The biggest voting bloc

[David Van Os]

The biggest bloc of voters in every election is those who don't vote. They are the real majority who control every election. Instead of spending so much time on who will serve in what Party position or on what committee or who is hosting what reception or who is getting recognized for what or by whom or who slighted whom or who endorsed whom, activist Democrats need to leap out of the box of junior high school politics that they get themselves caught in, and learn to speak to the non-voting majority. I am suggesting a subtle yet major paradigm shift. That is, to think of the citizens who who have been choosing not to vote not as non-voters, but as voters who are casting ballots of abstention. Maybe they are telling us something; after all, they are the majority, and we do believe in democracy, don't we? Think about this for a few minutes and let it sink in. It could lead one to challenge many conventional assumptions about political messages and tactics.

David Van Os

[cosmik debris]

1. So what are they telling us?

I think they are telling us that they don’t care, that they do not see the point in voting when the votes are not going to make a difference in their daily lives. For most of us, things don’t change substantially whether the Democrats or the Republicans are in control. We go to work, we cash our paycheck and we BBQ on the weekend. We have both bread and circuses, both guns and butter.

Remember Mr. Hightower said that if God wanted us to vote he would have given us candidates. But the man who first busted Tom Delay only got 18% support in the latest poll. What does it take to make a good candidate, wings and a halo? I just can’t believe that we need better candidates, especially this year.

Do we need better issues? Do we need better party structure? Is this just a matter of having the right strategy? Money? Man/Woman power? What do you say to a non-voter to get them to the polls and to get them to vote Democratic?

You have given me a lot of questions, but not enough answers.

[NoPasaran]

2. The answers

I remember reading that dreadful phrase in mathematics texts, "The proof of this theorum is left as an exercise for the student". What are non-voters telling us? I think that's left as an exercise for all of us.

[David Van Os]

3. I don't have answers that....

...I can prove to you scientifically, but I do have a theory that empirical, anecdotal experiences confirms. I don't think the difficulty in getting the huge numbers of latent Democratic non-voters out to vote is that big a mystery. Since corporate money-power lawyer Robert Strauss of Texas became chairman of the DNC in the 1970s with the purpose of making the Democratic Party more acceptable to big business, during most of these past 30 or so years big business has had one and one-half political parties and the people have had only half a party. It permeates structure, processes, message, candidacies, and strategies. When the people see that the Democratic Party is the party of the people again and not trying to be just half a party of the people and the other half another party of big business, they will vote. It does not have to be something that takes years of incremental change to work up to. It can happen in one election, right here, right now, this year. I'm determined to do all I can to enable it to happen and to see it happen. The people of our state are living under corporate domination and they KNOW it. I take personal responsibility to do all that I can to fight it, and to do so through the political process. I exhort you to take the same pledge. We have no choice but to fight this fight and fight it to win. We don't have the luxury to be spectators or odds-makers; we only have the time to fight.

Thank you for your posting.

DVO

[muse]

11. My concern about all of this

is that there are big business Democrats. And we need them. We need them badly. We need help from friendly corporations. Lots and lots of them. We need dollars to run effective campaigns or we lose. We need the buy-in of corporations to effectively legislate. That's my opinion and the reality I've seen in past Democratic administrations.

Sometimes I step into DU and I feel like I've stepped into an alternative universe that is very different than the reality of my everyday life. I work for a non-profit museum and we have to work towards the common good of the community while getting the buy-in of the most powerful people in the community. Without them we are sunk.

I see an ideal TX Democratic Party that is very politially astute, smart, savvy, modern and on message. I see a big tent. I don't see us alienating anyone. I see lot of money rolling in because our message is the only one that will take our state forward fiscally and in the areas of education, health care and security.

We're going to win when we do this better than the other side. When we make more sense than them. When we are better funded. I am seeing this in TX-22 and I am very, very hopeful for November. Our buzzword is "trounce."

[cosmik debris]

4. Just Brainstorming

I tried addressing this problem as a mechanical problem. Follow a troubleshooting tree and isolate the problem, and replace parts. But that doesn’t work because there are so many possible causes that the mechanical analogy falls apart.

