One of the main questions people in the liberal blogosphere are asking is: Should the Dems have run further to the left to better activate the base like Dear Leader just did, or should they have run even further through the mushy middle to pick up more voters in the center? This is a trick question, folks.
Here's what the Movement Cons have done: they have completely re-graded the playing field over the past forty years in such a way that they can run as far the right as they like, and not look like lunatics to the average (eg non-political junkie) American. Meanwhile, this playing field makes us look like lunatics no matter what we do, despite the well-documented fact that our positions are the more popular positions, as well as the fact that we have the truth on our side. I'm talking about language; about the terms of the political debate.
There's a
whole lotta shit we gotta do to level this playing field (or better yet, tilt it in our favor), and we've taken the first steps over these last two years or so. But the political language is the trump card. We've got to take that back, or we will always be the minority party.
We have to clarify and distill our mission. We have to simplify and sharpen our message. Our mission and message were built and honed over three quarters of a century, beginning in the 1890s with the Populists and Progressives, continuing through FDR and the New Deal, and culminating in the civil rights and anti-war struggles of the 1960s. Throughout these decades, our mission was a living, evolving thing, and our message continually retooled for each new struggle.
But since the 60s, our mission and our message have sat unchanged, as the world has continued to evolve. Now why did this happen? My theory is that it's because the inspirational and rhetorical leaders of movement were shot to death: JFK, RFK, MLK; and the baton was dropped before another generation of leaders was ready to take it up.
But we have to play the hand we're dealt. And unfortunatly we live in this America; the America that has fumbled its moral legacy. That means that we have a lot of hard work to do to reframe the language of political debate in this country. But we've already taken the first steps.
We need to build up an actual Liberal Media to counter the pressure that the Murdoch/Scaiffe/Limbaugh/Drudge horsemen apply to the mainstream media. We've begun that work through Air America Radio, the liberal blogosphere, Salon.com, etc., but we have a long way to go. As long as the Cons dominate the media, our message and theirs will continue to be viewed through their lens.
We need to rebuild and sharpen our message for today's battles. This takes institutions as well as grass roots, and we're just beginning to fight this front. We've got the liberal blogosphere and the Center for American Progress as a small start, but we need more think tanks. And while Howard Dean has begun to move the rusted gears of the Democratic party, this old machine needs a whole lot of work to get back in the message game.
We need to rebuild our ground game. We've been riding out the unions and the institutions of the Civil Rights movement for the last forty years. We need a fresh new movement to take the load. We've gotten a really good start on this front between MoveOn.org, ACT, True Majority, etc. We need to keep it up.
Remember: the problem is not that we've abandoned the left, or abandoned the center. The problem is that we've abandoned the message, and in so doing, let the Cons reshape the ground right under our feet. This is where the work is.