middle America.
We don't trust big things
(corporations,
unions, or governments) and really don't want more of
them
crushing
us.
As long as billionaire socialists
set your agenda, it will be popular
in
London, Paris, Boston, New York, and L.A.
and you will lose. It will not be
popular in
Dallas, Atlanta, or Fargo.
3) Find
your old roots again. We're here and waiting for
you.
Embrace the America and the ideals
championed by the Democrats of old (who
won.)
John Kennedy's ideas are alive and well today, in the
Republican
party. Take back that center if
you ever want to win.
A fair deal for
the little guy. Help when he really needs it, and
staying
out of the way otherwise. Keeping
the big guys (and that means Big
Business,
Big Unions, AND Big Government) off his back. Have
agricultural
programs that only support
family farmers, not giant
agribusiness
corporations. If it takes a
lawyer to understand or use it, your program
is
broken.
Test
your programs and proposals by asking your mail carrier and
your
grocery clerk what they think of them
and what they want. (Then shut up
and
actually listen to them.) Ask a family
farmer what they need to keep their
farm (and
what you can stop giving to that Agribusiness Giant that
is
crushing them using government
handouts...)
If you don't ever talk to
your mail carrier or actually buy your
own
groceries, well, maybe that's a clue
right there. It's all well and good
that you
talk to the labor boss of the union and that they promise
to
deliver the labor vote, but that's just
talking to the liberal elite again.
Get out
of the Limo and talk to someone with a shovel in his hand,
or
wearing a uniform and standing behind a
counter selling lunch to folks
wearing blue
jeans. If the guy who owns the farm doesn't shovel (dirt
or
manure, either one will do) then it isn't
a Family Farm. If the owner isn't
at the
cash register or in the stock room, it isn't a small family
business.
My uncle in Texas was damn
near "spitting bullets" over the fact that
his
beloved Democratic party had left him.
He's a retired officer who worked in
prisons
keeping bad guys in line. He drives a truck (Chevy with duals and
a
Diesel). He's a "Red Neck", let there be
no doubt. He makes me look like a
flaming
liberal (I'm a California Conservative, so maybe he's right ;-)
and
he's the Democrat that you have lost. He
doesn't want a Government handout
or a
takeover of 1/7 of the economy. He wants a Roosevelt style "Fair
Deal"
and a government that keeps the
powerful elite off the backs of the
little
guy. He goes to church sometimes and
thinks its important. Look at all
the
traditional Southern Democrat states you
lost. He is why. You need him.
4)
Support the dreams of the Little
Guy.
Talk of Trillion Dollar government
programs leaves us petrified. "Tax
Reform"
just means more complex paper work with nothing for us. "Tax
the
Rich" means "Kill Our Dream" of someday
being rich. We want a SIMPLE fair
tax system
that lets us keep some of our money and build something,
no
matter how small, toward our
dreams.
Just tell us how you will make
a fair playing field between us and the
Rich
Bastards; not how you will run our lives
for us or destroy all the Rich
Bastards. We
don't hate them, we envy them. Just show us that no amount
of
money or army of lawyers and tax
accountants will give an unfair advantage
to
them. We'll do the rest. All we want is a fair fight, not a
straight
jacket and certainly not a
destruction of the arena. We *like*
competitive
sports,
remember?
Yes, we want a "Social Safety
Net" for the truly needy, but not for
every
freeloader in town. And certainly not
at the expense of our dreams of
prosperity
and liberty. We resent it when the local Welfare Queen has
a
better medical plan than we can afford
because we work for a living. (And
you took
our money, what little we had, to give it to
her.)
Don't promise to get US on
welfare too, show us how you will give a
"good
enough" plan to every needy person
while helping us toward our dream
of
prosperity. We are the folks who built
farmers cooperatives, have pot luck
dinners
where you don't have to bring a dish to eat, believe in helping
your
neighbor and think giving 10% to the
church to do good things is our duty.
