What would be the best message of a new 527 Group to gain rural voters?

[Quixote1818]

Several of us from DU have started a new 527 Group. We need your advise on which message would work best.

Please Choose Which of these two you would give money to and which one would help out with rural voters more?


1. Talking about winning the values debate by promoting progressive values. Talking about fairness and hard work, helping the poor, better health care, economic justice, corporate responsibility, good ethics, civil rights for all. Talking about stopping let the right wing divide us and uniting the country around what brings us together.


2. Or using the liberal teachings of Jesus to promote the previous part of the time? Since the right has used Jesus to divide us mostly using two issues "Abortion and Gay Marriage". What about talking about how helping the poor is mentioned 3,000 times in the Bible and taping into the spiritual beliefs of this huge voting block of primarily Christian voters? Yesterday Jerry Springer said that Christian Democrats need to feel comfortable talking about their spirituality. Is he right? He also read several quotes of the Bible from John Kennedy speeches about helping the poor. It seems the left has become too reluctant to use spiritual teachings to get it's message across. As Springer said "Jesus was a liberal".

Which is a better more effective route? A secular route or for Democrats to feel more comfortable talking about the liberal teachings of Jesus? Remember even if you are not spiritual consider that Jefferson and the founders who were more Deist than Christian still believed the moral teachings of Jesus were the best the world had seen or was likely to see. You can agree with these liberal teachings without buying into all the miracles and supernatural parts of the Bible. Listening to Springer quote John Kennedy I was struck at how little Democrats quote from the Bible anymore compared to 40 years ago. Should we continue becoming more and more secular with our message or become more comfortable using religious teachings that promote OUR values? I am not talking about using Religion to win but talk about parts of Religion that support our liberal views.

[Quixote1818]

1. Kick

:kick:

[Extend a Hand]

2. I vote for number 1, but...

1) Who are "the poor"?

Many(Most?) people that would be considered to be "poor" based on income and assets, view themselves as having a temporary hard time. I don't think that most people in this country view poverty as a permanent situation. Most people don't want charity.

I really think the fact that most people don't consider themselves to be poor is one of the primary reasons that the republicans have been sucessful in selling their message to the very people most likely to be destoyed by their economic policies.

I think we need to pound pound pound on how those "socialist" republicans redistribute "our" tax dollar wealth to big corportations with concrete and whenever possible local examples.

When the airlines fall on hardtimes the government steps in to bail them out, but when workers fall on hardtimes, say due to illness, they are abandoned. They are forced to make a choice between dying or living with bankruptcy or massive debt.

2)I think we(dems) *have* to address the abortion issue.
I'm sooo tired of the wingnuts trotting out pictures of late term abortions as the general case (instead of the rare case that they are). I'm tired of hearing about "irresponsible" women use abortion as birth control having two, three, four, five, even more abortions-- when that is rarely the case.

How can we address this? Lets call them on it. Most democrats believe that these behaviours are wrong too. Lets be the party of reason, the party that is against abortion *EXCEPT* when

a woman requests an early term abortion because her contracption fails and she is not ready for a pregnancy, childbirth, or a family.

a late term abortion to save a mother's life or the fetus suffers from severe birth defects.

Let's take a cue from Bill Clinton and be the party that can make abortion rare. Let's promote the availability of "the morning after" pill for victems of sexual assault and contraceptive failure. Let's make contraception widely and cheaply available.

3) It never hurts to know your audience, and to use examples from the Bible when the illustrate our values.

[Quixote1818]

3. Thanks

I like what you said and this statement:

3) It never hurts to know your audience, and to use examples from the Bible when the illustrate our values.

This would be the right tone. To not focus on the liberal spiritual teachings of Jesus but to throw them in from time to time. Thanks