Single issue groups are always quick to argue that their issues are always "core" parts of the Democratic Party. It's clear why -- the Dems don't have a coherent, national message, and the issue groups have eagerly filled the void. Nature abhors a vacuum.
And given that these issues groups must all fundraise from the same base of liberal donors and foundations, it's no surprise that they all claim their issue is The Most Important One Facing the Party Today.
I've actually heard people say "abortion is a core part of the Democratic Party". Bullshit it is. I hate abortion. It's a horrible, horrible thing. You make that a "key" part of the party, and I'll start looking for a third party.
So why am I a supporter of abortion-rights? Well, it's clearly not because of abortion itself. And finding those broader values that lead us to support one issue or another is far more important than the single issue itself. We, as a party, won't win any more elections until we recognize that.
Let's take the abortion issue. I support choice because I don't think it's my business, or government's, to control any woman's body. I think women have an expectation of privacy when dealing with their personal medical concerns.
And therein we find a core value -- privacy. That's where the party branding is built, with top-level values. And the beauty of it is that we're not branded as the "party of abortion" which is a guaranteed loser in large swaths of the country.
Privacy is obviously much bigger than the abortion issue. It includes things from the right to die to opposition to the Patriot Act. So, let's say we're running a race in Alaska. We're the party of privacy. Alaskans don't care much for abortion. But they care even less for the Patriot Act. So when discussing "privacy", our candidates can focus on the issues that resonate better to their constituents -- in this case, the Patriot Act. Now, that doesn't mean the Dem has to be anti-abortion, but it would allow him/her to discuss issues more broadly in language more palatable to local audiences.
Note, this isn't a Lakoffian excercise. This isn't about "framing". Framing deals with finding the best language with which to sell certain issues. This is about determining the party's core values.
So I did a little excercise. I listed as many issues related to Democrats as I could, then tried to figure out why I believe in those issues. Then I extracted the core values.
Republican core values are: smaller government, lower taxes, family values, and a strong national defense. We can argue about the GOP's allegiance to those values, but fact is, that branding has been extremely effective. And those are values that play everywhere. "Family values" doesn't have to mean "I hate gays". It could technically mean "Family Leave Act". Many voters have no clue what particular issues those Republican values actually stand for.
So here are the core Democratic values I came up with:
Smart Government
Privacy
Conservation
Opportunity
US Leadership
It'd be nice to boil those down to four (or even three) core values, but hey, it's a start. So here's how these values relate to our particular laundry list of issues:
Smart Government
Anti-corruption
Responsive govt
Accountability
Transparancy
Electoral Reform
Fiscal responsibility
Privacy
Choice
Opposition to regulation of morality
Opposition to Patriot Act
Right to die
Medical marijuana
Consumer privacy
Freedom of/from religion
Access to contraceptives
Conservation
Protecting our environment
Protecting our cultural heritage
Energy policy
Opportunity
Education (pre-K, primary, secondary, college)
Worker rights
Social Security
Health Care
Gender equality (same pay for same work, etc)
Affirmative action
Tort laws to protect the little guys from Big Corp
Non-regressive tax laws
Gay marriage
Fair trade laws
Small business support
US Leadership
Strong (not hollow) military
Leadership on global issues (e.g. terrorism, landmines, global warming, etc.)
Champion of human rights, at home and abroad
Leadership in science and technology (e.g. stem cells, alternative energy, etc.)
Strong United Nations/Internationalism
I am more convinced than ever that people don't want to hear about issues, they want to hear about values. And not "values" in the sense of religion or the "I hate gays" crowd, but those values that inform where we stand on the issues. Things like "privacy" and "opportunity".
In other words, they don't care so much about the issues, but how you arrive at decisions about the issues.
We are more likely to win people over by clearly explaining the values that drive our judgment on the issues, than by giving people our traditional laundry list of issues we support.
(I'll periodically add threads to discuss this, as it's bound to generate lots of discussion. Perhaps some of it heated.)