Pandering to the right

[Norquist Nemesis]

This is all my own opinion (food for though), and it's simply intended to promote some discussion at looking where are we as liberals going, where do we want to be, and how do we get there?

Certainly since the Reagan years, I think we can all agree that the new middle of the political spectrum has shifited to the right. We can look at all of reasons individually as well as the big picture of the far right's success to demonize 'liberals.' But what does this accomplish? Have we learned anything and if so, what? I also think there is no question that we believe this election is absolutely critical to the future of this nation.

Is the current path we are on the legacy we want to give our children and grandchildren? This is at the heart of why I believe each every one of us needs to seriously think about which candidate we get behind. We need to look at each candidate's record, proven effectiveness, and proposals not in terms of who can win but who most closely espouses and fights for what we believe and can get it done.

As we get behind a candidate, are we really looking at these things or simply going for the win? And with this in mind, are we going to allow the middle be permanently moved away from us?

[NewYorkerfromMass]

1. Kerry is trying to get the liberal and the middle back together

I think that's what he's been all about since he got to the Senate.

[Cary]

2. liburl

This election is no doubt important. You raise a bigger, more important point I think. Where are liberals going, where do we want to be, and how do we get there?

The thing that bothers me most about contemporary conservative thought is that it is decidedly anti-intellectual. An old, but still relevant book on point is "Anti-Intellectualism in American Life", by Richard Hofstadter. Another book that illustrates anti-intellectualism, I think, is "God and Man at Yale", by no less than William F. Buckley.

As a liberal, I'm not as concerned about "liberal ideas" winning out over "conservative ideas" as I am about rational discourse and reasonable debate. It is so easy for conservatives to fall back on their ideology, having no idea where that ideology came from or what it's really about. In a way I see them "burning the books".

When I tried to point this out to some conservatives they told me I was "boring". They'd rather resort to ad hominem attacks, then do any real heavy intellectual lifting.

[swittersnc]

3. excellent post!

i could not agree with you more. and i think the thing that has to happen is for more and more liberals to get involved with the democratic party at the most local levels and change it from the bottom up so that a truly liberal agenda is put forth by the party.
it's been very disheartening to me with this election year because i have come in contact with so many highly-educated, very talented, liberal people who, for reasons that i have not been able to put my finger on yet, either can't or won't grasp the concept of bottom-up reworking of the system. they are very able to point out all the problems with the system but get paralyzed in the face of working from the local level to change the system. it's as though they're waiting on a democratic messiah to come along and overhaul the system as a whole.
we have had a whole slate of candidates this year, any one of whom have the ability to lead the country away from the evils of the current administration. but none of the candidates can change the system on their own. but we can. we can take over our precincts, which gives us the lead at the county level which can then translate to the state level, on up the chain.

[Norquist Nemesis]

10. The debate would be great if

the cons had an open mind. I just don't see it with any of the conservatives I've met...must be my sheltered life. LOL

But that goes with your anti-intellectual point, which I think is very valid. Everything seems to go back to the anti-progressives (my new term for the "right") framing the debate.

[ShimokitaJer]

4. The problem is not just the shift to the right

But the successful right wing campaign to couch everything in terms which makes the rightwing view the default and the liberal view the exception. Unfortunately, the Democratic party has bought into this, using rightwing terms such as "welfare reform" and "tax relief" as though it was obvious that welfare and taxes were inherently bad things.

I don't believe the political shift to the right mirrors a corresponding shift in the attitudes of the American public. When you talk purely about issues, divorced from political party support and politically charged language, you find that the majority of Americans are in favor of preserving social security, protecting the environment, ensuring affordable health care, protecting workers' rights, providing quality public education, and curbing corporate excess. These are traditionally Democratic issues, but the right wing has so thoroughly taken control of the discourse that they make the Democratic position on them seem irresponsible.

Right now, when the chosen head of the Republican government is so obviously irresponsible in terms of spending, it is time for the Democrats to wrest the issue of fiscal responsibility from the Republicans and redefine the issues in terms of what they can do to lower future costs for the country rather than what the immediate costs are. We need to start thinking and talking in the long term, and assume that the American people are intelligent enough to recognize that short term tax reduction accompanied by long term deficits is not a reasonable policy.

But you have to stop thinking along the single spectrum of right-left politics and start looking at the socially responsible values that most Americans share. Playing right against left is a losing game.

[Cary]

7. ShimokitaJer

Very nice post. To add to your thoughts, recall that nobody really wanted the Bush tax cuts after he was elected. Everyone was pleased with the balanced budget and, while the economy was tanking and this was affecting revenues, we did not yet have the war expenditures.

Somehow people don't seem to recall that. Moreover, Bush takes credit for the tax cuts that went to the middle class, even though that was the Democrats' doings.

[Norquist Nemesis]

9. Good perspective

"We need to start thinking and talking in the long term..."

I completely agree with the long term thinking. I think we've always done it. OUR trouble is 'talking' it. Our biggest mistake has been allowing Republicans to frame the debate and we end up on the defensive eternally.

I disagree that playing right against left is a losing game. It's worked for the right. It's just a matter of framing, truly. Repeat after me, then repeat repeat repeat ad infinitum. We can start by not calling it "the right" (as in correct) and just start calling them anti-progressive.

[rhite5]

5. It may take a real life experience ....

I think it will be the realities in peoples own lives that will finally cause them to begin actually thinking and seriously look at what has gone wrong.

It could be the unexpected loss of a job or a serious illness with budget-busting medical expenses or the death of a a son in Iraq or even just having a relative in the service over there and learning the truth about what has gone on there at the same time all the lies are being exposed. Or it could be like suddenly discovering college tuition costs are shooting up so fast that the your savings will never cover it and having to tell your teenager to forget college. Or it could be something as innocuous as suddenly discovering your name is (accidentally) on a "no-fly list" when you are all set to go on a dream vacation, and the delays mean you are forced to cancel the entire trip.

Once you actually look, you see that a LOT of things are out of control -- the economy and job security, healthcare costs ratcheting up, going to war for no reason and being lied to repeatedly by the media, lifetime plans can be suddenly shattered, government can interfere with family plans for no reason.

That is when you decide you want REAL CHANGE when you vote for the next president. You don't want a compromise candidate who is just a "little bit better" than what you've already got.

[Norquist Nemesis]

11. With those things in mind this is an opportunity

for us to get those people active, involved, and working for a better tomorrow with progressive values vision. We not only need to get them behind us, but get them committed to us.

[IrateCitizen]

6. Sweet Seredipity!

I just started a thread today that attempts to answer many of the questions you just raised.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=132&topic_id=318929

Let me know what you think.

[Norquist Nemesis]

8. You nailed it!

Reframing the debate is what we need. I have to agree with the other posts about wedge issues to divide...hell! aren't we already divided?