We
*want* to help the needy. We just don't want to become the needy in
the
process.
5)
Be Positive.
America is a positive
place full of positive folks. The modern
Democratic
party is full of hate and
negatives. Think Positive! Let go of
the
negatives.
Support
the space program. Build that dream. John Kennedy did. If
it
helps you to think of it as a job program,
go right ahead. It's our future
as a species
and as a people. We want to be winners and leaders of
the
world; the space program lets us do
that.
Support the military. For many
poor folks it's their meal ticket and
their
helping hand out of poverty. Again, if
it helps you to think of it as a
jobs and
training program, go right ahead. What does the army
slogan
stress? Be all that you can be. That
is a positive message. This is a
government
program that helps folks reach their dreams, no matter how
modest
and no matter their starting point.
The military can be just as much a
Democratic
machine as Republican.
Just don't try
to shove social agendas down the throats of folks in
the
military. It's a meritocracy. If it
isn't, people die. Never lose site
of
that.
Let
women and men take the same tests (based on what will let them win
in
battle) and let folks do the jobs they can
be best at. If that means that
most men are
"ground pounders" because they can carry more ammo and
fight
hand to hand better, so be it. If it
means that most women fly jets because
they
take "g forces" better and have better hand / eye coordination on
a
stick, again so be it. Fair playing field
for all, OK? (And if that means
that a 200
lb woman is on my squad carrying a 50 cal. machine gun, then
I'll
know she is better than me at doing that
ground pounder job ... and so
will
she.)
Support
the small farmer and small business owner. Don't punish them
for
working. Champion them as The Little Guy
who needs your help. Weed out the
government
programs that funnel billions to the giant companies that
squash
The Little Guy (and take a team of
lawyers to understand and apply for)
and
redirect those programs to be fair to the
small guy.
Remember that there are
typically two folks in a small family
operation
(husband and wife) and that a 20
page application will not be high on
their
list of "must do" tasks. They have 100
hours or so total to work on
everything in
that business each week. A 100 hour task is 2% of their
total
yearly labor. Don't build a program
for them that takes 100 hours a year of
their
time. Make a fair, fast, and POSITIVE support process for these
folks
and they will support you. Take your
clue from the micro-loan programs in
third
world countries that have worked so well. (Where a loan of
enough
money to buy a stove can put a women
into the bakery business in
India).
Show what you will do to make
America a better, more *positive* place
to
live with greater prosperity for all.
(Complaints about wealth distribution
are not
positive. Show how you will help me prosper. I don't want
you
stealing someone's money to put me on
welfare. I want to know how you will
cut the
advantage they have - often due to government programs or
paperwork,
and let me
compete).
Show me how you can find bad
things and fix them. For example, open a
bare
bones government clinic in each town to
provide basic immunizations and such
to
indigents - a barefoot doctors program of
sorts.
Pass a law that specifies
exactly what minimum medical coverage is (define
a
standard minium policy) and mandate that
all insurance companies must offer
it to
anyone who wants it as part of a government pool. If I'm out of
work,
I'll buy the plan. If my company
offers better, I'll take it instead.
Yes,
this is an insurer of last resort
role.
Or have a program that provides
jobs at 2/3 of minimum wage to anyone
who
wants one. Have them operate a shelter
that provides a place to sleep, a
shower, a
change of clothes and a phone number and address that
indigents
can use to apply for a job.
Provide job training for these folks in
these
shelters in cooking, janitorial,
laundry, etc. Everything it takes to run
the
shelter. Include basic medical coverage. Don't build giant
perpetual
dependency programs, but give folks
a first rung on the ladder up.
6) Let
go of the hate agenda.
Republicans are
not the enemy. We are your neighbors and friends. We
just
often nod politely as you rant about how
horrible Republicans are and let
you think
we're Democrats. Point out where Democrats are different
and
where you think they are better, but
don't bash the other guys. It's more
noble
that way.
