I don't know how many of you actually go over to Kevin Drum's blog and read, but I count it amongst one of my must-reads for the day, along with Pandagon, DKos, and Eschaton. However, every now and then, Kevin posts about something that makes me scratch my head (a severe understatement). Such is his post late last night, on Tom Wolfe's book and how we're too condescending to 'the heartland'.
"The Liberal Elite Hasn't Got A Clue"
Kevin:
I think there's an awful lot to be said for this. Hell, I'm a coastal blue-state liberal, and even I occasionally get tired of liberal hectoring. I half suspect that my entire Northern California readership would disown me if I ever fessed up publicly to the brand of car I drive. Who needs that kind of grief?
Now, needless to say, I don't agree with Wolfe that our sense of morality is "twisted," but I do agree that we probably lose a lot of support we don't need to lose because of a very real -- and often dripping -- condescension toward anyone we consider less enlightened than us.
(Continued Below)
Now, the comments turned to one of the reasons for this 'condesendsion', which is tone. My response?
I'm sorry, but I can't see this. Isn't this the exact same thing that neutered us in 2002? Holding our tone and shifting to center? News flash, that didn't work, because the center keeps moving rightward as the right further embraces the fringes.
And as far as condescension....right. We're called traitors, communists, anti-Americans, elitist snobs, limousine liberals, heathens, heretics, Satanists, faggots, etc....and we're the ones being condescending. Oh, let me apologize. I'm SORRY I believe in equality for everyone, regardless of class, race, religion, ethnicity, gender, or sexual preference. I'm SORRY I impress my own beliefs on people when I believe that collective prayer shouldn't be done at games or graduations because I think it disrespects those who don't follow the chosen religion. I'm SORRY I believe workers had a right to higher hourly wages so they may actually be able to live without fear of how to pay the food bill. I'm SORRY that I try and approach issues with common sense rather than morals. I'm SORRY I'm too preachy in the face of all those who would call me a godless commie faggot who should leave America because I don't belong. I'm SORRY I believe that dissent is a good thing and that the president and any sort of authority should be questioned a little.
IN other words, I'm sorry I cared. I'm sorry I'm a liberal. I'm sorry I'm not the right sort of American.
On second thought, no, fuck that. I'm not sorry. If my sarcasm was condescending, well, that's how I feel when I'm told I don't belong in my own fucking country.
And you know what? I'm NOT sorry. I'm NOT, because guess what? I don't think marshalling our tone in the face of Limbaughs, Savages, Robertsons, Coulters, etc. does anything but hamstring us. Like I said, trying to make concessions and tone ourselves down is part of what lost us past elections and keeps perpetuating some of the killing myths about democrats.
So what do we need to do, then, if not try and be less 'elitist'? Well, if you haven't seen the title:
IT'S THE MESSAGE, STUPID!
In other words, our inability to portray it. We have a solid message. Trying to marshall ourselves further toward the center does shit but allow ourselves to drift further rightward the further Republicans move the goalposts. It's 'balance' that killed liberal viewpoints in the media, and 'balance' in politics wiill ensure it's permanent death.
But what can we do to change it? Well, for one, get out passionate speakers. Get out some goddamn, unabashed, passionate liberals there to speak our case. Not just Michael Moore (who admittedly rubs plenty of people the wrong way). I mean people like Dean. People like Obama. People who truely believe in what they're saying, and have a knack for expressing that.
Get people out there to call the media on it's idiocy. Keep on them to make sure they call a spade a spade, and point out real lies in stupid arguments rather than giving it credence by calling it 'just the other side of the argument'. Pull out the "President says 'The World Is Flat', views differ" comparison. Get someone on the talking head shows, on O'Reily, on Hannity, etc. who can straight up outtalk them. Pull the same shit they do, only on them. If need be, pull out some outrageous shit from out of thin air, and once they protest, straight out say, "Well, guess what? That's exactly the shit you do on a daily basis. See the problem with you?"
Hammer hard on 'values'. Values of cooperation with allies. Values of appreciation of opinion. Values of equal chances, both economically and socially. Equal treatment despite gender, sex, sexual orientation, religion, race, etc. The value of giving the worker what he deserves in his wages, by raising the min. wage to a respectable amount. The values that the true blue liberal Jesus would stump for (and yes, point the fuck out of the fact that if anyone read the New Testament, that Jesus would be, today, an unabashed, unapologetic liberal).
Mobilize the smaller voices. You guys here and across the blogosphere, write to your local papers. Write opinion pieces and submit them to the papers and see if they have the balls to give it a chance. And if not, do it again until they do look at it. Write letters. Form hometown protests, like people did with the Sinclair things.
But for America's sake, DON'T CHANGE THE TONE! Believe in something. Believe in it unashamedly, unabashedly, unapologetically, and with utmost conviction. It can be one issue, like giving Gays the same rights we all have, or that the rich shouldn't pile their tax burdens on the rich. It can be several things, if you can manage doing it clearly enough. Just DO IT, AND DO IT PROUD! No, this doesn't mean that we have to kill our nuances, as that is part of what makes us liberals in this country. But we need to show that we CAN make a stand, we CAN believe, we CAN make a damn difference, we WON'T lie down, we WON'T give in. We are AMERICANS TOO, DAMMIT. Make them know that this is your damn country too, that you believe in it, and that you believe it can truely live up to the ideals of Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness, not just for those who can afford it, not just those lucky enough to be born into a privledged group, but for EVERYONE.
PS: This was hastily written, and in many ways, a stream of consciousness diary. I truely believe all of what I said, but if it seems incoherent in points...yeah, that's my excuse.