Splinter the GOP and shift the public debate to progressive "wedge issues"

[Czolgosz]

The far right wing of the BUSH-CHENEY-ROVE-DELAY-CUNNINGHAM party has achieved great success in driving the national debate toward issues that divide Democratic voters (the "War on Christmas" -- WTF!?).

WE MUST FIGHT BACK!

We and our candidates must redirect the national debate to OUR progressive "wedge issues" which splinter different segments of the Republican voter coalition from one another and expose rifts within the GOP.

These issues are well researched in thee Pew Research Center for the People and the Press's polling report “Beyond Red vs. Blue” <http://people-press.org/reports/display.php3?ReportID=242>. According to this study, the extremist Republican activists, called “Enterprisers” in the report, are generally rich and white (and mainly married male gun owning Fox News fans). In domestic policy matters, these “Enterprisers” strongly support a pro-corporation/anti-consumer agenda, including the elimination of government social services and the elimination of regulation against corporate misdeeds. In foreign policy matters, they support the aggressive-unilateralist agenda set by Project for the New American Century. These “Enterprisers” compose just 9 percent of the population. On many key issues, these “Enterprisers” do not share the views of the other Republican voter groups, which are the Social Conservatives (the 11 percent of the population who are church-going, anti-immigration Republicans) and the Pro-Government Conservatives (the 9 percent of the population who are poorer, nationalistic, Christian Republicans – essentially poorer Social Conservatives).

Here are eight issues that divide the activist-extremist “Enterpriser” Republicans from traditional Republicans:

1. INVESTING IN UNIVERSAL HEALTH INSURANCE

Who favors government health insurance for all (even if it requires tax increases)?

23% - Enterpriser Republicans
59% - Social Conservatives Republicans
63% - Pro-Government Republicans
65% - All Americans

2. RAISING THE MINIMUM WAGE

Who favors raising the minimum wage?

46% - Enterpriser Republicans
79% - Social Conservatives Republicans
94% - Pro-Government Republicans
86% - All Americans

3. PROTECTING AGAINST JOB OUTSOURCING

Who is concerned about outsourcing American jobs?

43% - Enterpriser Republicans
67% - Social Conservatives Republicans
71% - Pro-Government Republicans
69% - All Americans

4. PROTECTING AGAINST CORPORATE ABUSES

Who thinks big corporations have too much power?

26% - Enterpriser Republicans
88% - Social Conservatives Republicans
83% - Pro-Government Republicans

5. REGULATING BUSINESS TO PROTECT THE PUBLIC

Who thinks corporations should be regulated to protect public interests?

16% - Enterpriser Republicans
58% - Social Conservatives Republicans
66% - Pro-Government Republicans

6. PROTECTING OUR ENVIRONMENT FROM INDUSTRIAL POLLUTERS

Who favors better protecting our environment from industrial polluters?

16% - Enterpriser Republicans
67% - Social Conservatives Republicans
61% - Pro-Government Republicans
77% - All Americans

7. PRIORITIZING DEFICIT REDUCTION OVER TAX CUTS

Who thinks tax cuts are more important than reducing the budget deficit?

50% - Enterpriser Republicans
31% - Social Conservatives Republicans
37% - Pro-Government Republicans
32% - All Americans

8. ENDING BUSH'S UNILATERAL FOREIGN POLICY

Who supports Bush’s unilateralist foreign policy?

73% - Enterpriser Republicans
49% - Social Conservatives Republicans
40% - Pro-Government Republicans
37% - All Americans



TAKE AMERICA BACK FROM THE THE EXTREMISTS ON FAR RIGHT WING OF THE BUSH-CHENEY-ROVE-DELAY-CUNNINGHAM PARTY!

PLEASE CONTACT YOUR LOCAL CANDIDATES AND URGE THEM TO ADVOCATE THESE COMMON SENSE PROGRESSIVE ISSUES WHICH ARE ALL SUPPORTED BY GREAT MAJORITIES OF AMERICANS (BUT DESPISED BY THE RADICAL RIGHT).

If these issues give you hope, please keep this message kicked.

[Deep13]

1. Bill Clinton got criminals off the street ...

...Now it's up to us to get them out of Congress.

DeLay/Libbey/Rove/Cunningham/Ney = Willie Horton

[leveymg]

2. Interesting survey results and recommendations. K&R

[leveymg]

3. Dupe deleted

[Burma Jones]

4. Nicely done and recommended for Greatest.......

[Czolgosz]

5. Here's another progressive wedge issue: The Patriot Act

Here's a principal finding by the Pew Center: "Enterprisers (i.e., corporatist neocons) are the only voters to overwhelmingly believe that the Patriot Act is a necessary tool in the war on terrorism. Liberals are the strongest opponents of the legislation."

