We Democrats don't have a majority to affect policy changes at the national level.
We Democrats don't have a majority to affect policy changes in most states, and I would guess We Democrats don't have a majority to affect most county or city policy changes, so diaries about policy and how things should be changed ARE A WASTE OF TIME.
We Democrats already know how crappy Republicans are. We Democrats know the Republican platform only has one plank: "We want rich people to be richer." So diaries telling the choir how crappy and selfish Republicans are ARE A WASTE OF ENERGY.
We Democrats know about poorly run campaigns. We Democrats have seen Republican lite campaigns. We Democrats have seen candidates search in vain for that imaginary swing voter. So any request for money to run another shitty TV ad IS A WASTE OF MONEY.
STOP. Just stop already.
Our sole focus, our only focus should be for us to use all our time, and energy, and our money to getting all Democrats to vote every election.
Kos has it right. "When we vote we win". And every election is a base election.
Energize the base with genuine progressive Democratic ideals and you get more than votes. You also get the boots on the ground to register voters and get them to the polls.
This is a brilliant community. This is a caring community. This is a committed community. We have more energy and ideas than any group I know.
That's why I am begging you all to focus on the task of getting all our people to vote every election.
We all know how rigged the game is so we have to work that much harder. We are going to have to pay for professionals in marketing and demographics and psychological profiling. We should think outside the box but we need to connect with our key groups of apathetic voters. The youth and women and people of color along with all the working class. It has to be personal for them.
The Republicans only have one play in their playbook. "Scare the hell out of the base, then tell them who they should be mad at and who they should vote for to make them feel safe."
We have a much harder task but our base can be motivated and excited about voting. We have to get away from the same old tired campaigns. Lots of phone calls, lots of door knocking, Lots of candidates trying not to offend anyone. We have to progress from that paradigm. If you do the same thing over and over you will get the same results.
Ideas for discussion.
+Restart the 50 state strategy started by Gov. Dean generating more candidates in more races.
+Hire Gov. Dean.
+Build the party bench by having more candidates for more down ticket races.
+Give much more attention to down ticket races
+Support more local candidates.
+Spend more money on voter registration.
+Bring back a more bullet proof organization like ACORN
+Educate voters on times, locations and dates for voting. It should also have some type of dry run voting so people will be familiar with the whole process.
+Target groups need representation on all campaign staffs.
+ Make the whole idea of voting more appealing. People don't vote because they don't think it matters.
+ Promote Ranked Choice Voting increasing voter participation
+ Have candidates visit all the area schools to get kids more involved.
We Democrats have got to return to our populist roots. Be proud to be a Democrat!
+ Campaign year round and all cycle.
+ Change voter contact to be more than an E-mail begging for money or trying to stir up some outrage to beg for money.
If you want more donations create a bigger group to ask.
+ Create a new slogan "Democrats make things better".
Grandma going hungry = Social security. Grandma sick = medicare.
Until we win elections regularly our base doesn't have the motivation to participate or identify with a group of losers.