Race baiting is not
effective, especially with blacks prospering. What
will
you do when Colin and Condy Rice are the
next Republican ticket for Pres and
VP? In a
meritocracy, race just doesn't matter. For better or worse,
the
race war ended a while ago and we have a
fairly clean meritocracy (other
than
government distortions) in most fields. Vis. Dr. Cosby and
Opra.
Address the needs of the guys on the
bottom, whatever race, and you will
recapture
the poor white folks votes while not losing the middle class
black
who remembers their
past.
Stop calling me racist for
wanting a secure border. I'm in favor
of
immigration (my family were immigrants), I
just want folks who follow the
law and play
by the rules to be the ones that make it in here. I
learned
Spanish starting at 4 years old
talking with the neighbor kid. We were
best
friends for decades after. We each grew
up spending 1/2 our time in each
others home.
We shared so much I can't start to express it. But
"Will
grant citizenship for yard work" is NOT
a way to build a good citizenry - it
cheapens
the meaning of citizenship. "Break our laws and lie" is
presently
rewarded with amnesty and
citizenship. That is just plain wrong. See
that
fact. Embrace it. Then build a
positive statement from it. It isn't
about
race, it's about fair play and playing
by the rules. Invite immigrants in,
but only
those that "play fair and don't cheat". It's better for
everyone
and it will build a base for you
that is twice as large. The immigrant
AND
their
neighbor.
My wife is a rabid Republican
and saying that I, as a male, oppress her
just
doesn't wash. I don't think that Ann
Coulter feels oppressed by her
Republican
male associates. (Does a tigress fear the male house cat
;-)
Your arguments sound hollow and edging
toward lies when faced with the day
to day
realities of equality of opportunity. That women have entered
fields
that pay less well and that they take
more time off from careers to enjoy
their
family are not "fixable", they are family choices. I worked
extra
hard so my wife could enjoy staying
home with the kids when they were
young.
She's restarted her career now.
Saying I oppressed her makes us both
shake
our heads. Champion equal opportunity
AND the validity of staying home IF a
woman
wants that choice. Forget equality of outcomes. It smells of
forced
socialism, negativity, and
lies.
The desire for a traditional
definition of marriage does not mean folks
hate
gays. (I've danced cheek to cheek with
a gay guy - don't ask why, it was
quite a
party - and I'm for a traditional definition of marriage.)
The
large majority of traditional Americans
believe in God, in what the Bible
says, and
in several thousand years of tradition. They also think it
is
only fair for 2 guys to be able to
contract a partnership quickly and easily
if
they want. Just don't call it a marriage. Propose a simple
"Domestic
Partners" law that says 2 adults
can enter a partnership with exactly the
same
legal rights and responsibilities as a marriage by signing a
contract
at the county seat and move on.
Folks will make their own
"marriage"
ceremonies and be done with it.
Tell me I hate gays because I
value
traditional marriage and you lose
me.
Champion privacy and personal
choices. Get the government out of
my
bedroom, out of my blood stream (how I can
claim any liberty when I can be
forced to
give my blood to the police is beyond me... If I don't own what
is
inside my skin, what do I own?) Get them
out of my personal choices.
Democracy
flourishes best when people are free. Champion the right of
the
little guy to run his or her own life.
It isn't an issue of Marijuana laws,
or
sexual choices. It's a generic issue. Expand this agenda to cover
*all*
the forms of government intrusion and
you expand your base. At present
the
Democrats advocate for folks who want to
do things that conservatives see
as
committing sins. Expand the topic to all
privacy and personal choice and
they become
votes for you. It isn't about the right to commit a sin,
it's
about the right to be free of intrusion.
The guy who wants to read a book
about guns
at the library or drink too much beer on Friday CAN be your
voter
too. Don't hate "Bubba", invite him to
the party.
You get the idea. Now come
up with some more of your own.
7)
Don't be afraid to define
yourself.
