David Morris writes on AlterNet recommending that the dems should highlight congressional vote totals in order to bring out the ideological differences between the Dems and GOP. Morris writes: "If Americans knew precisely how the two parties vote on ideological bills like CAFTA and gun control, they could reshape politics. Too bad the parties -- much less the media -- won't tell them." The Alternet story is here:
http://www.alternet.org/story/23860/?comments=view&cID=20701&pID=20695#c20701
And my response and comments are as follows:
Mr Morris, sir, that idea about focusing on voting pattern differences is an EXCELLENT idea.
I am going to go further and recommend that the Democrats spend their money NOT so much on advertising for individual political races, but instead they should immediately begin a political offensive based on advertising on tv, newpapers, and radio that would simply pick certain votes on certain bills (similar to what you have done here) and present that information clearly and succinctly in tv and radio commercials. I fail to see how the media outlets could excuse refusing to run such ads.
Such a tactic by the dems would go a long long way in shifting the nature of the political debate, such as it is, to one of a more substantive nature. Instead of focusing on cult of personality and horserace issues, it would focus on party ideological differences on bread and butter issues.
Of course, the American political status quo is there for a reason. Like an animal that has evolved to suit its environment, that has been molded by environmental forces, our current policies (such as the parties and media ignoring the real ideological differences) are there because they favor the elite. This is one big reason why we have voter apathy. Voter apathy is good for those who are on top. And those who are on top have the most power. That power has been exerted like an environmental force in the ecosystem that is the American media-political system. And so therefore, over time, our policies/political debates has been evolved to suit them--the elite--and not us, the common people. And so therefore voter apathy has been induced by ignoring ideological differences and focusing on cult of personality and horserace issues.
So, heh heh, why not try convincing the democratic elite to highlight these ideological party differences by using advertising to explain votes. Just try it...