Conservatives have one strategy that turns out their base on election day that Democrats and progressives have yet learned to master. It's a strategy that hijacks the national debate every election season. It's simple. It's ballot initiatives.
Conservatives know that if they put measures on general election ballots that excite themselves, more conservatives will show up to vote, and more Republicans will get elected. Progressives seem to lag behind in finding the right issues for making the initiative process work for them.
I think there's one issue that we can put on the national agenda that will not only turn out progressives in droves, but also make the 2008 election all about Mr. 25%. That issue is the censure of George W. Bush.
God knows Bush deserves to be impeached. That can't be done with a ballot measure. But as dreaminonempty points out, Bush only maintains a net favorable rating in Utah. This country does not like this president. And a ballot initiative to censure him would bring people out on election day who we need to go vote -- including disaffected Democrats and pissed-off progressives who may look at a rainy Tuesday in November and think they may as well stay home.
Many of these same disaffecteds would happily be struck by lightning if it meant they got to officially give this president the what-for.
If we want to put initiatives on the November '08 ballot, we've got to start collecting signatures now. Collecting signatures is a time-consuming process. We likely will need an organization like MoveOn to coordinate.
There are far more reasons to censure this president than could fit on a ballot. I propose selecting the top two and putting them on the ballot as separate initiatives. We can collect signatures for both at once. We can make these items the hot topics of the 2008 presidential campaign all the way through election day. I want the Republican nominee to have to talk about and defend the actions of this president on these topics at every campaign stop and at every debate. These are the same topics that Americans have said in poll after poll that they would not only censure but impeach Bush over: lying this country into war and illegally wiretapping Americans without any warrants.
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The polls:
Ipsos, 2005: Should Congress consider impeachment if Bush lied about why we went to war?
Yes: 50%
No: 44%
ABC, 2005: Did Bush intentionally mislead in his case for war?
Yes: 55%
No: 44%
(Other polls on the same page show the gap as wide 57 to 35.)
Zogby, 2006: Should Congress consider impeachment if Bush wiretapped Americans without court approval?
Yes: 52%
No: 43%
Newsweek, 2006: Should impeachment be a Democratic priority in the new Congress (high/low priority, or not)?
Yes: 51%
No: 44%
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Take action!
Contact MoveOn with a link to this diary. Tell them you support a ballot initiative to censure this president. MoveOn acts on member suggestions.
Find a blog in your state and advocate for a local ballot initiative. Spread the word to other local activists.
Contact your local Democratic Party. Select your state and scroll down to click "Contact Your State Party" at the bottom of the blue column. Send them a link to this diary and tell them you support a ballot initiative to censure this president.
Update: Heh, I probably shouldn't have posted a diary in the middle of a presidential debate if I wanted, you know, eyeballs. I'll diary again later.