A Bad Election Night for Democrats, but a great victory for workers

[eridani]

http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/26782-focus-a-bad-election-night-for-democrats-but-a-great-victory-for-workers

Even in overwhelmingly red states like Nebraska, which elected a Republican to the U.S. Senate by a 35 percent margin; Arkansas, which elected a Republican U.S. Senator by a 17 percent margin; and South Dakota, where a Republican U.S. Senator won by almost 24 points, all of those voters agreed to raise the minimum wage.

Even after electing a Republican governor, 68 percent of Illinois voters agreed to tax millionaires to raise more funding for schools, and passed a nonbinding minimum wage increase, putting pressure on the state legislature to follow their will. And as of right now, Alaska is voting to increase their minimum wage by a 2 to 1 margin. That means in all the states where raising the minimum wage was on the ballot, voters supported it enthusiastically. To top it off, San Francisco voted to raise its minimum wage to $15 an hour by a vast majority, and Massachusetts voted for workers to have a week of guaranteed paid sick days. By all counts, working people should be extremely happy about last night’s election.

But let’s be absolutely clear – the American people didn’t vote for a Republican senate because they like Republican ideas, they voted for Republicans when there was no clear alternative. The few Democrats who did win last night, like Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, won by proudly defending Democratic victories on kitchen table issues, like Obamacare providing health insurance for 10 million people, rather than running away from them. Gary Peters, who won Michigan’s open U.S. Senate seat, ran on acknowledging the reality of climate change and doing everything he could to stop its acceleration.

You get in people's mind[sic] a tie. They don't know who is right. And you get all ties because the tie basically insures the status quo.

On using repetition to create "common knowledge":

That's common knowledge. And that comes from people hearing something enough times from enough different places, people repeating it to each other, that you reach a point where you have solidified your position.

If we can solidify the position on drilling, fracking, etc. We have achieved something the other side cannot overcome because it's very tough to break common knowledge.

It's very tough to break first opinions. You know the guy that gets to make the first opinion, the first impression, has a huge advantage because people don't want to admit they were wrong the first time.

[eridani]

1. So, if minimum wage hikes won in all the red states--

--why the FUCK did Dems not campaign on it?

[Art_from_Ark]

2. In Arkansas, at least, the issue was a constitutional one

That is, it was independent of politicians. So Democratic Candidate D could have said "I support raising the minimum wage" and Voter R could say, "I don't care if you support it or not-- I can vote on this issue directly". I get the feeling that it may have been a stealth tactic to take away a popular issue from the Democrats.

[JonLP24]

3. Also -- Democrats Can Win on Social Security – by Fighting to Increase It

A new poll confirms that voters don’t just want their Social Security benefits protected, they want them expanded – in overwhelming numbers, across geographical distances, and crossing all party lines. It’s not just “liberals” who feel that way. Three out of four Republican voters support it.

What’s more, voters say they’re far more likely to vote for candidates who vote to increase Social Security benefits. This is a winning issue for Democrats who are willing to take a firm stand as defenders – and expanders – of Social Security.

http://ourfuture.org/20140910/dems-can-win-on-social-security-by-fighting-to-increase-it

Also

15 Minutes. That’s How Long It Took the GOP to Flip on Social Security.

That was fast. Yesterday we suggested that the chained-CPI cut in President Obama’s budget, which was presented as a gesture to Republicans, might instead be used to rebrand Democrats as “the anti-Social Security party.”

It took them fifteen minutes.

A GOP official quickly called the chained CPI a “shocking betrayal of seniors.” That’s a replay of the Republicans’ 2010 campaign, which used a “Seniors’ Bill of Rights” to paint Democrats as the anti-Medicare party. That strategy helped them retake the House, and could be at least as effective in 2014.

This not-so-shocking “shocking” comment is further proof that it’s political suicide for Democrats to support the chained CPI, a combined tax hike and Social Security cut in Obama’s new budget.

http://ourfuture.org/20130410/gops-not-so-shocking-shocking-attack-on-obamas-chained-cpi-cuts

[Odin2005]

4. You know who was out on the ground pushing for the Minimum Wage stuff? Not the Dems.

It was the Communists, the radicals, folks like Socialist Alternative who have made $15/hr their rallying cry. In the Beltway that is considered "extremist" and ignored.

[eridani]

5. Where left third parties can win, I'm all in favor of them

That would be in urban areas, in small towns with big universities, and in rural areas with lots of refugees from Woodstock nation. In other places, it's Democrats or nothing. In Burien, WA, city council member Lauren Berkowitz is the only voice against anti-poor people legislation. In SeaTac, Democrat Kathyrn Campbell ran supporting the $15/hr minimum wage, and a Dem who took no stand lost. I keep telling the SA folks that I'm happy about Sawant, but to get back to me when they have candidates in Burien, SeaTac, Kent, Aubrn, Federal way, etc. BTW, these are south King County towns with significanly lower incomes than Seattle.

[davishenderson265]

6. In Illinois it is only advisory. Still passed 60-40.

With this new governor, I doubt we will see an increase.