Here's a graph:

[applegrove]

6. We have nothing to learn from them. We don't need to parrot their

ways and methods. Have you noticed? It isn't working for them anymore. It is disgusting people. Of course they would love us to go to their level. Democrats are the party of adults & shared sacrifice and greatness. And they fight with intelligence, might, empathy and without targeting people for destruction in personal ways. Those are the passtimes of nefarious types. Of course Rove would like to see "his way" reflected across the country. Didn't work.

People are disgusted.

Why would we start such disgusting behaviour.

Let them be the party of phoney wedges.

Let Dems be the party of idea and make the country work together towards a better future for all.

[Czolgosz]

9. These aren't "phony wedges" -- these are core progressive ideals.

Which of these issues is phony?

1. INVESTING IN UNIVERSAL HEALTH INSURANCE
2. RAISING THE MINIMUM WAGE
3. PROTECTING AGAINST JOB OUTSOURCING
4. PROTECTING AGAINST CORPORATE ABUSES
5. REGULATING BUSINESS TO PROTECT THE PUBLIC
6. PROTECTING OUR ENVIRONMENT FROM INDUSTRIAL POLLUTERS
7. PRIORITIZING DEFICIT REDUCTION OVER TAX CUTS
8. ENDING BUSH'S UNILATERAL FOREIGN POLICY

I'm 100 percent behind each one of these issues, and I have to believe a huge majority of Democrats here are also behind these issues. Aren't you?

[applegrove]

12. Sorry - I saw your use of their tools, even in quotes. And I saw red.

You are right. None of these things are wedges. However I am one to see industrialized countries concentrate of less oil usage - and that includes focusing on intelligent industries like nanotechnology, sciences and the like. To eat a cow in the USA takes a ton of oil. For fertilizer. That needs to stop so I am not opposed to opening up world trade to Africa and the like.

But I agree that people could be more genially retrained instead of just having their jobs cut.

[rman]

26. So much common ground between repubs and dems,

It's high time to point out that much of the supposed division between the two is artificial.

Excellent stuff.

[rman]

25. People hate spin and phony wegdes,

people love truth.

[yurbud]

29. Not ALL of their methods are nefarious, just all their purposes

They are much, much better at communication, partly because they aren't afraid to speak in terms of conflict.

People like a story, and there's no story without conflict.

Additionally, only doing happy talk and not responding to attacks hasn't worked to well for the Dems in case you haven't noticed for the last 20 years.

Don't lie, and don't spend time on ad hominem attacks.

But if someone else is lying or harming the public good, Democrats should unapologetically say so and stand behind those who do.


And every campaign consultant who sells that tired, losing, happy talk bullshit should be used as a syphillitic elephant's tampon. (my apologies to the elephant--you deserve better).

Stupid people misinterpret restraint and reason as apathy and weakness, which is why the GOP feared Howard Dean so much. He didn't seem wimpy and apologetic. I wish you guys would stop selling that sorry shit here.

You don't even have specific positions you mention, you just want us to have a smile on our face while it's being stomped into the ground by a jackboot.

[applegrove]

32. No - I want us to fight as responsible adults. With might, intelellect,

empathy & discernment. As opposed to phoney wedges and by creating hate.

Has not worked for the GOP of late. The population as a whole as got wiser. They smell a lie when it happens.

Why Bush is trying to remake himself as an honest and less handled President. Cause the old way of blowing smoke up asses was no longer working.

[yurbud]

33. right now, GOP blows hate smoke and DLC blows vapid happy talk

I'm talking about speaking substantively on the issues and unapologetically pointing out who is getting in your way.

People not only need facts, they need a STORY with good guys and bad guys and CONFLICT to get their attention. I didn't event this, it's as old as humanity and outlined by Aristotle, but for some reason, many Democrats stubbornly ignore this and want to pretend we are all one big happy family, and their pitches get about as much attention as those sappy watercolor birthday cards with a duckpond and frilly writing on front.

I'll use global warming as example because while serious, it can easily be presented in a deadly dull way.

A

Scientists agree global warming is a serious problem. We need to do something someday that doesn't offend anyone too much, so the Eskimos and penguins can play happily in their winter wonderland, and Florida continues to exist at high tide as well as low.

B

We need to do x,y, and z about global warming, but my opponents are being paid by some of the largest corporations in the world to pretend it doesn't exist in spite of overwhelming scientific consensus. We have the facts, they have the money and PR agencies. I care about how this will effect you and your family. They care about how fixing it will hurt their corporate donors. If you think your family's health is more important than corporations making a few extra points of profits, I need your support.

C

We know that global warming exists and is intent on destroying our way of life, and will do so within 30 days if we do not act. My opponents willfully drive Hummers to intentionally destroy the ozone. They hope that this will destroy the earth so they can meet Jesus in the sky sooner and the rest of us will be killed in the climate change apocalypse. In spite of their religious agenda, they have sex with farm animals and worship Joseph Stalin's exercise of naked power. Now you must decide, are you with us or on the side of the evil-doers?

