The Democrats can, and will, win back this country in the next five years. We will win with a combination of issues and tactics that resonate with the American people, and blunt the strengths of the Republicans while exposing their ugly underside. What follows is a summary of the issues and tactics that I believe will be critical to our victory.
Let me say that this is only my opinion. I welcome thoughts and feedback and hope that debates like these will strengthen our party.
Theme: Rational Governance
The overall theme of the Democratic Party through the 2010 midterms should be Rational Governance. Rational is a word Democrats and our allies can identify with. It implies that others are "irrational" (which they
are). It shows that we're pragmatic and dedicated to that which works, supported by evidence and results. It stands in direct opposition to ideologues and purists, most of whom Americans will instinctually distrust. There's a reason that
Pragmatism is the American Philosophy.
Governance is another word that I like for our party. To govern is to restrain and steward. It stands in excellent contrast to the excess and corruption of the current administration. We will govern where they misgovern.
I am not saying this theme should be our catchphrase. I don't think it captures attention in a 30 second spot, but it's a good phrase for speeches and answers. It's a good theme to repeat and use as a baseline for what we want to bring when we come to power.
Issues
The cornerstone Democratic issues for the next five years are already known, though they are called by many names and organized haphazardly depending on who is talking about them. I believe it is critical for us to organize them coherently and speak about them consistently. An effective structure will allow the key ideas to be referenced under one of these four headings, and provide a consistent touchstone of terms that the American public will hear repeatedly through the next three election cycles.
The four Democratic Issues are:
- Health Care - The country is ready for Health Care reform. I believe that Senator Kerry got it right when he started with national insurance for catastrophic medical expenses. (For an example, see a Washington Post article on Kerry's plan.) There are other ideas out there, but a consistent message that voting Democrat means fixing the funding, managing and delivery of health care is what we're looking for.
- Privacy - Democrats are the Party of Privacy. We need to come out hard and strong in favor of "Privacy." We need to keep repeating it and saying it strongly. When pressed for what this means, we can tailor the answer to the audience. Privacy means Pro-Choice, privacy means anti-Patriot act, in the right room privacy may even mean drug sentencing reform.
- Safety Net - Democrats built our national safety net and Democrats have defended it for twenty-five years. Democrats must be the party of preserving the American safety net for our children and their children. Specifically, Democrats are for preserving Social Security (our oldie but goodie), fully funding NCLB (the country wants testing, folks), fixing the Medicare Drug Plan, and reforming the US pension system.
We have a chance here to really get out in front of a key 2006 issue, the Medicare Part D debacle. We need to campaign now on fixing the Medicare Drug Plan. We need to make negotiated discounts part of it. We need to establish a simplified structure for explaining different plans, and we need to explain that we're not satisfied with what the Republicans passed a few years ago. I also think there's a place in this issue to get the voters to understand that we pay for social services one way or another. By not providing good schools, we wind up paying for more prisons and police. By not fixing the pension system, we wind up paying for more unemployment insurance and emergency room care.
4. Fiscal Rationality - Democrats are the party of Fiscal Rationality. What we have now isn't responsible, it isn't even rational. You cannot increase spending while cutting taxes. You cannot cut the taxes of the wealthiest Americans while increasing the government's costs for taking care of the weakest. When Democrats have been in charge, we have had balanced budgets and economic growth, along with a fiscal policy that the world respects.
Iraq
Before I go into detail about our tactics, there is one missing from this list that is the elephant in the room, and I would like to address it directly. The war in Iraq is the fundamental issue of our day. However it is an issue with a very short lifespan. By the time the next Presidential Election is fought, the grounds of this issue will be completely different. It is impossible for us to formulate a long-term plan for a political position on the Iraq war. I strongly believe that the Iraq war must be handled in two ways. First, it should be handled as a LOCAL issue. How a Democrat talks about the Iraq war in New York will be different from how one talks about it in Norfolk. And it should be that way. Every community is affected differently by this war, though we are all affected by it. The reason Mr. Hackett has the resonance he does is because of the manner, time and place in which he opposes the war. I believe that all Democratic positioning on the war should be guided by personal principles, informed by the specific time and place the position is stated.
