For those of us living in solid blue states, but still unfortunately having Republican elected officials who follow the national party traditions, I think it's time we start fighting back. The key is to compare and contrast, and showing how successful our policies have been compared to the failed Republican ones.
The Democrats aren't going to carry the south, but we can sure as hell focus on the northern states, the farm belt, the western states. We've made signifigant inroads into Colorado and Montana. We can divide and conquer the dakotas. We need to point out to these states what is happening as a result of the failed Republican policies.
And I apologize to those who might live down South, but when people up here think of failure, they think...
Alabama
I've found that in talking to Republicans around here, they really don't like the state of Alabama. They equate it with racism, backwards thinking, being poor and other bad words. This is similar to the Republicans constantly bringing up Hollywood, etc.
So in my most recent letter to the local newspaper(Minneapolis Star Tribune, aka strib), I am trying to use this theme... It'd be good if we force the state GOP to abandon their ties to the national GOP. Here in Minnesota they used to be called the Independent Republicans not to long ago for this very reason.
Bad idea? Good idea?
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My Letter to the Editor
I'm not the first to admit that I don't like paying taxes. I really don't. However, I also happen to like good schools, smooth roads, cops on the streets, and the knowledge that if my house is on fire I have someone I can call to help. All of these things are vital government services, and it concerns me that the Minnesota Republican party has abandoned these services in their lust to promote an anti-tax agenda.
I hope that Governor Pawlenty understands that Minnesota has a history of creating a robust economic environment by way of intelligent investment in shared government services. This history of success is something that has eluded anti-tax states like Alabama. It's clearly time that we stop transplanting those failed policies here to the Great State of Minnesota.