There is no shortage of Republican messages which are repeatedly clogging the air ways. Most are outrageous, false, and ignorant. Some even criminal and violent. They rarely pay any type of penalty for releasing them. Thus, they become cemented in the national discourse. Voltaire once said long ago, "Those that can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities." Those words remain true today.
The Sound You Here is the Sound of Crickets
What do we hear in response to Republican absurdities? The sound of crickets. Sadly, the Democratic leadership response to this lunacy isn’t nearly loud or as frequent enough to counter it. The lack of timely and forceful responses making the airways is so common that one suspects this is deliberate. Perhaps under the false belief that Republican propaganda is so ridiculous as to not being able to cause any real damage? Or maybe leadership is still holding back so it can wave the hand of bipartisanship? Or even the opposite, out of some kind of belief that it is so crazy they it is not being widely swallowed making it good for us in the long run? There may have been a time that the latter was even true to a degree. But that time is far in the past. The Republicans have discovered that creating chaos, division, jealously, fear, and hatred now works in their favor. And they have no other message for the millions of voters that never benefit materially from their policies.
Republicans also don’t wait to flood the air waves with their poison. It’s done pretty much on a 24/7 basis. They have a friendly to them corporate media and their own news and radio apparatus and thousands of so-called apolitical shills to publicly take up their cause.
It’s not hard for a thinking person to come to the conclusion that their arguments cannot hold up to scrutiny. So why and how is it that we are now living in an age of dangerous and explosive misinformation? For example, how is it that something as politically neutral and apolitical as a vaccine that will save thousands of lives among the public at large as well as in one’s own family been sabotaged so successfully.
The answer seems rather obvious, if shocking. Democratic leadership seems largely in denial as to what has happened. That Republican fascist propaganda works largely because it coincides with backward, biased, and conspiratorial beliefs that have long been propagated and taken root in American culture for millions of mainly white voters. Leadership has largely failed to set up a competing network and related information war room to counter the Republican onslaught, especially one that can put the Republicans on the defensive in their cultural strongholds.
BTW, I’m not counting MSNBC, which mostly caters to still loyal Democratic voters. Seems as though they have given up even trying, which only feeds the polarization and division in the country even more. Two sets of Americans increasingly get their news from totally differently sources. And even the less crazy sources have a built-in corporate bias. The ship for bipartisan cooperation against fascism sailed some time ago, and certainly after the 2016 election of Trump. That’s different than building a united consensus against fascism with as many people as possible. That can’t be built by finding common ground with a now fascist party that seeks to destroy democracy itself and the Constitution. I just don’t think the country can be saved by the largely defensive tactics now being deployed by the Democratic leadership. I can understand, to a point, avoiding what the Republicans are trying to do, which is to literally set the country on fire. There is real reluctance and perhaps outright fear on the part of Democratic leadership to enact a mass campaign that can easily trigger all out Civil War. But the alternative defensiveness has only emboldened the Republicans, who now make threats of violence from the floor of Congress.
Why the Sharp Drop in Biden’s Popularity?
The sharp drop in Biden’s popularity can only partially blamed on corporate media bias and the Republicans. The prolonged battle with Congress and elements in his own party obstructing much needed reforms caused great damage to support within his own party. With millions of voters under the false illusion that Congress was now controlled by the Democrats. The more Biden pursued bipartisanship and what at least to the rank and file of the party seemed like a Neville Chamberlain appeasement policy with Senators Manchin and Sinema, the weaker he looked and the more his rating fell. This is something that the party leadership must acknowledge and address.
Many voters also literally hate the other party -- I must admit to hating the current Republican leadership myself. In turn, the Republican constituency pathologically deplores the Democrats. This is true for people I know personally and relatives in my own family. Trumpism is everywhere, is not an aberration, and will not go away on its own. It does not bode well for the country and why sliming style politics never expands our base, only Trumps’, no matter how on point the slime is.
One last point. The Republican propaganda works almost effortlessly because it revolves around the historical misinformation, racial bias, and lies that have been promoted over extended periods of our history, to various degrees and at times by both parties. Many have already bought into this fantasy culture and cling to it. All the Repubs need to do is to pander to this element. And tell people “it’s OK to be a bigot, I’m one too” or “It’s OK to hate immigrants, or uppity women, or gays, or liberals, etc. “ Our task is much harder. As progressivism, reformism and even liberalism have never been fully legitimized or defended adequately or forcefully by the central leadership.
Seven Things Democratic Leadership Should Start Doing ASAP
- Take the gloves off and go on the offensive without delay and stop playing defense
- Respond immediately to Republican Attacks
- Stop relying on the Major Media to report accurately in an unbiased fashion
- Develop a plan to do mass outreach in all parts of the country
- Develop and deploy mass psychology and consult media pros about how it can be done
- Do honest and painful self-criticism of your current political approach, failures, and successes
- Adding/recruiting new and younger national leadership that will appeal to the masses
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