Uniters, Not Dividers
I think progresssives need to be the voice in the American dialogue that seeks to bring this country together. For far too long, Republicans and conservatives have made much mileage out of dividing and we spend so much time responding to what a relatively small conservative cabal is doing, rather than appealing to the people whom they deviously work to deceive.
We should we be saying to those folks, "Hey, Mr. and Mrs. America, if you're tired of being divided and taken advantage of, we're here. Join us." But all to often we fall into the "us against them" game that conservatives love to play.
Most people who would slap the "c" label on themselves, do so because conservatives do a very consistent job of presenting their ideals, even though those ideals are ultmately destructive to concept of American community. It's a blatant appeal to our baser instincts. Ronald Reagan's "how much better off are YOU than you were 4 years ago?" was a prime example. Never mind the growing numbers of homeless during his time in office. Another example was Jesse Helm's racially charged ad when when he found himself losing to former Charlotte mayor Harvey Gant, an African-American man, in 1994 North Carolina Senate campaign. The commercial showed the hands of white person crumpling up a letter denying him a job because the company "had to hire a minority". Helms was using 'code' to tap into the fear of whites about losing a job, which was more likely to be outsourced eventually to a third world country. We could also throw into the mix, legions of examples of appeals to fear and intolerance in the wake of 9/11 by conservative voices.
If Conservatives appeal to worse to the in us. I think that we should appeal to the best in us. I'm not talking about playing Mr. Nice Guy while they kick our butts up with anything they can get their hands on. That's part of the reason that many people don't truly respect progressive-minded people and see a place for themselves within the ranks. Sadly, many of us still believe that paramount to winning back the country is winning over conservatives. We have to realize that there's a fairly sizeable percentage of conservatives who feel that they "win" simply by keeping the argument going, since the facts do not favor them. It ultimately becomes about knocking your facts down rather than presenting any of their own that hold up. If it's a draw, they feel like they've won.
Given the direction of country, our main concern should be getting into the proverbial car and driving quickly in the other direction. There is no time to stop and try to convince someone who thinks it's smart to drive directly into the path of the storm.
I want to see those of us who believe in the ideals of community do a better job of communicating the benefits of our belief to rest of the country. Our message needs to be, as the late Paul Wellstone used to say, "we all do better , when we all do better" and not a knee jerk reaction to the latest craven appeal to fear and selfishness by conservatives.
posted by Dar @ 10:28 PM
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