Is the Confederate flag a better issue for us or them

[dembotoz]

Here in Wisconsin the GOP likes to do an occasional red meat ballot initiative to rally its base and drive up voter turnout.
Think sanctity of marriage votes...

I hate the Confederate flag, but do we risk giving the GOP base a tailor made rally point by going after it.

Discuss?

[daleanime]

1. If we worry about that kind of thing....

may as well sit on our hands and await the end.

[lame54]

2. the more they defend it the worse they look...

you will never eradicate the image - it's everywhere(t-shirts, lighters, beach towels, belt buckles, etc.)
but this is the time to separate it from the state

[MicaelS]

3. Better for us.

And fuck the GOP on this issue.

[Cirque du So-What]

4. Better to attack bad policies than bad symbols

Going after the Dixie swastika does nothing but provide a rallying point for bigots.

[merrily]

10. Words and symbols matter. They affect thoughts, and thoughts affect actions.

Enough rallying around the flag of white supremacists and slaveowners.

Over a half century after Jim Crow laws were rendered null and void, over a century and a half after the Emancipation Proclamation, we still legitimize the flag of those who seceded from their country for the "privilege" of extending slavery to the territories. Fuck.

[TheMastersNemesis]

5. People Who Fly That Flag Are Not Fellow Americans. They Are No Better Than ISIS, The Taliban, Hitler

As a vet I would not serve with someone flying that flag. And I would not protect their ass. They are the enemy to me. Take down the flag and that memorial. Nor would I help them if they were in danger.

[B Calm]

6. Does Germany after losing WW2 still fly the NAZI flag? I feel no risk

being on the side of the United States of America!

[merrily]

9. Yes, they don't get to have it every which way. If they make such a big deal out of

their faux patriotism, how can they defend glorifying the flag of those who warred against this country?

[merrily]

7. Why can't Democrats do red meat ballot initiatives, too?

For me, the premier issue is equal human rights for all humans. Until your OP, I had never had to choose between that the Democratic Party. I just realized that, if I have to choose, it's going to be human rights over party. However, I don't think I have to choose. Typically, registered Democrats outnumber registered Republicans. If we GOTV, we win. If they can use a ballot initiative to get out their vote, why can't we? Why is our option either to cower or lose? Because if those are the only options, we lose anyway.

[dembotoz]

11. think you need to use fear as a motivating factor and the gop use fear well

and we do not as well

[merrily]

12. For example, pot initiatives bring people out. Initiatives are about for and against, want or don't

want.

They don't have to be about fear and hate.

In a town where I used to live, the sure way to get people to the polls was to put public schools on the ballot. That town never voted down money for public schools and residents very proud of that.

[HereSince1628]

15. WIdems do, that's how some evidence of election theft in WI has been gained

looking for improbable ballots casting simultaneous votes for conservatives and extremely liberal information initiatives showed just such patterns.

[merrily]

17. Sorry. I am not following and I usually do follow your posts easily.

WI dems do what?

[HereSince1628]

20. WIDems put red meat initiatives on ballots.

and analysis of a recent election with such initiative showed highly improbably combinations of votes for liberal initiatives and votes for conservative candidates.

I don't have the link at hand, but I think it was reported by Richard Charnin who has done much of the quantitative analysis on suspect patterns in WI voting

[merrily]

22. Ah, I understand now. An extreme example might be pro equal marriage and pro choice, plus

Santorum for President.

[Calista241]

23. Isn't that what gay marriage and legal marijuana are?

[merrily]

25. They could have been. However, we were propagandized mostly negatively.

I guess it depends on geography, too. Decriminalization of pot in Massachusetts was the subject of both positive and negative ads, with a cop doing the pro-decriminalization ads.

The only ads I saw about "right to die" were from Catholics who opposed it.

Equal marriage was not a ballot initiative here, but I got phone banked by a woman with a Southern accent who hung up on me after I told her I was very much in favor.

[CTBlueboy]

8. red meat (make sure its well done)

The GOP can rally all their racist, bible thumping, Confederacy lovers all they want ,but that flag has no place anywhere.

Any Dem. politicians who would put their head in the sand fearing political ramification is coward and should leave office

[merrily]

18. It's weird. We insist we're smarter than they are. We insist we have the better message.

Yet, we cower.

[Raine1967]

13. Some things are about right and wrong rather than our side and theirs.

That flag, it's symbolism and what it stands for, is simply wrong IMO.

[bigwillq]

14. It's an issue Democrats should lead on (nt)

[merrily]

19. It's an issue all decent humans should lead on--loud and clear too.

I think we should start insisting on decency from everyone, not only our fellow Democrats.

You want to have a different view than I do about estate taxes? Fine. You want to have a different view than I do about basic humanity? Not acceptable. Being a Republican is not an excuse.

[mmonk]

16. The side of justice is always the right side and issue.

BTW, I'm from NC.

[gollygee]

24. +1

Is the suggestion in the OP that we should ignore racism and marriage rights if it's easier politically?

[dembotoz]

21. just so we see the risk