Dear Democratic Leadership and supporters of Democratic principles,
You want me back? You want me to phone bank? You want me to engage my neighbors in intelligent, vote-changing debate? You want me to passionately defend democratic principles and ideals?
Then increase our Social Security.
Defending Social Security, not running from it, wins the next election. A huge claim, but follow me below the fold for a novel frame-work for winning in 2012.
For more information on the importance of frames to winning elections, please read here and here.
Republicans have been after Social Security for decades, and you need to be better about making that clear. You can begin today by showing voters how bad Republicans have been and will be (will be, not could be) for Social Security.
As we (...see, I’m already on board) remind all voters how bad Republicans have been and will be for Social Security, we must explain how much more secure we are as a country now that increasing numbers of Americans will have access to health care. Families who have health care are more freely able to contribute to a thriving democratic social order, and employees who have health care are more productive as they miss less work and recover from illness with the help of doctors and medicine, rather than time and prayer.
And while I appreciate the value of prayer, as someone who went without health insurance for a decade, it’s hard to describe the security I feel knowing that if I, or my child get sick, we can go to the doctor without going into debt.
Importantly, we must remind voters that when we let bridges deteriorate, roads crumble, and school buildings turn into rat infested warehouses, we endanger our Social Security. Even Republicans agree that investing in infrastructure renewal is a winner for the president (see below).
More importantly, it’s a winner for the people who face less danger when they leave their homes for work or play. As chances of dying on a falling bridge, being poisoned by dirty drinking water, crashing in a plane because of a dated air-traffic-control system, or being blown across the street by a decaying gas line decrease, our Social Security increases.
But it’s not just repairing decaying infrastructure that will increase our safety and security, we should also be investing in projects that can reduce emissions and create jobs. On job creation as a winning political strategy, recovering Republican (once an addict always an addict?) Chris Mathews asks some interesting questions:
Why can't we build railroads -- rapid railroads to unite this country instead of making the vast continent between New York and LA "fly-over country" for the bi-coastal elite to look down on? Why don't we build "anything" anymore? Would we build the subway systems of our country today? Would we build the Empire State building or the Golden Gate Bridge? Would [w]e build this beautiful capital of Washington today?
You know the answer. We don't build because we have neither the money nor the courage to do it. Republicans don't believe in public investment, not even real capital investment that builds the economy. They think tax cuts are the one and only way to promote economic progress. Democrats are afraid to challenge them. And while we worry about today, China never stops thinking about tomorrow... investing and spending and creating the jobs we should have right here.
How about Chris Mathews using China as an example? You may not like him, but he’s right on this issue. But when we build high speed railways and trains that reduce emissions, we do more than increase the number of Americans holding jobs, we reduce disease, and we reduce our dependence on foreign oil. Reducing the number of individuals who need medical care while at the same time reducing the amount of money leaving our country and ultimately supporting undemocratic regimes is hard to argue against...isn’t it?
Setting health and physical security aside for a moment and returning to jobs, because it is the economy stupids, the recent winner of the OH governor’s race announced "the train is dead" and 8,000 jobs that could have been won't be... At a very simple level, jobs keep people off of streets and out of trouble, improving the Social Security of communities across the nation. A Republican governor just eliminated thousands of them.
This point bears repeating, and we must be vocal about who creates and who destroys jobs. Importantly, we must not let Americans forget about the consequences of job loss that extend beyond the economy. One of the biggest threats to our Social Security is unemployment and poverty, as both give rise to extremism. Follow the link, but the rise of the Tea Party should be enough to justify my claim.
Remind your base that you care about us and defend our Social Security by protecting policemen, firemen, nurses and teachers. These are America’s unsung heroes and the more we have, and the better qualified they are, the more secure we are.
Our Social Security requires adequate numbers of police to protect and serve, adequate number of firemen so families won’t lose their homes when they can’t pay extra for protection, adequate numbers of nurses to treat all of us when we need them, and highly qualified teachers to ensure that our democracy, not just the economy, is vigorous, thrives, and remains secure.
Crucially, you must remind all of us that if we don’t educate towards democracy, we shouldn’t expect to have democracy.
Furthermore, you can’t call on teachers to create an innovative workforce composed of citizens with the skills and capacities needed to maintain our democratic social order while forcing states across the country to lay off the very people whose job it is to do so.
And you’d (re)gain supporters if you put a stop to the push to privatize public education. The too-big-to-fail community reduced our Social Security when millions of people lost their savings two years ago. How secure would our schools really be in their hands?
You can further increase our Social Security by bringing home more troops. When husbands are without their wives, sons without their mothers, when families continually worry about the safety of their loved ones, our Social Security decreases.
Importantly, and on a very basic level, a military stretched too thin directly jeopardizes our Social Security by leaving us exposed to threats at home and abroad. So bring them home and put those troops to work defending our ports of entry and boarders. Most experts agree it isn’t if a WMD will be smuggled in, it’s when. We’d all feel more secure knowing we were doing everything we can to prevent it.
And while I’m on the subject, if individuals who are LGBT want to serve in the military, then let them do it. If a fellow American is willing to die for the security of our country, for our Social Security, then they should be allowed to do so. Please encourage Americans to stop focusing on sexual desire (one dimension of a meaningful relationship) and remind the country that, despite oppression and treatment as second-class citizens, LGBT are willing to serve so others, the vast majority of whom are heterosexual, don’t have to.
Finally, and most importantly, work vigorously to overturn Citizens United and do so by hammering home the fact that there is nothing secure about a country that lets foreign interests and shadow organizations impact its elections. The security of our elections, our Social Security, requires elected officials who serve people not foreign governments or unnamed, unknown entities.
You want the independent vote? You want the base to come home? You want to grab some moderate Republicans who are worried about the same issues?
Activate our deep frames and protect our Social Security.