Democrats need a coherent program and strategy that reflects what the majority of the American people want. Right now, they appear to have neither, certainly at the public level and, debatably, also at the internal Party level. To state the obvious, at least to me, they are elected by the people to serve the people, and it’s about time they remembered that, and publicly listened to them and talked to them. In other words, it’s time to start from scratch and develop a program that appeals to the majority of the electorate. What a novel idea!
Oh! I hear you say. There’s not enough time. It would take months, if not years, of focus groups, extensive analysis by multiple research organizations, internal discussions and bickering, a leadership willing to stand up and be counted, all to achieve a coherent and straightforward message and, finally, a multi-million-dollar campaign to sell it to the American electorate.
I have one comment to all of that ….. BULLSHIT!!
I should add here that I had a discussion about these thoughts with a close friend of mine who reads my blogs, and he said I had no idea what I am talking about because he is receiving a barrage of questionnaires from the Party asking lots of questions about his opinions. I’m afraid that all that does is confirm what I said in my previous paragraph. One recent poll suggested that the only thing the American public likes less than the Democratic Party is the Iran war, which sort of confirms that, even if the Democratic Party is trying to plan for the future, they are utterly useless at conveying that to the American people.
It is blatantly obvious what the majority of the people want, even from my limited perspective and knowledge. THEY WANT A MIDDLE OF THE ROAD APPROACH THEY CAN UNDERSTAND, AND A GOVERNMENT THAT IS WILLING TO STICK TO IT AND ACTUALLY FULFILL THEIR PROMISES. Any party that can actually do that would be voted into power easily and often.
Realistically, I have almost no faith that the Democratic Party could conceive of undertaking such a radical approach, let alone actually doing it. However, we seem to be stuck with them as the only viable entity that could possibly head in that direction. The Republicans are rapidly moving away from democratic principles, and to try and pull that back to normalcy would seem to be a lost cause, at least for the moment.
THE KEY PHRASE HERE IS MIDDLE-OF-THE-ROAD. The American people are totally fed up with the excesses of both parties, whether it’s Trump’s demolition of democracy and his single-minded pursuit of personal greed, or the Democratic Party’s equal levels of corruption and greed, but more importantly, their concentration on issues that only affect a miniscule percentage of the American population like “Trans” and “LGBTQ”. Time to plan “out-of-the-box”, and into the majority of the American people’s boxes. IT’S NOT ROCKET SCIENCE!
One starting suggestion for the approach I think will be productive would be NO PROGRAM/CAMPAIGN THAT IS JUST “ANTI” WHAT TRUMP IS DOING. We need to think positively for the future, not cry over past idiocies from both parties and current leadership,
Let’s start with a short list, which I am happy to add to if my readers feel like contributing their comments.
In no particular order: (a) Stabilize and rationalize the food supply chain so that farmers and consumers get their fair shake in the system, (b) Pay virtually no attention to the Stock Market since it has little to do with the cost of living for most Americans and generally gives a false impression of what the “real” economy is doing, (c) establish a base support system for Americans medical care to work alongside a private system for those who can afford it, (d) implement a system whereby those on any sort of welfare who are able to work, do so on local public service projects, or lose their benefits, (e) design and implement a system of border and immigration control that actually works and people understand, allows people with skills that the U.S. needs to come in, and permits a flexible level of refugee admissions to be determined by Congress, (f) establish an international system of trade that respects individual countries sovereignties, provided they play by the established rules, and include harsh punishments for those that don’t, (g) revise the tax system towards a flat tax rate with no deductions or exemptions, (h) prohibit people in political office, at all levels, from benefitting financially from their positions, with severe penalties for infringement, (i) restructure Congress to install terms limits on the Senate and the House and raise the House term to four years so they actually have time to learn the role and achieve something, and (j) abolish political contributions over a certain amount and require free, but limited and equal, media time to all registered candidates for office.
IT REALLY ISN’T THAT HARD, OR ROCKET SCIENCE, IS IT?
That’s ten ideas, some of which may require a change in the Constitution, or, a la Trump, not.
However, even ten ideas is probably too many for a viable political program.
I should add a few more dealing with international concerns, but that will do for now since very few in the American electorate seem to be concerned about anything outside of the country when they vote, short of outright war involving the U.S., and even that is debatable.
PLEASE HELP ME DEFINE THESE IDEAS A LITTLE BETTER … PREFERABLY, SIMPLER AND MORE COMPREHENSIVE …. OR TELL ME I DON’T KNOW WHAT I AM TALKING ABOUT!
