The Democrats seem to be struggling to come up with a simple theme for the 2006 election. I don't see why its so hard. We're the party of the little guy: Always have been and always should be.
How does that translate into specific areas? More on the flip.
National Security: We think national security is about protecting Americans and making sure our soldiers are in harm's way only as a last resort, and only with the best support possible from Washington in terms of intelligence and equipment. They think national security is about making the Commander in Chief look good. Period. That's why we're in favor of thinking long and hard about going to war, planning thoroughly when we do go, fully supplying the troops with things like Body Armor, and honestly assessing the situation on the ground when it appears not not to be working. That's why they rush head-on into wars to meet the political calendar, don't make any plans for logistics and support, and pull stunts like "mission accomplished" that have no grounding in reality. We fight wars to win. They fight wars in a way that seems designed only to make it LOOK LIKE we're winning for as long as possible. Why? Because we look out from the interests of the soldiers and the real Americans at home, Republicans look out for the interests of this commander in chief.
Domestic Security: We think the government has a strong role to play in protecting real people from the hazards of corporate greed and the hazards of mother nature. They think any governmental program intrudes too much on the "ownership" rights of corporations and the wealthy. That's why Democrats favor social security, coming up with a national energy and environmental program, a move toward national health insurance, the restoration of FEMA to where it was before 2000, repealing the give-away to credit card companies that they called "bankruptcy reform." That's why Republicans are against all those things. On all these issues -- social security, energy, the environment, health insurance, disaster assistance, etc. -- they side with the corporations and their CEO's who don't want to pay for government programs. We side with the little guy who needs them.
Privacy: We think people should know more about their government but that their government should know less about them. They think the government doesnt snoop enough and is working to find more ways the government around laws that protect people's private lives; at the same time they try to create government programs completely in the dark. That's why we favor reproductive freedoms, serious civil liberties protections and serious freedom of information laws. That's why Republicans want to outlaw contraception, why they're breaking the law in order to get access to your phone records, and why they're turning the Freedom of Information Act into a big joke. We want them to butt out of our lives, they want us to butt out of seeing what's happening in our own government.
As I said, we're the party of the little guy: On National Security we favor the interests of citizens and soldiers rather than the interests of the Commander in Chief; on Domestic Security, we think the government needs to protect real people from the hazards of the marketplace, corporations and mother nature, and on privacy interests, we think real people should know more about their government and their government should know less about them.
Any Questions??