""There is a very upper-middle-class flavor to liberalism, and that's just bound to rub average people the wrong way," Mr. Frank said. He notes that Republicans have used "culturally powerful but content-free issues" to connect to ordinary voters.
"To put it another way, Democrats peddle issues, and Republicans sell values. Consider the four G's: God, guns, gays and grizzlies.
"One-third of Americans are evangelical Christians, and many of them perceive Democrats as often contemptuous of their faith. And, frankly, they're often right. Some evangelicals take revenge by smiting Democratic candidates.
"Then we have guns, which are such an emotive issue that Idaho's Democratic candidate for the Senate two years ago, Alan Blinken, felt obliged to declare that he owned 24 guns "and I use them all." He still lost.
"As for gays, that's a rare wedge issue that Democrats have managed to neutralize in part, along with abortion. Most Americans disapprove of gay marriage but do support some kind of civil unions (just as they oppose "partial birth" abortions but don't want teenage girls to die from coat-hanger abortions).
"Finally, grizzlies - a metaphor for the way environmentalism is often perceived in the West as high-handed. When I visited Idaho, people were still enraged over a Clinton proposal to introduce 25 grizzly bears into the wild. It wasn't worth antagonizing most of Idaho over 25 bears."
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/03/opinion/03kris.html?hpMainstream churches have dropped the ball for years, supporting the right because of their PR gimmick of claiming sole ownership of god. If we can't get through to these folks that there's more to Christ than lip service about abortion, then I don't think we can ever win the middle of this country.
God's the one we have to reclaim. Gays and grizzlies are largely neutralized, thanks to common sense from people who don't want 'em married but OK civil unions; and grizzlies because of W's desire to put oil wells throughout the front range of the Rockies. We never did really threaten their guns, since many of us are gun owners.
Reclaim the god of hope and charity, and you'll get these people back. Neglect this and they'll continue to vote against the country.
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(895 posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
