We like big government

[question everything]

We have had our fun, in the past few weeks, showing the hypocrisy of the Republicans in passing the law that usurp States Rights.

And, of course, in the past five years, we have pointed out how the Bush administration has expanded the role of the Federal Government and increased the deficit, again, in contrast to what Republicans and Conservatives uses to stand for.

I posted an interesting essay about Federalism yesterday http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...
and today I read a similar report in the WSJ http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...

This just confirms what many have reported: that the majority of Americans do support the principles of the Democratic Party, including a role for the Federal Government to better our lives, to protect the "little people" from the arbitrary of huge organizations - private and public.

The question, of course, is why can't we communicate our principles in an effective way that can be translated into votes?

It is clear to me, and to others here, that Kerry was an ineffective communicator as was Gore and as are even now the presumptive candidates of 2008. Perhaps we are too cerebral, perhaps we concentrate too much on getting the votes than on standing on principle perhaps..

I don't know. I criticize Kerry, and now Clinton for not stating that the right to abortion is a right for privacy and that includes also the right for birth control pills - and to praise Illinois Governor for recently passed a law about that. I criticize them - and others - for not demanding better funding for education and adoption. Kerry's lamenting that "personally he is against abortion" during the debate was a miserable cope out that cost him the election. Clinton's recent comments are the same.

And I criticize all of them for not demanding that Terri Schiavo be left in peace, not criticizing Bush and Frist and DeLay for such a gross interference in personal matter. Even now, that we know that the majority of the voters were against this law - where are the Democratic leaders who would take a stand?

Oh, forgot, we do not have Democratic leaders...

[seabeyond]

1. i jsut dont know that kerry was unclear

he was rarely given media time. and when he was given interviews, he was continually and aggressively attack on things that didnt matter. there were the same comments made by the media, continually that werent true. how many times did we here

even the democrats dont want kerry
kerry does not have a plan(in speeches he absolutely did)
flip flopper


the media knew when they said kerry flip flopped on 87 b what that was about and never never clarified for the people. and it wasnt challenging to get

so i dont know how how kerry was to understand, i just think media and repugs created the image and that is what the nation was given

i understood kerry's message. wasnt that hard

and gore...........

[thoughtanarchist]

2. communicating our principles in an effective way...

will not stop the FRAUD that cost the election in '04.


Have you heard *Jr. speak? There are thousands of examples of speech that unmask him as an imbecile.

this is / was not a communication issue on the candidate's part at least...

...now media manipulation is another story...

[SeekerofTruth]

3. One message is missing

In Illinois, the new governor (a Democrat) insisted he would balance the budget without raising taxes. I believe his constant repeating of that message is what won him the election.

Republicans are afraid of 'tax and spend' Democrats. Take that argument away and so does the fear. After that, people start actually listening.

[question everything]

4. That's a good way to start

Look at the Alternative Minimum Tax that, we are told, is slowly moving to engulf more and more middle income Americans and is negating many of Bush's tax cut.

Yet, Congress is not going to do anything about it because the loss would be great - so we are told. Which makes this a very good question:

What would you choose - keeping the breaks for the top 1% of earners while subjecting you to AMT, or reversing THAT tax cut while fixing AMT?

Mostly, we need to, sorry to say, use a 6 grade language, a simple one, with fewer syllables words. We need to break the message into individual pieces. Most people can relate to idea when it is in the format of: Mrs. Hubert's son came back from Iraq, a hero, yet he is struggling with paying his medical bill, while Mr. and Mrs. Culver, who own the bank on Main street, got to write off their trip to Hawaii...