Bulletin : It's not about Left, Middle, or Right....

[kentuck]

Although I have indulged in some of this nonsense myself, the truth is that it is not about the left, the middle, or the right. Its about communication. It's about message. It's about belief and passion. It's about the courage to stand up for what you believe.

The majority of Americans are not automatically against national healthcare just as they are not automatically for taxcuts. It's how they are presented to them. It's a sad fact that the majority of Americans are not really into reading a 12-point program about how to fix the healthcare system but they might be interested in hearing someone say that it is broken and needs to be fixed. If you have the 12-step program to fix it, save that for the policy wonks. The people only want to know that you have a plan and that it is better than your opponents and that you believe it stronger than your opponent believes it.

It's about simplifying our language for people that need to hear it - not for those that already know it. People want to hear that you are on their side. They want you to challenge the big boys. Americans love an underdog. They don't really care that much if what you say is left, right, or center as long as it makes sense to them.

[OrlandoGator]

1. It's about the Right vs. "Against Us"

Bush declared war on dissent. We didn't set the terms.

[Name removed]

4. Deleted message

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[driver8]

6. You are right about that...and I don't agree with "America loves

an underdog." Half of this country (freepers) hates the underdog (us) and would do anything to keep things that way. They don't seem to care what else happens to this country as long as their way of life is protected and they remain in power.

Bush and his war-mongering, capitalistic, "moral" friends have driven a stake through the middle of our country and I don't see the "us vs. them" going away in the near future.

[skeeterbit]

2. Hey fellow Kentuckian!

Right on!

[newyawker99]

8. Hi skeeterbit!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[Jim Sagle]

3. Fuckin' A! Kicked and recommended!

Much wisdom in a short, simple paragraph. You illustrate well the point you are making. :toast:

[nadinbrzezinski]

5. Yep it is about message and god damn it

standing for something

[OneBlueSky]

7. no, it's not about left/right . . . it's about up/down . . .

the whole left/right dichotomy is a contrivance by the corporate oligarchy to keep Americans at each others' throats over comparatively marginal issues . . . left/right is the horizontal axis, and that's where they have us playing the game . . .

by focusing on left/right, we neglect the place where the REAL issues reside: the vertical axis, the up/down . . . the REAL issues are the ones that actually determine the nature of our democracy: poverty, the economy, unconscionable deficits, corruption in government, the environment, energy, health care, war and peace, etc. . .

the REAL issues involve "us versus them," i.e. the people against the VERY small ruling minority . . . and in every case, what the Ups want is completely contrary to the best interests of the American people, the United States as a nation, and the planet Earth . . .

as long as they can keep us tied to the horizontal axis, left and right duking it out, we won't be stepping on what they see as their prerogatives . . . and just to reinforce things, they throw out terms like "class warfare" to convince us that actually looking at the real, up/down issues is somehow communist or something . . . but that's EXACTLY what we need to do if we are EVER to make any progress and actually start making changes and solving problems . . .

EVERY American -- right, left, center, apolitical -- is on the SAME SIDE in the up/down battle! . . . (excepting, of course, those very few at the top) . . .

and what scares the shit out of the Ups is that the Downs will someday realize this and act in concert to change the system to work for us . . . instead of allowing them to steal us blind while we're wasting our time in life-or-death battles over gay marriage, abortion, prayer in schools, and pornography . . .

[Neil Lisst]

9. We have to get attractive candidates

People don't vote for a platform, they vote for a person. Many people in the middle seem to prefer the candidate they feel is most presidential. One component is likeability. Reagan, Clinton and Dubya scored higher on that than their opposition did.

I strongly supported Gore and Kerry, but neither ever got to the point where he could give a speech that wasn't painful to hear.

-----
my progressive political cartoon
http://www.webcomicsnation.com/neillisst

[WHAT]

10. This is how I see it...

I wish you would start your own thread with this so I could read more discussion on it. Your post seems more relevant to the dynamics of what is going on than the op.

Thanks for defining it so clearly.