The Republican party has a lock on that group of voters and will hold onto it harder than Charlton Heston did his rifle.
The way to combat the fear and loathing generated by the Republican party is to stand up and be counted on the positive advances of the last century.
Women's rights
Unequivocally support the Supreme Courts decision of Roe v Wade. Be proud of the work carried out by Planned Parenthood, insist that all health insurance covers women health completely without exception . Be strong on your support for equal pay and its benefits to the economy as a whole.
Unions
Show support for the right for every American to be a member of a union if they so wish. Corporations and shareholders collectively bargain all the time, it is after-all what makes K Street tick.
Equal rights
State with clarity that there can be no discrimination based upon race, creed, gender or sexual orientation and to do so would be unconstitutional. After all this is what small government is all about; non interference in peoples lives. Once you start discriminating no matter what the perceived justification, then Government becomes oppressive.
Social security
Is an obligation, it is an investment made by Americans for their retirement. It is not a pot of money to be auctioned off to the private sector to play with. It is backed and guaranteed by the wealth of the nation as a whole and not by a pile of financial tools.
Immigration
Highlight with joy how immigration has made America what it is today, and to those immigrants that have contributed to the economy and social fabric no matter what their status, be given the right to become citizens. Make the rules clear and fair and without menace, then the current situation can be handled with equanimity.
Medicare, Medicaid, Affordable Health Care.
The engine of a successful nation is a healthy population. I costs more when the system breaks down than when it is successful. For profit health care costs are a drain on the economy and millions of uninsured a ticking time bomb.
Education
Is a right and not a luxury, it is what makes us competitive in the global market place. The idea should be to make it free, since this is what will generate the revenue of the future. Is investing in America so bad?
Pollution and Global warming
Stress the science, show the sense behind the regulations. After all is it so bad to want to live in a clean environment? The technologies exist, so why not make everyone's lives just a little bit better and give the economy a kick in the ass. It is after all a sector where growth can be guaranteed.
Foreign Policy
The dream of the necons is to bomb the world into democracy, wouldn't it be better to lead by example? Do we have to resort to lethal methods to prove our point. It is about time we made friends rather than to continue making whole generations of people hate us for our hubris.
Military spending
Do we continually have to have the capability to destroy civilization many times over, isn't once enough? Do we really need every single toy that the military can dream up? If we paid more attention to the real dangers of our own making then perhaps we wouldn't have to spend as much as the rest of world combined. The money saved could be more productively spent elsewhere.
Space and Science
Rather than cutting back we should be spending. Knowing our own solar system is a step towards the future, knowing how the universe ticks an advantage. Knowing how our own planet works is a key to our survival and prosperity. Renewables are not a threat, but a way to solve the coming problems, even if for the time being it more profitable to be reckless. Take the politics out of science, rely on the data, peer review the conclusions, reach consensus and then act.
Be proud of what we have achieved.
I am tired of the fear and loathing being generated by the Wackadoodle wing, we are better than that. I do wish that apparently intelligent people would stop pandering to, and justifying these idiots for political and financial gain.