I've just returned from a Meetup with our Congressman Jim McGovern (MA-3). Over pizza and some drinks, McGovern gave us his take on the future. For those of you who don't know, McGovern is one of the most progressive liberal Dems in the House. He voted both against the war and against the Patriot Act I. He has a 100% rating from the League of Conservation voters. He fully supports gay marriage, abortion rights, and social services for the needy. He is something of an icon in this district despite his rather young age, especially after having beaten back a formidable and well-financed Republican opponent in holy-roller gay-bashing Ron Crews 71-29%.
If there was one message to take away from tonight's discussion it was this: the Democratic Party needs to use its grassroots. Top down ain't going to cut it in the New World Order. He talked in very Dean-esque terms about using the internet and technology as well as tried and true boots-on-the-ground. We know around here that Kerry would not have won New Hampshire without the face-to-face encounters Massachusetts volunteers had with NH voters.
McGovern also spoke about how frightening the Bush Administration is. He openly discussed how the Administration will do absolutely anything to get its way and briefly touched on how anyone in the Bush Administration who ever strayed from the Rovian plan has been axed. They are leaner, meaner than they have ever been.
Which all leads to Rove and message. McGovern knows George Lakoff and subscribes to Lakoff's diagnosis of the problem. We need an equivalent to George Bush's "Vote for me or you'll die" message. It needs to be simple, straightforward, and--above all--unswerving. He, like Dean, states categorically the Dems cannot move on the core principles. Discipline, however, is the problem and continues to be a problem.
When asked about the possibility of the Dems becoming an opposition party and developing a shadow government a la the Brits, he agreed this is exactly what we should do. We should have our own Secretary of State to counter Rice, our own Attorney General to counter Ashcroft/Gonzalez, etc. He also urged everyone to not only flood their local papers with letters to the editor but also their reps and senators on future votes. He said that no Congressman or Senator should be voting for Patriot II--and we should be applying the pressure steadily. He said flat out that people have to tell their reps and senators what to do.
Lastly, he stressed over and over the importance of running for office at the local level and mentioned school boards, etc., just as Dean has in the past, with the plan that we will convince people at the local level that what we stand for is better and right. There is no other way to pull this thing out of the hopper.