We have to think like other folks. We know what a disaster Bush has been. We know that, next time, Bush won't be constrained by his needing to get reelected. We know that if George W Bush is reappointed or otherwise retains his power, that the United States will suffer irreparable damage, our democracy will be toast, we will go to war with everyone who doesn't agree with us, and little bunnies will stop having sex with each other. Yes, the disturbance in the Force will be that powerful.
The problem is that 50% of this nation thinks that things are fine and dandy under Bush. They think things are infinitely better now than they were under Clinton. They think we're a bunch of extremists and commie bastards.
So the fundamental problem we face is that we have to get inside their brains in order to understand why they are so wrong and so that we can gently correct them... we need to gently tack left to get them back on course.
I have been going under the assumption that the people I write letters to (and I pick the folks who I think are most likely to vote Republican) believe everything they hear on television, believe that their God is a god to be feared, not loved, believe that might makes right, believe that they are inherently superior to everyone who doesn't look like them, especially those lousy gay people who are going to ruin America.
I have been writing to these people that Bush is not Republican enough, that he has turned his back on core Republican values at the time when, for the first time in a generation, the Republicans hold the Congress and the Presidency. We should have a balanced budget, and we don't. We should have a small government, and we don't.
And there are better people out there representing core Republican values... Michael Badnarik and Michael Petrouka.
I figure if we can get some Republicans to vote for one of the Michaels, it's the same as the Republicans trying to get Nader to be popular.
But I don't see these people going all the way to Kerry.
In the meantime, we have to enthuse our base. We might not like Kerry, we might not think he's the best guy out there. But it doesn't matter. He's our guy now, and we have to sell him like he's chocolate and peanut butter all rolled into one. If Democrats are motivated to vote, we'll take this, and we'll take back the House and Senate too, and then we can work with getting Kerry to be what we want, or there's always Dean/Obama in 2012.
Regardless, this is the election of our lifetimes. We have to convey that to Democrats, and we have to shift the Republicans who are really Libertarians into the Libertarian party.
What do you think?