It is becoming very clear that the democrats do not have a cohesive policy to counter the right wing fanatics that have taken over the Republican party. In order to compete against them we need to learn how to use their own tactics against them.
The first thing I believe we need to push is election reform in each state. We can not rely on Congress to do this since the Republicans have no desire to end the current system which so heavily favors them. Using ballot initiatives can force the playing field to be leveled and should be done before election 2005 so we can have this in place before the mid term elections in 2006. Does anyone think that www.ballot.org can help us get this accomplished? I have written Kristina Wilfore at Ballot but have yet to hear from her. We most need to see these initiatives passed in the red states. Lets show the Republicans we are not going to lie down as they use fraud and suppression to win elections.
Secondly I had the idea of starting a non profit agency whose sole purpose was exposing the lies and corruption of government. Most Americans want their news simply and uncomplicated and this agency could use advertising to expose lies and government abuses. I can see full page ads in major newspapers and internet videos explaining issues with the truth. These can be easily spread over the internet like so many of the urban myth e-mails that seem to end up in millions of mailboxes. The problem I see is that the Democratic party can not seem to craft the message the proper way. We have to make it very clear to all middle class Americans that the Democratic Party is their best hope of economic survival. We need to show them concrete examples of where the Middle Class is being asked to shoulder more of the tax burden and how Republican policies are hurting this nations middle and lower classes. Without strong decisive action we will be looking at a society of rich and poor. The way we need to craft the argument to the middle class is that they are more likely to find themselves amongst the poor than the rich if this trend continues. The time for real grassroots action is here but just protesting will not be enough. Educating the population on what exactly is happening in simple to understand terms is our best way to stop this fascist movement.