Steal the Main Republican Planks! We're doing good

[jollyreaper2112]

The Republicans have some good planks in their platform. They never follow through on them, of course, but they make for good talking points.

The Good:
1. Smaller government
2. A robust national defense
3. Protection of individual liberties, not dictated by the state
4. Common man honesty and morality
5. Reasonable support for firearms
6. Budget-trimming and responsible spending

The Bad:
1. Race-baiting
2. Gay-hating
3. Pandering to religious extremism
4. Bend-over corporate whoredom at the expense of the nation
5. Vague "goddamn libural" sentiment, though what this means remains broadly defined
6. Gun nuttery
7. Anti-abortion
8. Flag burning and false, jingoistic patriotism

As I said, the Republicans may RUN on these planks but they don't really deliver. How can they? They'd have nothing to run on the next time! But we don't have to reach the craziest of the GOP crazies, we just have to siphon away their moderate supporters. And we've done a great job of it this election. But we have to make sure that they don't steal the moderates back by 2008. Here's the way to do it.

For starters, people HATE feeling like they're getting screwed. That's the Republican bread and butter. It's the welfare niggers and san francisco fags that are ruining the nation. The liberals are putting smut on TV. Honest white men can't get laid because the gays are turning all the women lesbo. These are all distractions, of course, because people ARE getting screwed, it's just not by the liberals!

The Republicans have become masters of the salesman platfom, simplistic and clear rhetoric for public consumption, corruption as usual behind closed doors. The Dems could learn from that: keep the talking points concise and quotable in public, go into eyes-glazing-over detail in committee. The motives are still pure, the policy is still there, the message is just simplified for clarity and public consumption.

Dem Platform:
1. Solid Patriotism. Lay it on thick but be genuine. This is not "America is beyond criticism" nationalism but "This is the greatest country on Earth but like all classics, it could do with some patching up. Here's what to fix." Take away the "Democrats are anti-american" lie.
2. Damn the corporations. They're screwing us over and this ain't just rhetoric. Promote serious corporate accountability. When the Republicans shout "class warfare," point out the growth of the hper-rich and the shrinking of the middle class and agree that warfare implies it's close to a fair fight. "Class slaughter is probably a better phrase."
3. Related to the above, serious and radical tax reform. I'm of the opinion that we should cut federal income tax on families making below $25k. There should also be penalties for companies that place their HQ's in the Carribean to avoid paying their fair taxes.
4. Strong Military, fix the Republican damage. Show how the Republicans have done anything but strenghten the military. Show how we may be throwing billions at the problem but all it's doing is lining the pockets of the corporations and GOP doners. Advocate serious reform that can demonstratably point to improved military readiness. Give the GOP no traction in the argument that Dems have weakened the military.
5. Link gay rights with abortion and gun control -- it's about personal liberties! People should be free to own the firearms they want, marry who they want, and decide whether or not to have an abortion. Arguing to limit a woman's right to choose now becomes a justification for taking away your right to choose a gun. Point out that if you don't want to own a gun or have gay sex, you can choose not to. If you protest the thought of gay people having sex on every street corner, then you must also agree that there should probably be some standards applied to gun ownersihp, too.
6. Nail the corrupt bastards, starting with corrupt Dems. As someone else suggested, the Jefferson guy has got to go. Starting with our own bad apples proves we're about getting rid of people because they're corrupt, not just because they're Republicans and we've got something on them.
7. Actively promote freedom of religion and throw some bones to the Christians. Tell them that they don't have to allow gay marriage in their churches if they don't want to -- gays can have civil unions and get married in denominations that are more progressive.
8. Pro-Family plank -- this goes right back to the ecnomomy issue. Smutty entertainment isn't what's hurting families, not paying a living wage is hurting families! Pay enough so a parent can stay at home and then we'll see our kids getting raised right. It's the necessity of having two incomes that leaves our children unsupervised and adrift. If parents had the time and resources to raise their kids properly, that would take care of a lot of the problems right there.
9. Related to the kids, we need to have a future. What future is there in being a white collar wage slave or a service industry burger flipper? Our best blue collar jobs are going overseas. Our children need to have a future to look towards. Link this and the family values issue with the economy, show how unfettered corporatism is causing this problem.
10. The environment. This isn't just a hippie and granola issue, this is about the future of our children. Even GOP voters who appreciate pictures of nature might balk if you ask them to sacrifice to save it. Don't go with that angle, tell them how much it will COST THEM when things get worse. Show how it's cheaper to protect what we have and you'll win the people who vote with their wallets and econmic self-interest. Also link this back to national security.