Kerry lost because he chose
to be ill-defined. If there is no
definition,
folks will either assume the
worst, or they will assume that what
your
opponent says is the truth. Nobody is
100% conservative or liberal. I'll
take the
liberal who I agree with 30% over the conservative I agree
with
70%, if the liberal is honorable and
true and the conservative is a liar.
See
Nixon.
Tell me you are a recovered
drunkard who goofed off in his youth and I'm
now
your buddy. You trusted me with your
truth so I now trust you. I know who
you are
and I can forgive you. Tell me that you are not a liberal when
you
have 20 years of liberal voting record
and I'm standing next to a liar that
I can't
trust. Instead, tell me that you are a 20 year advocate of
the
liberal agenda, a true supporter of your
cause and I can argue points with
you, but
will still trust you as an honorable person. We'll share a
drink
at the bar later and I'll choose you
over the guy I can't trust who lied
about who
he was... because I know I can trust who you
are.
This is a nation that elected FDR,
John Kennedy, Jimmy Carter and even
Clinton.
We're OK with electing Liberals. Stand up and say it loud
and
proud: "I Am A Liberal" This is what I
believe. We'll find that honorable
and
honest. We may saddle you with a Republican Senate or some such
'till
we get to know you better, but that's
life. The alternative is, well, the
door
out. Don't try to hide who you are. It cheapens you, your agenda,
and
make me wonder if you really think I'm
that dumb.
8) Give the Average
American a real choice.
I wanted a
choice this year. I didn't get one. Picking someone from
the
far left wing of the Democratic spectrum
is not giving the middle American a
choice.
It gives him something to run away from. It makes your
party
loyalists feel good and makes the elite
happy and it even lets you show the
world
just how radical Democrats can be; but it is NOT a choice for
the
average middle
American.
Choose someone from the
middle (or better yet, the far right) of
the
Democratic party. A far right Democrat
is a strong representative of the
American
average guy. A far left Democrat is a "statement" that will
never
be elected as long as there is anything
remotely acceptable from the
Republicans.
And Lord knows that we've proven that this
year...
Having a radical lefty run to
the center after the convention just makes
him
look like a liar and a "flip flopper".
You must find a way to avoid the
convention
picking the most radical left and then running for the
middle
afterward. Give me a "moderate"
Democrat and I'm willing to vote for him.
Put
a Republican up against a moderate or right wing Democrat and you
will
win. Give me the choice of a radical
lefty vs the nutcase I know, and I'll
take
the known over the unknown lefty every
time.
9) Put America
first.
Americans love a good fight, but
they want the fighters to share a drink
at
the bar
afterwards.
They will support someone
who's ideas they despise but put up a good
fair
fight and offered to buy the first round
afterward.
We don't care so much what
you believe as we care that you really
believe
you are working to make America
better for everyone. We will think you
are
misguided, but we will *know* that your
goals are good hearted and that you
have put
America first. We'll even give you a shot at running the place
and
let you get some On the Job Training in
the hope that you'll find the right
path for
America. Heck, we could be wrong and you seem like a fair
Joe.
But lord help you if you seem to
be working first and foremost for your
party
or an "agenda". If your positions smack of fraud and deceit. If
they
seem artificial and make contrive
divisions between Americans.
Unfortunately,
much of the present Democratic party behavior seems that
way.
See Hubert Humphrey as a counter
example. Yes, this is the "character"
issue.
But we don't care so much if you have a liberal or
conservative
character, just that you in fact
HAVE some backbone and a kind heart
toward
your opponent while holding America
first.
So right now is the time you can
build your future. Join in putting
what's
right for America first. Advance an
agenda that distinguishes you from
the
Republicans (some examples are above)
while helping the downtrodden in a
fair way.
Stay positive and centered in American values. Don't squash
the
little guy or make him a ward of the
state. Show how you will help him beat
the
Big Guys and get his piece of the American Dream and wait. Then fight
a
fair fight advocating for a moderate left
set of policies. You'll win.
E. M.
Smith
San Jose, California
Posted: Tue - November 9, 2004 at 12:39 AM