The current Republican electoral advantage is built on an unholy alliance of God and greed. The corporations fund the candidates, and get deregulation, tax breaks, subsidies, and government contracts in return. Meanwhile, those candidates use the funding to fire up the fundamentalist faithful by spewing hate and fear and some well-placed lies (like "Compassionate Conservatism") through the media (ads and, better yet, ownership) and direct contact. This much we all know. Keep reading...
But both sides (mostly) blissfully ignore that they do not share values. The fundamentalists fear the technology the corporations live on, and would rather we not teach science in schools, while the corporations are dying (or fleeing) for better educated workers. The fundamentalists don't let reality invade their bubbles, while the corporations don't let moral considerations interfere with business decisions. The fundamentalists want a culture war to take us back to Victorian times, while the corporations know that sex sells (especially to the repressed, ironically), permissiveness breeds consumerism, and educated, urban professionals make great customers, even the gay and atheist ones.
It seems like a perfect opportunity to realign the political spectrum in our favor. Divide and conquer.
Now, I'm not the first one to think in these terms. Clinton had some success with triangulation, which is to compromise with both groups on the fringes enough to keep a few of them engaged. Problem is, we succeeded in advancing their agenda more than our own, with further deregulation, more grants of power and money, and breakdowns in our rights like DOMA and COPA.
I think the secret is to not merely to compromise, but to ally, with one side in a common agenda against the other.
If we could coopt either constituency, we'd be hard to defeat. If we coopt the Christians, we could have reliable voters, volunteers, and millions of small donors. If we coopt the corporations, we could have unlimited funding, control of the media conversation, global reach, and economic power. The problem, of course, is that we find the agenda of each side repelling and dangerous, and they feel the same about us.
So, which side do we attempt to coopt?
Chew on that question for now. I will follow up with more thoughts in future diaries. For the curious, I haven't decided, either. I'm not leading you down a path, I'd really like to have the discussion.