When voters turn out, Democrats win. We can keep the Senate, we could even take back the House IF we just got everyone who'd vote for Democratic candidates and Democratic policies to show up on election day.
Republicans know this - that's why they're trying to make voting harder everywhere they can. They know they can count on their base to turn out - and it's why they respond to what their base wants. They motivate them with hot button issues, designed to make them angry and afraid. To do this, they've made our very system of government a target. Wrecking the country doesn't matter if they win; their base believes the country is already being destroyed; for them voting is a righteous cause.
The Democratic Party does't get this; they run to the right with Republican Lite in the mistaken belief that will pull in independents and GOP moderates - and then they wonder why what should be their base doesn't show up. They have no clue why Republicans will never vote for them - but they keep trying. Meanwhile, they offer no real alternative to GOP policies.
Until the Democratic Party figures out what they're doing wrong, there's still a way to get people to turn out: play the fear card right back at the Republicans. There's no need to create any fake dangers; the GOP has given us plenty of material to work with. Now is a good time to remind people of that, since neither the media nor the Democratic Party leadership has gotten around to it. It can be easy. LTE's (letters to the editor) are a traditional way - but if you can find ways to use social media, do so. And you can do more if you like.
Some suggestions below the Orange Omnilepticon.
This November, Vote As If Your Life Depends On It - It Does
That's the core message, the theme of this effort. It's not an exaggeration either. From Ronald Reagan on, Republican policies have put this country at risk, destroyed our economy, trashed the middle class, attacked our education system, and deliberately sabotaged our government. After decades of this, there's more than enough evidence in plain sight - the trick is to get people to look. Then connect voting for Republicans with getting more of the same.
I'm not going to create a form letter to cut and paste; it's too easy to use the Internet to track them down and discredit them. Individualized efforts are more effective, especially when tied to personal experiences and local connections. Facts are not enough; people need a gut connection to motivate them to turn out. But... I will list a few sets of talking points and suggestions. I'll frame them in ways that connect them with GOP policies.
EBOLA!!!
If you're worried about Ebola, you should be. If you vote for Republicans, you should worry even more.
Consider this. While Republicans say we have to "Fight the terrorists over there so we don't have to fight them here", they chicken out when it comes to stopping Ebola. The best, most cost-effective way to fight Ebola is to stop it where it is and keep it from spreading - yet Republicans in Congress are on record cutting the President's requests for money to do so. Do they want Ebola to win?
Republicans have crippled our efforts here at home to be ready to cope. Years of budget cuts for the National Institutes of Health, the Center for Disease Control, and cuts to basic research at our nation's universities and research centers mean we have fewer people trained to cope with new threats like Ebola, and are behind in the knowledge we need to fight it. Drug companies have been free to spend billions developing male sex drugs and stomach potions, but new vaccines and antibiotics? Sorry, the free markets don't make enough money doing that, and the idea of having government encourage them to do so is 'socialism'.
Worried about your local hospitals coping with Ebola? The best defense is to identify potential cases early, so they can be kept from spreading - and the best way to do that is to make sure everyone has access to health care. Democrats, in case you hadn't heard, put through something called the Affordable Care Act. You may remember it as "Obamacare". Millions of Americans now have access to something better than the local Emergency Room when they're too sick to stay home. Obamacare is doing what it is supposed to - it's working!
Republicans have been fighting to repeal it ever since, despite the fact it's working. Millions of people are now covered by insurance and costs are coming down. Unless, of course you live in a state where Republicans refused Federal money to expand Medicaid. Millions of people who couldn't qualify for Obamacare were supposed to be picked up by Medicaid, which provides decent care while also keeping costs down. Those people now have to depend on the charity of local hospitals - and without Medicaid to pay for them, those hospitals are under stress and even closing down. Remember that the next time you have to drive miles for health care or wait for an ambulance to arrive.
One more thing. Ebola, flu, what have you - any kind of infectious disease is easier to control if sick people can get treated and rest until they recover. Republicans have consistently fought giving workers sick time, let alone paid sick leave. So the next time you get a burger, do you want Ebola with that?
If you still want to vote Republican, enjoy your tax cuts and your smaller government... and your plague. This November, vote as if your life depends on it - it does.
Job Destroyers!!!
One of the biggest lies Republicans have used to peddle their snake oil is the idea that their policies create jobs, provide opportunity, and build the middle class by cutting taxes, shrinking government, and being "business-friendly". Never mind that the last 30 years have shown time and time again that there is no evidence to support it, that those policies have instead impoverished most Americans while vastly enriching a handful at the top.
Let's start with low-hanging fruit on the business-friendly side and what happens when a company realizes the GOP version of the American Dream. It's not pretty. Even Politifact can't completely gloss over the case of the Walton family. Even Forbes Magazine, hardly a socialist rag, can't dismiss the fact that the Walton family fortune rests on tax payer billions supporting the workers the Walton family underpays. Walmart is the biggest employer in the U.S. - paying their workers a living wage and allowing their suppliers a decent margin would make a huge difference to the economy.
Let's not overlook that incentives to get a Walmart store in a community cost more than they are worth. Walmart stores kill off locally owned businesses, depress local wages, and pull money out of the local economy as the profits go back to the Walton family. Even the NY Daily News has been forced to take notice of this.
The Walton family and Walmart are poster children for the power of Big Business and Big Money to subvert democracy and the public interest for profit. This recent story of the Walton family sabotaging the move to home solar panels is typical. So much for freedom and the free markets; freedom is measured by how much money you have. A vote for Republicans is a vote for more of this. All you need to do is look at ALEC, which is how Big Business is buying up our democracy and rewriting our laws for their profit. If the Republican Party isn't a wholly owned subsidiary of ALEC, it's not because they don't want to be.
