The Midterms are upon us. The Dems seem poised retake at least one house of Congress if not both. We're heading more towards a congressional make up that will allow for serious and even debate. Personally, based on GOP failures, I think the Dems should be taking even more seats but they are not.
The Dems and the GOP will always have their base. That's a simple fact.
But what about the less loyal? Here is where Dems aren't gaining enough. And, it must be said, many people will be voting Dem on 11/7 who otherwise might not vote that way without HUGE GLARING PROBLEMS on the GOP's hands. Some of these people will, in spite of every reason to vote Dem, still vote GOP on 11/7. They hate the war, they hate the authortarianism of the GOP's social stances and are uncomfortable will a lot of issues concerning gays, wire tapping and other such issues. After all, if it was all about the war and civil liberties, the Dems gains would be astromonical.
And what about these people? Who are they? I'll tell you:
working class WHITE Americans with families, many of whom live in suburbia and Middle America.
Tip to Logan Ferree at Freedom Democrats, (see Dem Strategist link from there)
http://freedomdemocrats.org/...
The "Democratic Strategist" website has shown that a paultry $23,700 is the income in which a white American is more likely to vote Republican. That's terrible. And a sad FACT.
This can be based largely on:
economic disconnect between the platform of the Democratic Party and the concerns of average Americans. The three Democratic strategists point out the five areas of disconnect: optimism versus pessimism, economic decline versus economic strength, economic security versus individual opportunity, ideas, and an unconvincing economic critique of conservatives.
from the Democratic Strategist:
To solve this problem, Democrats must first realize that they have a problem - no, actually a crisis - with the middle class. Democrats - the self-described party of the middle class - have not won the middle class vote in at least a decade. Among all voters with $30,000 to $75,000 in household income, Bush bested Kerry by six-points and congressional Republicans won by four-points.
and
The second step is to admit that our deficit is as much due to economic disconnects as cultural and national security disconnects. That may be harder for Democrats to swallow.
Part of the problem is that Democrats have been misled about the state of the middle class. Progressive economists typically peg median household income at about $45,000.
Among households headed by prime age Americans - adults between the ages of 26 and 59 - the median household income is about $63,000. For prime age married households the median income is over $70,000, and it is nearly $80,000 for two-earner prime age households.
The Dems are failing to capture this huge voting group in large numbers. This is the true middle class.
This does not mean abandoning the needs of the poor but clearly the message and some policies may be wrong for the true middle class they claim to be fighting for.
From the Free Liberal:
After the tumult of the upcoming midterm election, it is imperative that Congress gets back to basics and addresses our terrible tax system.
Lower taxes benefit all Americans by increasing economic growth and encouraging wealth creation. I'm in favor of cutting everybody's taxes - rich, poor, and otherwise. Whether a tax cut reduces a single mother's payroll taxes by forty dollars a month, or allows a business owner to save thousands in capital gains and hire more employees, the net effect is beneficial. Both either spend, save, or invest the extra dollars, which helps all of us more than if those dollars were sent to the black hole known as the federal Treasury.
Now, I'm not suggesting a consumption tax as the article does but we need a simplified tax code that stops abuse and obfuscation and doesn't intimidate people and doesn't punish anyone. This leads to cleaner government because fewer people are trying to fight "unjust targeting from taxation">
We need to acknowledge this and tailor policies that appeal to these GOP leaning groups. They are libertarian type voters and families making a middle class living. DOING SO IS NOT A TRADE OFF ON PROMOTING EQUALITY OF OPPORTUNITY! NOT AT ALL.
We must address spending issues and acknowledge the possibility of more innovative methods of helping people help themselves. But it should be done without increasing the scope and spending of the government. "Big Brother" isn't appealing to most working people.
I feel the deficit gap can be close without raising any taxes. It's currently about 260 billion and dropping the last few years...even though spending is up across the board!! We should be promoting a further tax cut from the bottom brackets and look for ways to cut wasteful spending. That's positive and it takes away any rhetorical advantage of the GOP on fiscal matters...which is where many working white people draw the line and continue to vote GOP in spite of everything they hate!
Thi message, coupled with a message strong on social liberalism and civil liberites and peace will make the Dems stronger than they could ever imagine.