[applegrove]

34. And the story could be about people coming together for shared

sacrifice when needed and laws that are in place to protect the people.

You are talking about telling a story. I don't disagree on the storytelling (communication). But there is no need for "false crisis". Really - in reality the world is a bad enough place and there are enough nefarious types in the GOP of vanquish and enough crisis to face.

I still disagree with you belittleling lying. The truth is what people in a democracy deserve. So they can make the right choices about their lives. Instead of being led into brownshirt land where they hand over adulthood to the loudest barker and behave as children.

[applegrove]

35. For sure the GOP would like Dems to start lying now that their new

tactic is the truth. Sociopaths will always try to dos si dos with their victims and take over their lives. No reason Dems have to fall for it.

Be ourselves. The adults. With empathy, intellect & might.

[yurbud]

36. right now, the DLC is lying with happy talk about Iraq

I in no way advocate lying, and if it wasn't obvious enough, my preferred presentation is

B

Nothing in that presentation is untrue. The GOP doesn't oppose acting on global warming because they don't understand or agree with the science. They are paid to oppose it. Period. It is not only dishonest but dangerous to pretend otherwise.

Iraq is another constructive example.

The DLC and pro-war Democrats are lying by repeating the GOPs happy talk talking points.

But it is not enough to say we must get out. We have to show why some will oppose it and have a vested interest in staying.

You can't win over everyone, but even though you can be honest about who is opposing you, you can still give them room to join you and propose things that are fair to them without harming the rest of us.

Right now, letting oil companies and corporate America drive our foreign policy is like giving the keys to the family car to a drunken teenager. It's bad for everyone. Will you look mean if you don't let them drive the car? Yes, temporarily. Does that mean the kid will hate you for the rest of their life? No. They will respect you more.

The difference with corporate America is they are not that teenager.

They are like the Sopranos with more money, better lawyers who can write the laws to make their crimes legal, and PR firms to convince people to like their crimes.

It is even more dangerous to accomodate the Sopranos without acknowledging the harm they do an monitoring their actions to insure they don't continue to do it.

[Just Me]

7. Good stuff, there!!! I'll copy & paste,...if that's okay with you,...

,...and get this info out to my friends and colleagues.

Thank you! :hi:

[Czolgosz]

8. PLEASE copy and past it. I have sent it to all the candidates who have

asked me for money or support.

[Czolgosz]

10. Here is the Universal Health Care poll data graphically; very dramatic!

We should be advocating this issue with every breath:

[Selatius]

11. FDR provided a solution 60 years ago, but nobody is listening

Go here and read up on what he proposed back then:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=5599113&mesg_id=5599113

[Czolgosz]

13. Here's a graphic representation of the minimum wage polling data - WOW!

EVERYBODY wants a higher minimum wage EXCEPT the crazy extremist Bush-Cheney-Rove-Libby-Cunningham-DeLay-Ney-Frist creeps:

[Czolgosz]

14. The corporatist neocons are the only voters sold on bankrupting our kids

[satya]

15. Excellent! And Thom Hartmann has proposed a way to address several of

those issues in one fell swoop. Are there any Dem candidates with the courage to take his advice?

Published on Monday, April 12, 2004 by CommonDreams.org
Exposing the Conservative Straw Man - "Productivity"
by Thom Hartmann

But the Indians and Chinese know something you won't hear on conservative "business" programs. While China and India eagerly let multinational corporations move work from America to their nations, they fiercely protect their own domestic industries primarily through the use of tariffs - taxes on imported goods - and the strict regulation of imported labor.

We should do the same. To return balance to the international game of business, America can again use tariffs to balance trade relationships. This is not a new idea, by the way - it's how America has protected its economy from the founding of this nation right up until Clinton signed NAFTA and GATT.

<snip>

To solve the crisis of the disappearance of America's middle class the United States should pull out of the WTO and other multilateral treaties that give corporations the power to enforce their will on our government and on our workers. This will again allow us to impose leveling tariffs on work done overseas. Offshore labor can then be set in price - by adding tariffs to it - to equal a living wage in the United States.

If a company wants to hire people to answer the phone in India for two dollars an hour, fine. Let them do it - and pay a $10/hour tariff on top of the $2/hour wage. Most will simply return to the United States for their labor, and those that don't will enhance government coffers with funds that can be used for national healthcare and education of our workforce.

[stickdog]

16. Exactly! This is EXACTLY the type of talk that our corporate masters

fear most.

Unfortunately, they are currently the masters of BOTH parties.

