If you are a Texas Democrat and you have a pulse, you know who David VanOs is. If you have heard him speak, you will never mistake him for any other living Texas Democrat. David commented on one of my postings a while back. In his patented no nonsense style, he insisted that plain spokeness was the only language a Democratic candidate should speak. Not for him this "framing" stuff, etc. Ironically, I think David is a fine "framer", but that is for another discussion. What David does better than anyone now running for us is lead with his values.
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The purpose of this series of posts on the "Democratic Dozen" is to help you become an army of one, an agent of change wherever you find yourself. We cannot all be David VanOs, but we can all learn something about being agents of change by paying attention to how he does what he does so well.
Recall the second of what I call the Democratic Dozen:
In communicating our message to the general public the 3 most important things to talk about are : values, values and values. The fourth most important things are factoids that rattle their cages.
Here is vintage David :
"It is time to discard the "avoid polarization at all costs" strategy, the "take no risks" strategy, the "appeal to everybody" strategy, and the "chase the middle" strategy. It is time to remember what Jim Hightower told us 20 years ago, that "there's nothin' in the middle of the road but yellow stripes and dead armadillos." It is time to cease the followership strategies of scripting campaigns on the basis of what people thought yesterday in polls, and assert the leadership strategies of campaigning for what we know to be right based on our deepest convictions of what we want for tomorrow. It is time to stop worrying about whom we might offend if we speak truth to power, and start worrying about what value are our lives if we don't speak truth to power. It is time to cherish partisan Democrats and reject nonpartisan Nothingcrats. It is time to forget "right-left" analysis and install "right-wrong" analysis.
It is time to replace the "liberal-conservative" spectrum with the "liberty-tyranny" spectrum. It is time to stop worrying about how to get money from big donors and start worrying about how to get more money into working people's paychecks. It is time to fight for better lives for voters instead of peddle promises to voters. It is time to treat public office as a duty, not a promotion. We must fight for the people, not in order to win their votes, but in order to win
them justice"
David VanOs
There is not one factoid in this key part of David's stump speech. There is not one policy proposal. There is a passionate attack on those who stand for nothing or everything , which is the same thing finally. (Quick review: this was of course rule one of our dozen: stand for something ). It tells us he wants to fight for his values, values he knows we share: justice, prosperity for working people, truth.
Let's link up what he is saying to ournew master narrative:
Democrats have a long and strong record of promoting opportunity for everyone by fighting discrimination and injustice. Indeed, whenever average Americans are protected against corporate greed, against the arrogance of wealth , there is a Democrat doing the heavy lifting.
and here:
Now, arrogant elites are again threatening to destroy our heritage of inclusion and fair play, and our community. They want to destroy the ability of our government to protect the common good against greedy and corrupt interests. In fact , a gang of arrogant pointy headed cultist , in love with Big Business have kidnapped our democracy.
Now why is this important?
First, when what is said is seen to be part of a cohesive narrative, of a clear strong story, it is more effective and more memorable.David of course did not take his ideas from my obscure posting. Nevertheless notice how it can all fit together to reinforce the Democratic brand in the hears of the general public.
Secondly, it does not matter if you are David VanOs, or lightseeker or whoever, when you speak you are first judged on who you are perceived to be! In leading with values, you define yourself to your audience.If you are passionate and clear about what you stand for and what you will not fall for, you stand a better chance of being heard and respected.
You cannot persuade if you cannot get people to begin to trust you. We trust people whose values we share. Ironically, as Americans we share many of the same values. So claim those values when you speak. As David puts it so well it is finally not "liberal-conservative" but "right-wrong". We all want justice, even if we don't define it in the same way. Every meaningful conversation starts with some agreements. In this case David asks us to agree with him that justice and prosperity for the average guy are all worth pursuing. Only a Bushbot or Delay Borgette would not find common ground here. These people you write off anyway. It is reasonable persons of good will who are your real audience.
So when the blowhard at the water cooler says " Those illegal immigrants are taking all our jobs and besides they are criminals and terrorists!" how do you respond? You start with you value . "I believe everybody has a right to provide for their family, that the real criminals are fat cats who export our good jobs and spit on our constitution, not the hard working folks who just want to earn their daily bread." Then you hit'em with a factoid: "Did you know , by the way, that the crime rate for immigrants is lower than the national average and as for terrorist, remember that the 9-11 people had overstayed their legal visas, not sneaked across some border."
If the blowhard is a man of good will a conversation will ensue. If not , more vapid sound bytes will spew out. We will speak about how you deal with these in a later posting. To anticipate, your audience are the onlookers, not the hopeless clone before you.