8 Simple Ways to Look forward to 2016
It's easy to get lost in the gloom on a morning like this. It's easy to become overwhelmed by contemplations of self-serving corporatist legislation soon to gush forth or the threats to legislation already passed. But it's important to put things into perspective: Tie does not come to an end in 2016; this was not the last election to be held.
We must look back and remember that the electorate that registered itself last night is the same electorate that gave us a Dem sweep into the national legislature in 2006, elected Obama in 2008 while widening his legislative majority and re-elected the President in 2012. We have, quite frankly, lost those voters. Whether they turned to the GOP to address some perceived grievance or simply stayed home we have lost them in one regard or another. Yes, there are the hardcore partisan GOPers but I want to address the subject of the swing / independent voter.
So, how do we win them back?
I have a few ideas --
1. Tell them they're stupid
Who doesn't like to hear that the only reason they looked past the political ads, debates, flyers and general sense of the body politic to vote as they did was really nothing more than an intellectual failing on their part. There is no way, you must explain, that they could be people of free agency and independent being; what is really the issue here is they suffer from some sort of deficiency.
2. Tell them they're brainwashed and easily manipulated.
You're practically daring them to turn their backs on you! In fact, the more you cajole on this point the greater their impetus will become for them to show you just who is in charge of their decision making.
Or maybe they'll just blindly accept everything you say and swing back.
3. Tell them they're superstitious troglodytes who believe in stupid sky fairies
This is a point that will drive home in the deepest, most intimate and personal way how you feel about them as human beings. And not just them but also their family going back generations.
4. Tell them they're toothless hick rednecks
Like Point #3 this is a good way to address their culture of not only your interlocutor but their family as well.
5. Tell them they don't know what's good for them
We don't want them going to the polls thinking they are free to make their own decisions.
6. Tell them they're {blank}ist
Slathering on the most damaging insults in American society today is always a good leading choice for winning converts. "Come back to us, you racist pigs!" is a message sure to resonate with the electorate. If nothing else, it demonstrates the depths of your own sincerity by wanting to welcome those racist, sexist haters into your own camp.
7. Tell them they only vote out of fear.
Not only should you tell them this be sure to sound as desperately angry and / or angst-ridden as possible to really drive home the point.
8. Tell them you're better than them!
You really can't overstate this one. It doesn't need to be stated explicitly, just be sure to let them know in small, subtle ways in a relentless threshing of their soul. Let them know they watch the wrong TV shows. Let them know they listen to the wrong music. Be dismissive of their concerns and do so with a sniff in the air. A political dissertation over a holiday dinner never fails to drive home the point.
I think if we follow these 8 simple steps there is no telling where we can find ourselves in 2016. This is the sort of strategy that will make the shortcomings of last night seem like a distant memory.
= new reply since forum marked as read
I don't agree with how some people vote, but if that's what they believe, I can't stop them from feeling that way. And I wouldn't want any one to stop me from feeling (and voting) the way I do.
