Al Franken has given a gift to the Democrats, but only if they choose to open it.
What’s the biggest difference between the Democrat and Republic parties? Other than ideology of course, Democrats are primarily focused on policy, while the Republicans are primarily focused on politics. In general Democrats think long and hard about the right policy.
The Democrats examine the issues carefully, evaluate several different alternatives, ask experts for advice, analyze what other people have done to try and address these issues, then come up with a carefully crafted policy that addresses them. Of course there are exceptions. Some Democrats don’t think about the issues in depth at all, while there is an intellectual faction to the Republican party. But on the whole Democrats have more actual proposals than Republicans.
Because of this, the majority of Americans support the Democrats on most issues. Most people either view Obamacare favorably or think it didn’t go far enough. An overwhelming majority support Roe v. Wade. Even among those who voted for Trump, it’s nearly 50/50 in terms of supporting stricter gun control laws.
Despite this, the Republicans are consistently competitive and currently control both houses of congress and the White House. This should be impossible, but the Republicans pull it off because their focus is not on policy, but instead on politics and winning elections. Hillary Clinton is the perfect example.
Anybody with even half a brain knew as far back as 2006 that Clinton was the Democrats’ preferred Presidential candidate, and after 2008 everybody knew 2016 would be her year. The Republicans knew this and did the common sense thing. They attacked her ferociously for 10 years, even when Obama was President and even after Clinton left the administration. And the Democrats in turn praised her and pumped her up for the 2016 campaign, right? Right!?
Think back to the period from 2009-2014, how often did the Democrats talk about Clinton? Not very often. They were too busy with whatever the issue of the day was. So by the time the 2016 election rolled around the American people had been hearing nothing but negative stories about Hillary Clinton, which made the attempts by her campaign to put out a positive message about her throughout the year ineffective. The public viewed her as untrustworthy and a liar, which is not only completely untrue but extremely ironic considering who she was running against. But it stuck, because the Republicans had laid the foundation long before the campaign started.
But it’s not just that election, this has been the story for a long time. The Republicans realized something long ago that the intellectual Democrats have a very hard time accepting. This is something I myself struggled for many years to come to terms with, and it will absolutely kill the Democrats until they wake up and realize the harsh truth.
People do not believe things based on facts and evidence or what the reality of the situation is. People believe things based on emotion and what they feel and want to be true.
As an example, I believe the biggest thing keeping the Republican party alive despite holding minority opinions on virtually every issue is their stranglehold on the Christian Right. This is something that’s often very frustrating to the intellectual left. We read the Bible, especially the Gospels, and see that Jesus would be a left-wing liberal. It’s not even debatable. It’s clear as day to anybody who bothers to read his words. Yet many evangelicals view a vote for a Democrat as a vote for Satan. But it’s because Republicans have internalized this fact about human nature and convinced them anyway while Democrats try to throw ineffective facts and logic at them.
So should Democrats throw away everything and start to act like Republicans, like some have suggested with regard to Franken? Why should we have to play by the rules when they don’t and still win elections? Isn’t that what that hard truth implies?
The answer is no. While the truth isn’t the most important factor in shaping people’s beliefs like the Democrats want to think, it is still very powerful. It’s much easier to convince people that what you say is true if they’re able to see it for themselves. And that’s where Franken comes in.
People form beliefs based on emotion, and a very powerful emotion is one of feeling respect for somebody else for having integrity. If they see a person doing the right thing even at their own personal expense they will gain a lot of respect for that person. The same applies to individuals. But, again, just because it happened doesn’t mean they’ll believe it. They have to see it for it to have an impact.
With sex scandals being in the news this is a prime time for Democrats to play on that emotion while still promoting the truth. The truth is that Democrats have far more integrity than Republicans. Democrats resign from sex scandals, Republicans largely do not. That is something very positive that will give all Democrats an edge, but only if the Democrats make sure people notice it.
So what do the Democrats do? They go out on every TV show they can find, and buy all the ads they can afford, and push one simple message. Democrats have high standards for their members and are willing to accept the consequences, Republicans hide their scandals and resist taking responsibility. Once people see that message then, and only then, the truth will become powerful. People will see with their own eyes that the Democrat Franken resigned while the Republican Trump and Moore (if he wins) are still in office. Because all people value taking responsibility for your actions, the overall opinion of the Democratic party will increase and the opinion of the Republican party will decrease.
Will the Democrats take advantage of this opportunity? Probably not. They’re probably sitting in their offices wishing this story will just go away quickly instead of boldly and aggressively moving to market their brand. When 2018 rolls around Democrats will be viewed just like Republicans. Both parties have sex scandals, so they’re both the same, since nobody ever bothered to point out this very important difference.
