I know that Democrats and Liberals (or, as we have been taught by those who will deny the value of the term Liberal, Progressives) are not big on a unified message.
Nevertheless, there are some messages we can send, and if we send these messages with consistency, it is possible we can break through the media barriers between voters and the truth.
I've added a few more points on which the standard message is upside-down. Really, one could do this forever, because EVERYTHING in the standard political dialog is backwards today.
So here is my take:
The idea here is clear and simple. Every single thing the Republicans say is a reason to vote for them, is in fact a reason to vote for Democrats. Every single assumption held by the political intelligentsia is backwards. Every single piece of beltway common wisdom is upside down.
It will be hard to break the hold these assertions have on our fellow citizens, especially as the corporate media holds on to them so tightly. But as the Occupy movement is showing, it is possible for some of the 99% to wake up, recognize reality, act, and vote for their own interest and that of the country, instead of the interests of the wealthy and corporate class that are tearing our country down and apart.
Don't get me wrong. Democrats are as much to blame as Republicans, for buying into these idiotic lies, feeding the confusion, going along with the corporate propaganda machine, and failing to stand up for citizens and truth. But at least they are only hapless, not actively seeking to destroy America's democracy and prosperity.
So here are the empty words that Republicans use. Here is why they are all reasons to vote those crooks out of office:
We believe in the Constitution.
We believe in the idea of the Constitution, which is that the government's powers and duties are defined and limited by written law. This is, in fact, the definition of a Liberal, which we proudly claim to be.
We believe in following the rules written down in the Constitution, and not, as the activist judges and justices placed in office by Republicans have done, making up reasons to justify politically and ideologically predetermined conclusions. It also means that no one is above the law, and that those who violate the law, the Constitution, and their oaths of office should be prosecuted according to those laws.
For this reason, we will vote against the Republicans who seek to undermine these ideas, and for the Democrats.
We believe in a strong, free-market economy.
This means that those who succeed in providing goods and services that consumers desire should be rewarded for their success, and that those who fail in whatever their economic activity should not be rewarded for their failure. (This is the real message of the Occupy Movement.)
It means that the government should provide those networked goods that are necessary to the success of private enterprise and the health of a growing economy, such as transportation, infrastructure, education, public heath and safety, and the rule of law.
It means that our investment system should be an investment system, and not a gambling casino.
It means that corporations should be prevented from grabbing undue control of markets, preventing entry of competition, and undermining the free market, consumer choice, and public health and safety. It means that in a healthy economy, not only are there investors and producers; there are also consumers with enough money earned from decent jobs to buy the products they make.
We believe in a healthy, prosperous, competitive, growing American economy.
For this reason, we will vote against the Republicans who seek to undermine these ideas, and for the Democrats.
We believe in the free expression of ideas, and the protection of individual human and legal rights.
Put simply, this means two things:
Money is not speech.
Limiting the power of money over our political dialog does not diminish the rights of free expression of people. Rather, the other way around; it enables individuals to express themselves and influence our political dialog without being drowned out by a few wealthy individuals and corporations.
Corporations are not people.
Corporations are legal entities whose only purpose is the increase of value and profits to the owners of those entities, whether public stockholders or private investors. They are not persons, and not entitled to the legal protections of the Constitution and law that are the natural rights of individual human beings.
Restricting and regulating corporations does not demean or limit the rights of people; rather the other way around. If corporations have and exercise these rights, this diminishes the freedom of citizens and human beings.
For this reason, we will vote against the Republicans who seek to undermine these ideas, and for the Democrats.
We believe in the responsible management of the government.
We know that it will be necessary for the government, from time to time as needed, to run a deficit in order to help the economy. We also know that when the economy is healthy, the government should have a budget surplus in order to pay down the debt and keep it reasonable, as was instituted by the Clinton administration. We object to those who establish institutional deficits for their own political purposes, as did the Bush regime (following the model of the Reagan regime).
We are in favor of those who have instituted the largest tax cut for middle and working class Americans in history, and against those who have pledged to increase the taxes paid by that same group of people.
For this reason, we will vote against the Republicans who seek to undermine these ideas, and for the Democrats.
We believe in strong national security.
Our country and our citizens should be safe from harm from all enemies, foreign and domestic. Threats to our safety and security should be eliminated. The most effective way to do this is to directly confront the ideas behind those threats, to provide people throughout the world with the freedom, prosperity, and security that will prevent threatening ideas from prospering, and to effectively punish those who actually seek to attack us because of their odious religious or political ideas, regardless of their economic status.
We do not believe that threats are dealt with by attacking and occupying countries that do not and have not directly threatened us, no matter how odious their regimes. Doing so decreases, not increases, our security.
Those who have failed in their duty to protect America and Americans, and whose actions have aided and abetted the people and ideologies that threaten our country, should not be rewarded with further opportunities to fail.
For this reason, we will vote against the Republicans who seek to undermine these ideas, and for the Democrats.
We believe in states' rights.
Ever since Southern, slave-owning politicians sought to use the power and authority of the Federal government to violate state rights and override state and local legal and political decisions through the Fugitive Slave Act and Dred Scott Decision, conservative politicians have been using the Federal government to force their narrow ideas on people regardless of local wishes.
This is true regarding the issues of medical marijuana, marriages, the rights of women, and even controlling what is taught in our schools, regardless of local decisions.
The federal system of government is essential to the strength of our country. There are appropriate fields in which national standards should and must be established. There are other areas in which a variety of legal standards creates the laboratory of democracy our founders envisioned. Knowing which is which is a call that Republicans have failed to make correctly for the last fifty years.
For this reason, we will vote against the Republicans who seek to undermine these ideas, and for the Democrats.
We believe in education.
An educated electorate is an informed electorate, and is essential to a healthy democracy.
For years, Republicans have been actively working to undermine the public education system in this country in order to create a docile, obedient populace, vulnerable to their propaganda. They have defunded school systems, underpaid teachers, stood by while school buildings crumbled, turned higher education into nothing more than a profit center, and tried to destroy research, scholarship, and science.
The Republican attack on education was most evident in their efforts to control what is taught in American schools, regardless of local wishes, through the ironically named No Child Left Behind Act. This is an effort to destroy variety, innovation, exploration, and progress, and return American education -- and ultimately society -- to the nineteenth century.
For this reason, we will vote against the Republicans who seek to undermine these ideas, and for the Democrats.
I invite those few unfortunate souls who have read this far to fill in more:
We believe in science and reason.
For this reason, we will vote against the Republicans who seek to undermine these ideas, and for the Democrats.
We believe in life and health.
For this reason, we will vote against the Republicans who seek to undermine these ideas, and for the Democrats.
We believe in personal responsibility.
For this reason, we will vote against the Republicans who seek to undermine these ideas, and for the Democrats.