How do we rebuild the Democratic Party?

[JDPriestly]

6. Yes. It is reaching out to acknowledge the needs of the individuals who are struggling in our

country, learning from them and representing them that will attract the voters you are talking about.

Americans are terrified. Our jobs, our careers, our retirements are all, constantly, in jeopardy.

People respond by either becoming very self-centered or dissipated and confused or by deciding to work together.

It's those fears that Republicans appeal to. They tell voters, "someone out there wants to take what you worked hard to get. We won't let them." That is why the talk about lowering taxes and welfare queens and charter (almost private) schools, etc. attracts voters.

Republicans respond to the anxiety that the temp job/part-time job/at-will employment/no union/low minimum wage/make it if you can but your boss is going to take a big salary and lay you off if business slumps reality creates with a "We're going to help you protect yourself and get rich" sort of promise. Republicans don't really help working people. They don't really make working people (and again, I include small business owners as well as doctors and lawyers and other professionals). But they validate the fears that people have and build up dreams of grandeur that will never be realized. When the votes have been cast for the Republicans, the Republican Party walks away and tells voters: "You are on your own now. Society is just a loose association of selfish individuals." The Republican come-on draws voters only to let them down. And then when voters are let down, they vote Democratic. That has to change. Democrats have to change that by reaching to voters in a new ay.

Now, Democrats answer with "programs" and "policies." These ideas would actually create a safety net, a very thin, very fragile one, under Americans. The ideas aren't bad. But Democrats nowadays do not speak to the underlying anxiety. And it is that anxiety that the Republicans at least acknowledge that is drawing voters to the Republican fold -- (which then turns on the voters and leaves the voters to their own helplessness.)

How can Democrats speak to that anxiety? That is what we as a Party need to talk about. That is the fundamental issue. We cannot change and should not change the rapid pace at which technology is developing. We cannot do away with the social and economic displacement technology brings.

But what Democrats can do is to bring to the table inclusiveness and acceptance for all Americans and involve all Americans in solving the problem of the anxiety and displacement that technology is bringing.

One of the very understandable traps that our Party has fallen into since the late 1950s is to emphasize "equal rights" for distinct groups like women (I'm one) and children and various racial groups, age groups, gender identification groups, etc.

Don't get me wrong. The struggle for fairness and equal rights is utterly necessary. It needs to be at the core of our Party's work. But it needs to be in a context of including people who vary with regard to traits like race, gender, etc., not in a context of fighting to increase rights for one group to the falsely perceived "loss" of rights for another group.

We all gain when the other person gets a fair chance. When your wife has equal rights in her workplace, you win. When racial equality is a reality, everybody wins.

I could not claim that in Southern California we have really achieved racial equality, but we are a lot closer to it than people are in some other parts of America, and it is making winners of us all. But the idea of equal opportunity and equal rights serves the interests of everyone.

Think of an exam in school. 80% of the students answer the questions with their books open. The other 20% have to struggle to remember the answers. We consider the use of open books if unapproved to be cheating. Not only do those who aren't cheating lose out,, but society ends up in a situation in which it tells itself that the best students got the best grades although that may not be true at all. That is what gender, racial and other similar inequalities achieve: The false appearance of betterness of certain groups. It's a big lie. That's the problem with it. It does not permit those who really are the best or most suited to be even recognized.

That's why we should be for equal rights. Not just because certain groups demand those rights. Equality of opportunity is really good for all of society and not just for the minorities who appear to gain the most from it. Equality of opportunity is inclusive, not exclusive. Republicans have managed to sell the idea that equality of opportunity means unfairness. Absurd, but the Republicans have sold that idea to a lot of Americans.

In other words, from another slant, Republicans have successfully cast Democratic support for equal rights as something divisive. That view is wrong. But Democrats have not successfully demonstrated why or how they are wrong. Maybe because we don't totally believe that view is wrong ourselves. Do you suppose that might be so?

So, our Party needs to focus more on respecting all people. Ridicule and divisiveness needs to take second place to inclusiveness. (I'm not talking about humor which points out the discrepancy between reality and what we pretend is real. That's what John Stewart excels in as did Moliere. That is the core of comedy, and it is great.) We need to exalt the average, working person. We haven't been doing that. FDR did that. Eleanor Roosevelt did too. We need to return to that.

We are all equal because we are all valid and have something to contribute. We therefore need to create an environment in which all of us and each of us can thrive. I don't think the Democratic Party has been focusing on these rather emotional, rather idealistic goals. And when we don't communicate on that emotional, idealistic level that prioritizes placing value on each human's existence and life, then of course we lose to the crass, materialistic, whose got what and nobody better take mine mentality of the Republicans.

So it isn't really a matter of left or right though my approach is more consistent with the lefties but less policy-oriented. It is a matter of valuing the human and not just the bottom line. The bottom line increases when human beings feel their worth and are motivated to create a better world for themselves and others. That's what creates real wealth. I think that Democrats have been thrown off track a bit, but we can get back on it.

Obama in his soul knows which way to go. But he needs to be supported more in going that way. The DLCers. The Third-Wayers are not on the right track. They can be brought to the right perspective, but they aren't there. That is why so many of them lost.

That Al Franken won, that Jerry Brown won, that the Democrats who won did what they did in a very difficult year and in spite of all the Republican money thrown against them, proves my theory. Because each of them, Franken, Brown, etc., although they may have different approaches to specific issues, values the human qualities and understands the needs and fears and aspirations of their voters and based their campaign on responding to those needs and fears.

The change has to be heart-felt and real, but it is the change we have to make. It's very deep within us and we face quite a challenge.

But you are right. It isn't just a matter of left and right. It is what is behind the left and right that matters.