The problem with looking to businesses to magically create jobs is this. Businesses do not exist to create jobs - that's a side effect of their primary function: making money. If companies could fire half their work force without affecting their bottom line, they'd do it in a heartbeat with no qualms whatsoever. Employers hire workers for one reason only - because they need them to make money.
Making money as a primary purpose plays out in other ways. We have laws and regulations on business because the drive to make money is a huge incentive to cut corners - unless the price of doing so is high enough to make it unprofitable. There are plenty of ethical business men and women - but there are plenty who will do anything they can get away with, to make a buck. Government regulation doesn't exist in a vacuum - it comes about only with great effort against those with every incentive to behave badly - at the expense of their workers, their stockholders, and the public. Business friendliness too often is a one-way deal.
But enough of this - it's big picture stuff, and most Americans need something up close and personal. So let's come up with some. What would put more money in your pocket - a tax cut for your employer, a boost in the minimum wage, a union so it's not just you against your boss? How safe do you feel at work - does your employer make an effort to correct dangerous situations and work hazards, or do they put more into drug-testing you or searching you to make sure you're not ripping them off? Suppose your employer rips YOU off, steals your wages or fires you out of spite? Who's going to be on your side? Would tax cuts for business boost hiring - or would having more business customers because people have more money?
Look at the above questions, and think about what side the Republican party comes down on. Which side do you think most people want to be on? It's not a hard case to make. This November, vote as if your life depends on it - it does.
So and So Is A Nice Person, But...
The above two examples should give you ideas about how to frame issues to accurately portray the Republican Party as the health hazard it is - but how to deal with seemingly reasonable GOP candidates? It's not hard - the Republicans have been using the technique all along, while the media and Democratic Party have been reluctant to pursue it. Just ask a simple question:
Who are their friends?
And by that I mean, point out that Mr. or Ms. Republican may seem like a nice, sensible person, but once they get elected they'll be going off to play with some real extremists:
• People who want to end Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and Obamacare.
• People who want to bomb anywhere, any time and go to war with our sons and daughters while they sit safe at home and refuse to pay for it.
• People who think we waste billions on freeloaders, but refuse to even discuss corporate tax breaks and subsidies in the billions.
• People with 'Christian' views that make Sharia law look wussy by comparison.
• People who supposedly hate big government, but want to put Vagina Police in every doctor's office, weaponized police forces on our streets, and a standing army along our borders.
• People who send kids to jail for a few grams of pot, but don't even blink when a corporation poisons the water supplies of hundreds of thousands of people.
• People who insist government can't afford to do stuff we desperately need - schools, bridges, and so on - but pass tax cut after tax cut.
• People who insist that people who break the law must be punished - even while they decriminalize behavior by businesses through deregulation and self-policing.
• People who scream about the Deficit all the time - while ignoring Clinton left office with a budget surplus, a national debt being paid down, and a healthy economy.
• People who've sworn to oppose the President of the United States on every measure, and attempted to foment disaffection among the military.
• People who willfully deny the reality of everything and anything science has to say if it conflicts with their agenda, their beliefs and/or their financial supporters.
• Etc. Etc.
You get the idea. There is more than enough crazy in the GOP these days to justifiably tar anyone who wants to run on their ballot line. Point out who they'll be working with to shape our laws, and challenge candidates if they support those ideas or oppose them. The best they'll be able to do is try to waffle an answer - they're damned if they do and damned if they don't, and they'll be on the record.
It doesn't matter how reasonable an individual Republican candidate may be - it's who they'll be working with. Every mob is made up of people who might be perfectly all right in isolation, but taken together they are a disaster.
This November, vote as though your life depends on it - because it does.
In Non-Conclusion...
Needless to say, this is just a start. Between now and election day, this is the kind of stuff we need to hammer home and Get Out The Vote! If you're going to engage in this kind of dialog, be prepared for pushback. The Right has become much nastier these days, both by intent and out of well-deserved fear. They have a media machine pounding their talking points home 24/7/365. The double standard doesn't help; liberals who talk forcefully about their opponents and their record are stereotyped as 'mean' while conservatives are considered 'principled' and 'strong'. We'll deal with it.
You can work as hard at this if you want. Maybe concentrate on friends and family, social media, whatever. You can go further by volunteering for local campaigns - phone banking, pamphleting, walking and talking. GOTV is the key.
Again, localize and personalize this. For people not planning to vote, ask them if they CAN vote. Are they registered? Do they know where their polling place is? (Tell them how to find out.) How much time left do they have to register? Can they vote with an absentee ballot? Is there early voting in their area? (Try to have answers.) Do they need an ID? What kind, and how do they get one?
Republicans are doing everything they can to make this as difficult as possible - point out to people if they haven't voted lately, they may find some nasty surprises waiting for them. There have been deliberate efforts to confuse people, and Supreme Court rulings keep changing what voting laws are in effect. (One place to keep on top of this is the League of Women Voters - they do outstanding work.)
When they find out Republicans are trying to keep them from voting, that alone may motivate them to turn out. If that's not enough, find something that connects to them in their lives, something that affects them personally, or be prepared to share something from your own experience they can understand.
What the hey - if you're not crazy about who the Democrats are putting up, think of this as good practice for the next primary season, when you can work on getting people out to vote for better Democrats.
And remember -
This November, vote as though your life depends on it - because it does.