So I tried a commercial analogy. People are not buying our product. The price is not an issue, so the only issue left is the value of the product. By this analogy we need to do two things. We need to provide real value to our customers. And we need to sell the customers on the idea that we have greater value than our competitor’s product.

Now I believe that we already provide real value, but obviously I am wrong. If I were right, people would buy our product. And I believe that we are selling that value, but again the evidence says that I am wrong. So I looked at a few successful models.

The entrepreneur model says find a niche and fill it. Does our product fill a niche? Is there really a latent demand for our product? Are we selling a “salad shooter” in a “bagged salad” market? Does our product have utility? Is our niche so small that we are doomed to be the perpetual minority?

The McDonalds model says we don’t need a niche, we have a crappy product but we will give your kid a toy if you buy our crap. This has been resoundingly successful in a commercial sense, but I can’t see how it will help us in politics.

There is also the infomercial model. Pound the message home so repetitiously that the value of the product is not an issue that can be contested. People who never eat salad bought salad shooters because they perceived value that wasn’t there. We can do that too. We just have to push our message longer and harder. The problem is that infomercials have to reach a million people to make a thousand sales. That is not an efficient approach for politics.

Another model is the “Brand Value” model. People don’t buy Stetson hats to keep the sun off of their heads; they buy Stetson for the status. Can we present our party as the party that has value beyond the utility? How do we make people WANT to be Democrats? The Republicans turned “liberal” into an insult. But when I was growing up “damn republicans” was one word not two. However this reversal took place, we need to correct it.

There are a few of my thoughts. Feel free to trash them as needed. I have no emotional investment here. Most of all, ADD SOMETHING if you have something to add.

[crispini]

5. How about the "PUSH" and "PULL" of communication?

There should be a free open flow of ideas and messages back and forth. Communication should be both "PUSH" i.e. here is an email telling you what we are doing .... and "PULL" ... what do you think about what we are doing? Give us your opinion. People love to be asked their opinion about stuff.

The TDP does not have very much PUSH -- I am on their email list and get an email only occasionally -- and they have zero PULL.

It is hard for people to get involved with state and local politics. The people who have been doing this for so long are "domain experts" in the Democratic party, and they do not seem to have a lot of realization that this very expertise makes it harder for others to get in the door. Instead of making it very easy for a person to get involved, they paradoxically make it harder.

I think good communication is the key. That is part of what we are doing at DU but we are part of the informal network. The FORMAL network needs to get better at this.

[cosmik debris]

6. delivering the message

The push--pull delivery method WORKS. Plain and simple. But it has been contaminated by too many false polls. About once a week I get a questionnaire from some liberal cause wanting to know how I feel about this that or the other. The last question in the questionnaire is always: "So, how much money are you going to give us?" That is where you realize that the letter is not really a questionnaire, it is a fund raiser. And it goes straight into the trash. No matter how worthy the cause, I will not donate to people who pretend to listen just to get their hands into my pockets.

And that brings up another issue, the cynicism that the populous holds for politicians and the politicians inability to overcome that. (Here is a hint, you don't overcome cynicism by pandering.)

I went to my email folder and discovered that I get more email from the Texas AFL-CIO and from NARAL than I do from the TDP.

Ok, so I am just rambling, but you are right. We MUST deliver our message more effectively.

Your third paragraph gave me another idea. How about a MENTOR PROGRAM where the good old boys take a novice under their wings and train them in the ways of local/state party apparatus? Is that feasible?

[cosmik debris]

7. My Mentor Program

If God went on vacation and left me in charge, here is what I would do.

Create a new countywide position of Apprentice County Chair. The office would go to the person who got the second highest vote total in the County Chair election. This way the County Chair could not hand pick the apprentice. The idea is based on the model from the US Constitution that used to give the Vice Presidency to the second highest vote getter. It distributes power/knowledge HORIZONTALLY not VERTICALLY. It would be the DUTY of the County Chair to train the Apprentice in every aspect of the office and to delegate responsibilities to the apprentice as the workload required.

This model could be replicated from the precinct to the State Chair. It would be a MAJOR kick in the teeth for those who want to grab and hold personal power at the expense of the Party’s power. And that is one reason it will never work. But it might inspire someone who has an idea that will work. Now it seems like our party is run by a state version of the DLC and they are not being very inclusive of the variety of talents that we could take advantage of.

