Moving to the "center" does not win us elections, getting people out to vote wins us elections

[Bjorn Against]

We are constantly having it drilled into our heads by the media that the way to win elections is to aim for the swing voter, and move to what they call the "center". In the world of the pundits the center is a place where corporations are given tax breaks, and a health care system that denies coverage even to children is propped up. The center is a place where people vote for war, vote for illegal wiretapping, and vote for tax cuts for the rich.

Yes the center in corporate media speak is very different than where the majority of the American people stand. The majority of the American people oppose the war in Iraq. The majority of American people support universal health care. The majority of American people support more laws protecting the environment. The majority of American people want jobs that pay higher wages, and do not believe that the CEO of any company deserves four hundred times the pay of their average worker.

If there is a true center in American politics it is certainly not located where the pundits say it is, yet we are told we need to keep moving towards the center so we can win the swing voter. The truth however is that there are not very many swing voters who are really too sure of where they stand on the issues. Most of the swing voters are not people who follow politics intensely and the reason they are swing voters is because they can be easily swayed. That is not true for all of them of course, there are some swing voters who do follow politics very closely but the number of them is not all that large and moving closer to their position is not sure to win you a lot of votes.

The fact the corporate media rarely brings up is the fact that a huge percentage of Americans do not vote. In the 2004 election only 60.7% of the electorate turned up to vote, and that was the highest percentage since 1968. The majority of Americans do not vote in every election. The way to win elections is not to chase some mythical swing voter who doesn't swing from the "centrist" ideology, it is to go to the non-voters to get them out to vote.

Who works at the grassroots level to get out the vote? I sure don't see too many who call themselves centrists at the grassroots level, I see progressives doing the heavy lifting when it comes to get out the vote efforts. If you want to increase voter turnout you need to motivate the people who are going to work to get people to the voting booths. If we don't motivate the base we will not have the grassroots activists we need to educate the voters and get them riled up.

Many of the swing voters out there are very likely progressives who have not heard our message, because let's face it, our message is not heard in the media very often. When they put Democrats on the air more often than not it is the more conservative Democrats, we hear very little from the outspoken progressives. We can win swing voters with a progressive message, but we are not very likely to win non-voters with a centrist message. You are not going to be able motivate a non-voter to go out and vote for the status-quo, they are bored by the status quo. In order to get the non-voter out to vote you have to show them how they are being screwed by the status quo and how you can bring about change.

Winning over non-voters is not always easy, but if you have a motivated enough group of people to work to influence people and you can make even a couple percent of them get out to vote who wouldn't have otherwise that can be enough to tip an election.

It is time to put the myth about needing to move to the "center" to win elections to rest, the way to win elections is to get people out to vote and the best way to get people out to vote is to motivate the base to work at the grassroots level and get people to educate their friends about the issues.

If we want to win we need to stop taking the advice of the pundits who we know are not working for our best interests. We need to fight and fight hard, the future of America depends on the agenda we shape today.

[baby_mouse]

1. Actually, the long term solution is to pull the *whole spectrum* left.

Karl and Bush have been pulling the spectrum Right. They were right about that tactic, at least.

[Bjorn Against]

2. I agree, and that is more or less what I was arguing

The "center" only exists where it is because the pundits have kept insisting that it is where it sits. If you look at actual polls on the issues progressive ideals are extremely popular, but many people don't even fully realize they are progressive positions. People don't fully realize that their politicians actually want war, they want people to go without health care if it means more profits for the extremely wealthy, they want corporations to be able to pollute the air we breathe and the water we drink. Once people realize just how much they are being screwed over the spectrum will move left, but we are not going to accomplish moving the spectrum left if we run towards the center.

[UTUSN]

3. It's well known: Dem constituencies DON'T VOTE!1 If any of us DID,

there wouldn't be a single Rethug in office ANYWHERE!1

[Captain Hilts]

4. True. Single women < 35, minorities, etc. have low voter turnout.

So, FDR and JFK and WJC won by courting the middle, because the left doesn't show up to vote, or they vote for Nader.

[UTUSN]

6. You are SO totally TRUE!1 n/t

[Captain Hilts]

7. Eight years in polling.

Voters skew older, wealthier, whiter and more female whereas the Internet still skews younger and more male.

[JeffR]

5. Well said and very true

so a K & R.