NOV 01 - 15, 2004

VOL. 2 ISSUE 21

NOVEMBER 4, 2004 – Look, ditto and kudos to everything Tom Bico and Betsy V. have said.  But now for a moment let’s take a look at the true result of the election and at the central problem with the Democratic Party itself.

First, let me say that in essence, the last years of hard work by activists and the Democrats and independents, etc. had a great success last Tuesday.  Remember, after 9/11, George W. Bush had about a 90 percent approval rating.  A year later it was still pretty high, and in the 2002 elections the Democrats got clobbered as he rallied the nation toward war.

In June 2003, after the Iraq War was launched, his approval rating was still near 60 percent.  But after 2 years of Democratic candidates making their case, his approval, even as an incumbent leading during time of war, was down to 50 percent or less.

And the reality is, lots of people voted for Bush holding their nose or giving him one last chance.  Lots of people didn’t like Kerry, didn’t trust his leadership.  And still, it was a slim majority that propelled the President to victory.  This, even with the media acting as 24-hour-a-day right-wing puppet.  50,000 people changing their minds in Ohio would have led to a different outcome.

So even with the sorry state of the media, even against an incumbent president, which is tough enough, and with the nation at war, the Democrats held their own.

And let me point out something else this election showed us – it’s not about being a right-wing, religious fundamentalist.  Yes, Bush did use that vote to help him beat Kerry, but look at what happened in Illinois – a black Democrat won upstate and down against a right-wing religious extremist.

While Illinois isn’t exactly Alabama, downstate Illinois is not New York or San Francisco.  It is conservative country.  It is country music and pick-up trucks, farms and flags.  But Barak Obama obliterated the ultra-conservative.  And this was a seat that had been held by a Republican previously.

While the media environment played a role in the GOP’s Tuesday victory, a fundamental flaw in the current Democratic Party exists which has contributed.

The Democratic Party is a party of special interest groups, as much as they claim otherwise.  It is dominated by heavily feministic women and homosexuals, complimented by blacks and Latinos.  Now all of these groups are great and have a place in the American conversation and a right to a say in the Democratic Party, but the reality is there is no place for white, traditionalist males, there is no place for women who aren’t so high on feminism, and there is little understanding about two of the most important values to people in the Midwest and South:  manners and grace.

Among other things, the Democrats need to get some stupid words and ideas out of their system.

Never again make a stupid argument that you are “for the middle-class.”  How could you not get it yet that people don’t want to be divided or played against each other like that, that a party should be for all people, and that includes the rich, as long as things are fair?

Never again bash “big pharmaceutical companies” or “big oil.”  The reality is, people depend on these big pharmaceutical companies to provide the pills that keep their heart going.  They depend on big oil to make sure there is gas at the pump.  Yes, there are huge issues to take on regarding the pharmaceutical industry and oil industry and their lobbies, but don’t go around making like you hate these companies inherently and will attack them if elected – it just frightens people.  There are more constructive ways to say what you want to say without dividing us all.

The battle the Democrats get their butt kicked on is cultural, but it isn’t about gay marriage or abortion.  If I were head of the Democratic Party, I would force all of the party’s power brokers to go live in the South or Midwest for a while.  I would require them to go live in Red State country, deep Bush country.

Yes, you will find some people who are closed minded and to whom gay marriage is a huge issue.  But you will also find what is important to these people and the others in these areas, and that is what is important.  This last election, everyone from both sides came out to vote, and the result showed, even if allowing for some tampering, that things are about split.  You can not get there by simply rallying your boat if you are the Democrats.  You have to expand.

And it is un-American to write off entire portions of America.  Look at even the most partisan states and you will find that they are only divided about 60-40, which means if you reach 10 percent of the people and get through to them, you can win the state, and that is in the most divided on them.

By spending time in Bush-land, you will encounter the 20-30 percent that are not open to hearing anything.  But 40 percent of the place is already on your side, and you will learn where the other 30 percent is coming from.