[Czolgosz]

23. The polling data shows that corporate regulation is a major GOP fissure

[GuvWurld]

17. We are being intentionally divided by the rift in perception of reality

There are many ways that the government is intentionally divisive. One of these ways is creating inherent uncertainty, intentional contradictions, and Orwellian paradoxes. Unverifiable voting, on its face, means we can't know the true outcome of an election. This is the most central example of the intentionally divisive inherent uncertainty.

Rather than thinking about candidates, who even in supporting whatever platform you'd like, are participating in a charade; and rather than looking for the right issues to use as verbal tools or wedges where the goal is still about having a divided society, only now we're the majority; consider the more traditional scenario where you and I work together to bring more people to our shared view of reality, one where we are not divided but intentionally united against those who would otherwise divide us.

Please see Blueprint For Peaceful Revolution.

[Czolgosz]

20. This IS about uniting us. But for a divisive 9% of the population, there

is consensus across party lines for common sense ideas like regulation against corporate misdeeds and pollution, rescinding inequitable tax cuts to fix the budget, raising the minimum wage, realizing the goal of universal health care, etc. Yet that 9% of the population is setting our national agenda. We must start rebuilding a consensus without regard to that extremist 9%.

[Iowa]

18. Excellent post by Czolgosz!

One of the best posts I've seen in some time. I'll pass it on to my Dem reps, although I doubt if any of these folks pay much attention to contacts that aren't accompanied by mega-cash. But this appears to be the best approach for a coordinated attack I've seen to date.

[sonias]

19. K&R

Good summary Czolgosz. I'm going to use them on our campaign.

Thanks

Sonia

[rateyes]

21. Kick nt

[Czolgosz]

22. Polling graph shows how far Bush's foreign policy is out-of-the-mainstream

Pay special attention to the bottom graph confirming how much of America agrees that we should not act unilaterally in the world:

[FlemingsGhost]

24. Do you really think the DLC is interested in a progressive agenda?

Think again.

[nadinbrzezinski]

27. oen better in circulation with my email buddies (eom)

[yurbud]

28. difficulty is DLC and many others LIKE corporations and want to serve them

I have noticed exactly what you are talking about with some of my conservative friends.

An anti-outsourcing, pro-corporate accountability agenda would have broad appeal, and even proposing some of this stuff would make the GOP wilt and wet their panties.

The problem is, many Democrats elected officials are essentially in politics for the same reason they go to church, join the rotary club, the Chamber of Commerce, and learn to play golf--to make make money.

We have to begin to slowly ease out those in the Democratic Party who put throwing business contracts to friends ahead of the public interest.

One way to do this is to push HARD for CLEAN MONEY, the public funding of candidates, and of course get private contractors out of the vote counting business. It's not hard to imagine election not only being rigged to favor the GOP over Dems, but also the business-owned Dems over progressives.

I will now set my timer to see how long it takes a DLC shill to call me immature, and tell me to stop dividing the Democratic Party. There are two or three other things they always say, but like the elected officials they defend, it is so bland it's hard to remember.

[eShirl]

30. one question: do Democrats have a Frank Luntz?

If not, WHY NOT?

[Czolgosz]

37. I think Stan Greenberg is supposed to be the Democrats' Frank Luntz.

[randr]

31. I agree that these issues are of importance in our minds and hopefully the

minds of a few repugs.
In order to effectively "splinter different segments of the Republican voter coalition" the message needs to be dumbed down.
We are all familiar with how the repugs use splinter issues against liberal solidarity. Slogans like: Right to Life, With us or Against Us, Small Government is Better Government, Tax Cuts-Tax Cuts-Tax Cuts, Support the Troops, Welfare Moms, etc., etc., all frame the fundy/con agenda with buzz words that serve this purpose.
If we are to make use of this very effective tool in the world of ideas I would suggest we frame your points as follows:
1) Investing in Universal Health Care:
ALL AMERICANS HAVE A RIGHT TO A HEALTHY LIFE
2)Raising the minimum wage.
KEEP AMERICA STRONG WITH PROSPERITY FOR ALL
3)Protection against job outsourcing
AMERICAN MADE GOODS AND FOOD MAKE AMERICANS STRONGER
4)Protecting against corporate abuse
GREED IS NOT ONLY A SIN IT IS UN AMERICAN
5) Regulation of businesses
REGULATIONS PROTECT CITIZENS
6) Protection of the environment
IT IS A SIN TO DAMAGE GODS WORK
7) Deficit reduction/Tax cuts
OUR AMERICAN RESPONSIBILITY IS TO PAY FOR OUR CHILDREN'S FUTURE
8) Bush unilateral foreign policy
NATION BUILDING BEGINS AT HOME
I admit these may sound simplistic and there are better ways of framing these issues, but we need to start somewhere.

[sybylla]

38. Excellent post

I will definitely share the news with my local and state candidates.

[Czolgosz]

39. Please do