And that is the rant of a guy who has too much time on his hands!


Feel free to criticize.

[crispini]

12. I like your idea.

The leader should ALWAYS be training their replacement. If not, you're not a good leader.

[cosmik debris]

16. My difference

Is that the current leadership is training hand-picked successors perpetuating the "good ol' boy" network. We need to break up the network by forcing the leadership to include people who don't fit their mold. Distribute power horizontally not vertically.

[muse]

10. Great post

We talk a lot about this push-pull thing at the museum where I work. I'm the only senior person who gets as it relates to technology and I have huge concerns. The Texas Democratic Party is behind the times in the way it communicates with people. There are push technologies including RSS feeds that need to be considered.

[crispini]

13. Thanks!

Yes, communication has to be two way.

[Stevepol]

8. The biggest voting bloc in this country is easy to ascertain:

Diebold
ES&S
Hart Intercivic
Sequoia
Triad
Choicepoint
Micro-Vote
etc.
etc.
etc.
etc.
etc.
etc.

[snot]

9. I carry voter registration cards in my purse.

Thanks for reminding me to offer them more often!

(You can get them at the Post Office.)

[crispini]

14. Why not become a deputy voter registrar?

The advantage of doing so is that the voter is immediately registered i.e. they don't forget to mail the little card in.

Here is information about it:
http://www.sos.state.tx.us/elections/pamphlets/volunteer.shtml

Since you are in Dallas, this website can hook you up:
www.dalcoelections.org
You may have to go into the office.

or if you are at a Dem function we have some "super" registrars that can deputize you. :)

[NoPasaran]

15. That's an excellent suggestion

When you give a person a voter registration form, they may or may not actually send it in. And they may leave some information off or leave a box unchecked which results in the county sneding the form back to them... at which point they may give up. If you're a deputy registrar you can check the form so you can be sure everything is correct before you turn it in.

[snot]

18. Great idea! Anyone else?

[David Van Os]

17. Maria Luisa Alvarado....

...asks that each person make a pledge to bring to the polls 5 other persons who have never voted before. I think it is a neat idea.

Thank you everybody for your comments on this thread. I am reading them all and taking them in.

DVO

[Czolgosz]

19. Before we pledge to bring 5 new voters to the polls, let's pledge to

register 5 new voters.

[TXDem24]

20. Getting out the non-vote

There are some fundamental forces at work here: laziness, ignorance and apathy. The questions are: What does it take to motivate the lazy? Teach the ignorant? Empower the apathetic? I'm sure there are other factors involved in the lack of turnout. But, if we concentrate on these primary forces, maybe we can retrieve some of those votes.

First and foremost, we should not be modeling ourselves after the Republican GOTV process. Yes, it is effective because their process is unethical and immoral. First, their model includes voter suppression and disenfranchisement. I know a lot of folks out there would love to turn the tables on these thugs and use their tactics against them, but that would just make us another version of the Republican Party. No amount of antibiotic could cure that infection. Democrats need to stand apart from these villians by operating on our own terms. It's called leadership. I am sick and tired of playing the Republican's game on Republican turf using Republican rules with Republican referees.

Maybe these people don't get out to vote because they don't feel that there is anybody to vote for who will ACTUALLY represent them. After all, campaigns are all about the "benjamins". Republican rules. Republican turf. The impression is that candidates represent the money before they represent the people. Democrats need to really go on the offensive in regard to true campaign finance reform, the voting rights act and actual election reform in the manner which we cast our votes. No more Diebold and other "proprietary" voting systems. Our vote is too important to "privatize".

David Van Os is doing what needs to be done. He is putting a face on the Democratic Party and showing people why they need to get involved. He is not courting the money or consultants; he is courting the voter as a true representative of the people should. We can demonize the special interest money and advocate public financing of elections, putting the people back in charge. We can ensure that corporations have to follow the same rule of law; just like the ordinary citizen. We can promote the concept that a goverment of the people is a good thing. If the voters think that our government is bad, we need to remind them that it is just being run "badly" at this point in time.

Leadership and standing for principle will pull non-voters back into the process. We can't just wait around for the "one". All of us have to be leaders.

Fight the "Right". They only think they are.