Which is what Barak Obama said he did.  Asked how he won up and down the state against a conservative, he said he listened.  He didn’t go in, he said, thinking he knew everything and would tell people.  He treated them with respect and learned what values and concerns they shared.

You don’t have to change stances on issues, you have to focus on what is shared, communicate in a respectful, well-mannered way, and present – for crying out loud – a positive, inspiring vision.

John Kerry started his campaign with talk of launching a “space race-like” plan to get us off of foreign oil, which would help national security, jobs, and the environment.  He was going to use the National Institutes of Health to its fullest – i.e. pharmaceutical companies exist only to look for drugs to sell, not for cures; only the government-funded NIH can really look for true cures, especially ones that might not involve drugs that need to be taken for long periods and cost a lot.

But neither of these became part of a central inspiring vision.  What if he talked about thousands of solar towers, each able to provide enough energy to power 200,000 homes, lining the deserts of the Western US instead of soldiers lining the deserts of Iraq?  He had a plan like that, but the Democratic Party does not engage in the speak of uplifting inspiration, and so he merely mentioned an uninteresting policy of focusing on “alternative energy.”  Not quite the same.

And Democratic women have to get over their belief that careers are superior to child rearing.  This has nothing to do with religious extremism, but the Democratic party acts as if it does.  It’s okay, you can accept – even embrace – the idea of a man being a man, in the traditional sense, and a woman being a housewife and it is not the same as condoning wife-beating or mistreatment of women in the workplace.  The party stands up for women to be respected, but only if they go to work.  It needs to become just as strong advocates for housewives and stay-at-home mothers.

And yes, you need to talk about values, but this doesn’t mean changing any stances or views, bashing gays along with the GOP.  How is it that the Democrats have never made their case as being the true defenders of values and morality, of environmentalism being God’s crusade, as it is?  No, you don’t have to start advocating bringing Church and State together, but explaining things in terms of values and God are just talking the lingo that the Red States use.  The simple reality is that it is arguable that you actually more stand up for the traditional values of Southerners and Midwesterners, but if you don’t explain it in a useful way, if you shy away from getting in touch with your allegiance to God and morality, if you only talk about faith and God panderingly, you are missing a connection that could be so helpful in purpling the nation.

And you have to accept that it is a positive thing if men find women sexy.  It is not an assault and it is not an insult.  Men looking at a woman because she is beautiful and commenting on it is not the same thing as men degrading a woman or treating her with disrespect.  A woman is more than just her looks, but if you are to reach out to the rest of the nation, you must realize that beauty is a highly valued thing, too; for men and for women.

In the Northeast you may believe that who and how you are is all people should focus on, and the rest of the country should respect that you are that way, but you should respect – and embrace – that people other places hold beauty in high esteem.  And truly, whose to say which is more important:  you are a successful financial advisor, lots of cash; you are not so financially successful or educated, but you are attractive – which is truly better in life?  You have a lot of money or knowledge, you have a beautiful wife or husband, or can attract beautiful people of the opposite sex – which is truly more important in life?  Beauty isn’t everything, but it makes life pretty darned nice.  And people who value it above things like education should be respected because they are not lesser, just rich in different ways and possessing different values.

These are the sorts of “values” the Democratic Party has to get in touch with if they hope to restore themselves as a successful national party.  There are things that connect us all, things that are valued to all, things that offend us all.  The Democratic Party needs to learn a lot more – and respect a lot more – the values of the other part of the country.

One last tip:  when you search for the universal that binds us all, don’t just go for the miserable things and negative stuff.  Yes, the whole nation has working mothers who aren’t making ends meet.  But the whole nation also has pretty darned great country, good manners, good values (each in their own measure.)

For example, there is one thing America, from coast to coast, in every rural community and basically every inch of every city can brag about and feel proud of that we as a nation all have in common as the people of no other nation do:  we, by far, have the best toilets on the planet.

Hey, Democrats, it’s a start (and it’s true.)