Interestingly enough, we've covered the main Dem and GOP planks in these steps and the only thing left out would be fringe interests -- the only thing left for the GOP to run on is radical religious extremism, race baiting, and gay hating. Each time they try to bring up one of their pet wedge issues, point out how they're trying to distract us from something important.

Q: "What will happen to our marriages if gays marry?"

A: "Probably nothing. What will happen to our marriages if both partners are working 60 hours a week and barely speak to each other?"

Q: "What will happen to our security if we're weak on the terrorists?"

A: "What will happen to the terrorists if we stop funding them with our oil money?"

Q: "Abortion is murder!"

A: "I'm not a fan of it either. So let's address the reasons why we have so many unwanted children instead of creating more of them."

I have one other radical idea to put forward before I shut up. It's my idea for reforming corporate income tax. The greatest weakness of a classic liberal approach to creating social goods is that a top-heavy administrative structure is created. It is smarter and more efficient to stack the playing environment in such a way that it is in the self-interest of the players to behave in a positive fashion. In our current environment, screwing everyone over is the winning strategy.

My proposed change radically restructures the way in which corporations derive profits from their business. Taxation becomes an impact fee. Executive pay rates and dividends are tied to the company's national impact score. This impact score measures the company's environmental footprint, employee wages relative to other companies within the same industry, community impact, and social rammifications. The corporation must submit to these standards if they wish to operate under the sufferance of the American people. The weighting of the score will be designed so that executives will not recieve maximum compensation unless their scores are within the most positive ranges. For example, a company like Wal-Mart would be dinged because their people are paid poorly. Oil companies would be dinged because they cause so much environmental damage. They are perfectly within their rights to continue operating in such a fashion but their executives will have to take serious pay cuts. Companies that lay off massive amounts of workers while enjoying record profits will end up losing those profits to penalty taxation due to terrible impact scores.

This idea is fairly radical and would require a supermajority of honest Dems to push through Congress. But I think the beauty of the concept is that the executives who spend all their efforts rigging a crooked system for the highest profits will now be forced to put that same effort into improving the lives of their workers and their corporate citizenship in order to make the same kind of money.

So, thoughts?

[valerief]

1. Can we outlaw those damn evoting machines, too? nt

[jollyreaper2112]

2. Sure!

Why not? :)

Surprised that I've only gotten one response so far.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

4. After this election...

...that idea might receive pretty wide bipartisan support.

[ACK]

3. Most of this outlines the way to win in the South - Simple populist politics

Where is the Universal healthcare the majority of Americans want that.

[jollyreaper2112]

5. good point

I forgot to include that. It falls solidly under the family values cateogry -- what kind of family are you going to have if people are dying early?

What I'm talking about here isn't just the South -- these sentiments are spread across a large portion of the country. Most people, I would say the majority of us here, can agree on a fairly broad amount of common ground. Don't lie. Don't steal. Don't rape. Don't murder. Do to others as you want them to do unto you. The Republicans keep running on wedge issues that don't mean squat. They don't do anything but create artificial divisions between Americans that are then used to their advantage in elections. The hardcore Republican base sees liberals in the colors painted by action movies. Remember Dirty Harry? Liberals were more interested in protecting the rights of criminals than the rights of the victims. Of course we know in reality that isn't true but the Republicans aren't running on reality.

I'm not talking about sacrificing progressive ideas, I'm not talking about eating raw steak, swilling cheap beer and watching wrasslin'. I'm talking about taking away the Republican's own talking points and showing the moderates that the entire right/left dichotomy is just another wedge issue. It isn't about right and left! It's about what's good for the country and what's not. The progressive Dem ideas are good for the country, the regressive Pug ideas are bad. And show them how it's true!

You mentioned health care. That's an excellent topic! You're talking about providing world-class health care to every American citizen, regardless of income. Who could possibly be against that? For starters, people who are angry about it being socialistic without quite knowing what that word means, people who are arguing against their own self interests because they don't want to be hoodwinked by fast-talking big city liberals. So turn that fucker right back around. "Hoodwinked? Who's doing the hoodwinking, my friend? The Republicans are on the side of big business and they're steadily eroding health benefits because it saves money. A man works 40 years for a company and earns his retirement with the sweat of his brow and now the company can tear up that contract just because it's no longer convenient to pay out like they agreed to? Do you like the thought of working hard all your life only to have your childrens' better future taken away from them?"

You've GOT the Dems already, they're signed on and ready to roll. The hardcore pukes aren't going to sign on even if their dicks are on fire and you've got the water. I'm not talking about moving the party to the middle, I'm talking about proclaiming the party to be on higher ground and inviting people to climb up.

Am I making any sense?