Are people starting to get what I mean when I say people are no longer wrong but intentionally and deliberately wrong while daring us to do something about it?
Today I'm thinking about where this thought leads. I think that everyone agrees that humbly "playing by the rules", doing our bit to vote, to encourage people to vote, and throwing highly visible protests is just not going to wind down the extreme steps that we're seeing by the increasingly powerful lunatic fringe of the right.
The already partisan will not change their banners out of embarrassment, will not decide that they need to put the culture war and wedge issues aside, just because they're so appalled at the hypocrisy, incompetence, and obstructionism of their leaders, or the seditious rhetoric and actions of their extreme wing. Whatever fruit that could bear already happened between 2016-2020, and there's nobody left to peel away that cares enough to make a difference.
"Look how terrible those people are" is not enough to pull centrists or fence-sitters either. The target for these kind of tactics could not have been more suited, and still it barely made a dent in how close the electoral college was. It doesn't work.
So what is needed? Is the democracy game over? Revolution, civil war? Start acting with the same disregard for our civic traditions and rule of law in order to be a match for opponents that are all too willing to go that far themselves?
My answer is no. There's a better way. We've already seen a lot of these in action to learn from, and it can be done by Democrats.
1. A platform of unapologetic, meaningful policy goals, with healthcare reform and affirming reproductive freedom front and center. Stop watering them down to try to gain broader support from the unconvinced. Broaden support by CONVINCING. Reagan knew this, and his campaign managed to shift the Overton Window in a manner that still persists. Democrats are full of popular and valuable ideas, that they are bad at selling. Don't sell policies on the ideology of it. Sell them on the practicality. Show how these policies can help people even if they don't sign on to the political theme that they grew from.
2. Shore up our democratic institutions rather than being tempted to bypass or abandon them. Democrats have practice at this too. There was remarkable effort to bolster the credibility of our election processes and results, to make sure that they were operating as accurately and securely as possible even in the face of baseless accusations. To make sure that the people in sensitive positions were educated enough to resist the spurious claims of a stolen election and make the results binding. It's a more challenging task this time around because in many places there is an attempt to get cronies into those sensitive roles. That battle is not lost, though, and needs all the more effort.
3. Focus more on state and local politics. Another winning strategy that Republicans proved the effectiveness of. Democrats need to get into that game more, and rely less on national politics to trickle support downballot. This applies to the voters as well. Don't just vote, don't just protest. Get involved in shaping the local party organizations. Participation is often relatively low, which means that even a single person and a couple of like minded friends can be highly effective. Will the national party organization dominate still? Likely. But more participation will make it harder to. This is the remedy for that feeling that your party doesn't represent you anymore.
Will gerrymandering still put many efforts to shift state and district level politics at a disadvantage? Yes. Still worth the effort. Stronger efforts and dedicated players can prevail even on an uneven playing field.
Thank you if you've had the patience to read this far. Rant over.