Tactics
Issues alone aren't enough to win elections. The past five years have taught us that. We need tactics we can use to highlight our issues and offset the way the Republicans have been able to frame the debate. I believe there are a number of tactics we can, and should, use to win.
Wedge Issues
Democrats have our own, killer wedge issues. Fiscal rationality, which means bringing tax policy in line with national needs (i.e., rolling back the tax cuts, but let's not say that) is a wedge issue with most business people against anti-tax indeologues with whom they may otherwise share affinity. If we can show that we want to make the government fiscally sound, we'll win the same business constituency Clinton-Rubin did.
Similarly, education is a wedge issue. We can and should oppose Intelligent Design in science classrooms, but not from an ideological position. We need to oppose it from a practical position, as it undermines our ability to train the next generation of engineers and computer programmers. A good diary from tree hugger already started discussing this. It's very important that we don't say we're opposed to teaching intelligent design, but that we're opposed to teaching it in science classrooms. This is what won in Dover and will win for us.
Win Rural Voters
I'm supporter of Mark Warner. The biggest reason is that he's a business person who won rural counties, and knows how to develop coattails in them (look how well Tim Kaine did in rural counties). He's got a plan for winning rural votes. We need to take this national. The issue isn't Christian vs. Secular, Conservative vs. Liberal, Urban vs. Suburban. It's upstate vs. downstate, center vs. periphery, the same polarization that has been the fundamental dichotomy in democratic politics the world over. The most successful, greatest democratic leaders have been the ones who forged coalitions between the two.
How do we win rural voters? We've already started. First off, we're downplaying gun control. We need to do this; we're not with the majority of the country on this issue. Second, we need to talk about economic growth in rural areas. This doesn't mean talking about farming, or manufacturing, or other specifics on a national level (keep those issues local), but making sure we tell people that we're focused on bringing economic growth to the regions that have missed out. To accomplish this, we need national leaders to go into rural areas and hold town halls, all around the country, and actually listen to what the people there are saying. They have their answers, we need to listen to them.
Make "Privacy" our code word
Privacy is one of the most powerful tools we can bring to bear in the next five years. Privacy isn't something any politician can oppose, when telemarketers and spam are issues of the day and the more Americans know about the Patriot Act, the less they support it. We should propose a Privacy Amendment to the constitution, which kos has already discussed. We should use Privacy the way they use flag burning or, in coming elections "National Identity."
Advocate for Transparency
Louis Brandeis said "Sunlight is the best disinfectant." We need to keep hammering on openness and transparency in government and elections. We need to be sure we argue against things like the Ohio bill that limits transparency, we need to show that we're the Party that isn't afraid to show you what's going on. For all the issues on which the Republicans want to show us as weak, we need to show them as secretive. We need to reframe the debate as open vs. closed government.
Take It To The Voters
In all cases that we can, we need to get our leaders and our candidates out and into conversations with regular voters. There's a definite anti-Beltway tilt to this site, and that's fine as far as it goes. But I think we can all agree that for the most part the problem isn't our leaders, it's the fact that our leaders aren't listening to the voters. We need to get our people out and talking to Americans, everywhere. This is the strength of the primary system, because it forces candidates to talk to real people in real places. Let's have real town halls to offset the fake ones the President has. Let's have the strength of character to admit "we're not sure" in some cases, and ask for voters' opinions before we make up our mind. Let's show we're interested in the public debate, and not blind allegiance. And let's let our candidates be guided by their constituents. Tip O'Neill said "all politics is local." We need to remember that, and let our candidates be their own brand of Democrats. If that means they're pro-life, so be it. If that means they're pro-tax, so be it. Our party is strong enough to debate these issues with each other.
The natural outgrowth from this tactic is a 50-State-Strategy. In every town, Democratic ideas will resonate with someone, if presented in person and with passion. That person may create a monthly roundtable in their house, and suddenly we have the core of a GOTV operation in Wilsonville NC.
And that, ultimately, is how we will win.
