I just got done watching the Red Pony for the first time...

[WCGreen]

It moved me to tears several times.

I got to thinking about the characters in that movie, the salt of the earth god fearing folks just trying to make something for themselves out in the wilderness.

The grandfather was a wagon train master and kept on talking about that one big time glory that he had.

Things were changing around the farm. You could tell that they had worked hard to build the place and that they were proud of what they accomplished, just like the grandfather.

Of course all the characters were archetypes as any good movie from those days demanded.

There was heart ache, change, recognition of time passing and a fierce loyalty to the family group.

Of course it is corny. It couldn't help but being corny. Republic Films was the king of corny back in those days.

So why am I writing about this in GD, off all place. People would think this is for the Lounge.

Well, what struck me about this movie was that I bet you a dollar to a donut that these were the people that the democratic party once had. We had the salt of the earth people, those independent fiercely loyal to community and family voted for Democrats.

I was thinking what is it about our message that now so alienates these folks from the Democratic party?

Fear of the unknown is a great place to start, but it takes more than fear to build a lasting coalition.

No I think, with the polling and the media the way it is, that these folks would vote democrat if they just listened to our message.

There in lies the problem.

The pollsters have so segmented our society that we have created little enclaves of voters that we approach individually through targeted messages.

The GOP is great at that mostly paying lip service to those who believe in god.

But our side, the good guys, if you will, seem to abandon the groups that once gave the party a solid base to build on.

The base we have now is a cobbled together miss mass of groups that often vote only in presidential elections, as witnessed by the drubbing in 2010.

Long story short, we should be talking about what we can do to bring these people back to the democratic fold.

[canoeist52]

1. Well...what is our message?

"I was thinking what is it about our message that now so alienates these folks from the Democratic party?"

Seriously. Even I don't know what our democratic message is. And I'm paying close attention.
Our core values seem like shifting sand.

[WCGreen]

3. That's probably the right approach

Hardly a coherent message

[canoeist52]

5. Well, can you state the party 's platform and message?

[eowyn_of_rohan]

2. I love John Steinbeck - Grapes of Wrath is one of my favorites

HIs books and movies contain messages that are very timely for us today... It is good to remember and to ponder what life was like for our ancestors, and what they were up against. It gives me strength and courage for what we have to fight today.

My mother was born in Kansas during the dust bowl. Her entire extended family were all Democrats back then. Her own family moved north in the early 40's, but she has attended many Kansas reunions over the years. As time has gone by, this huge branch of her family - seemingly the younger generation - seems to have all turned right wing. It is so foreign to us, and discouraging...

[southernyankeebelle]

4. We lost those people with social issues. They aren't so real salt of the earth when you look at it.

You must move forward and some weren't able.

[eilen]

6. Many are now called Paleo-Cons.

Yeoman farmers etc. Or distributists (roots of Catholic social and economic philosophy-- Chesterston's 3rd way)


Or what I like to call "conservation conservatives" vs the more distrusted social eco-collectivists

Key idea: All people should own property and the means of production
Property (wealth) should be divided as evenly as possible

They believe in localism, direct household economics. They tend to be huge fans of Wendell Berry.

Dorothy Day was a distributist.

"Distributism’s main tenet was that property should be as
widely distributed as possible, and business should be local. There was advocacy of the
economy being centred upon the production of goods, and suspicion of the role of high
finance. It was advocated principally by G.K. Chesterton and Hilaire Belloc from 1910
onwards, although others such as the Dominican priest Vincent McNabb, the artist Eric
Gill, and the guild socialist Arthur Penty also contributed ideas. However, many of these
latter had their own agenda, and while they were active in the Distributist movement,
their advocacy of homespun craftsmanship or of the ‘social credit’ theories of Major
Douglas.<1> They were peripheral to Distributism whose key texts are Chesterton’s
Outline of Sanity published in 1926, and Belloc’s Essay on the Restoration of Property of
1936."
http://www.secondspring.co.uk/uploads/articles_8_1467315950.pdf

[CaliforniaPeggy]

7. Somehow, when you talk about the pollsters and us in little groups...

The phrase "divide and conquer" comes to my mind.

We need to have the big messages that appeal to all Dem voters, that will get them to listen to us, and more importantly, get them to come out to vote and support our candidates.

Recommended.