Winning in the South, taking back the White House in 2004

[grannylib]

Hope this is the apropriate forum in which to post this, and that it is coherent:
Was just watching Hardball; discussion on the issue of Democrats winning in the South, and I had some thoughts about that, and about winning back the White House in general.
I have long thought that there are three main reasons that people vote Republican: 1) greed; 2) fear; and 3) stupidity (or some combination thereof.)
The greed factor is pretty straightforward. People motivated by greed are going to vote for the person they percieve to be most effective at putting money in their pockets, whether that be through getting or keeping a job, paying lower taxes, getting big returns on investments, or scooping up 400+ times the wage of your lowest paid worker plus stock options and bonuses.
The fear factor gets a little more complex. People fear many things: change, unknowns, those who differ from themselves...you pick. We may know intellectually that change is inevitable, but those motivated by fear of change or the unknown may vote for the person they percieve to be most capable of maintaining the status quo. One of the biggest 'change' fears I notice is the fear of 'losing the non-existant '50s.' There has been much written about the myth of the 'good old days,' and debunking of popular assumptions about the post-WWII years leading up to the unsettled '60s, but there are those whose misty memories or perceptions of those times past want nothing so much as to go back to those glowing times. Those who differ from oneself...this is tricky. There has always been, it seems to me, a need for humans to separate ourselves into "us/them." There has to be someone to whom "we" are superior. So people motivated by fear OR of what is unknown about "them" will tend to vote for the candidate they percieve to be most likely to "be on our side" against "them." In the upcoming presidential race, the two most likely "thems" I think are the Hated Bush Hating Liberals, and Gays (because of the gay marriage issue, natch.)
On to stupidity! And this may not be really stupidity, it could be ignorance, or intellectual laziness, or apathy, or lack of information, or it really could be because some people don't have the IQ of a fencepost. Ignorance can be overcome by providing information; we can attempt to engage the intellectually lazy (those whose 'informed voting' boils down to which candidate has the most patriotic sound bites and looks presidential, according to those ads on the TV); we can try to do likewise with the apathetic and inform them of issues that may stir them to give at least a teeny hoot; and we could, I suppose, browbeat the stupid with Democratic versions of "America is back, standing tall" and "Bring it on" but I am still thinking about that one...
So how does this tie into winning in the South, and winning back the White House in 2004? In watching the two Democratic strategists on Hardball tonight, the South is winnable if the candidate (they seemed to be assuming it would be Dean; I am open to ABB) will get into the culture, then the Democratic ideology will win out. They talked about the effective use of NASCAR and bluegrass music and some of those cultural kinds of things, but stressed that the ideology will play in the South once the people are listening. (I hope nobody takes offense at this; it sounds really simplistic and even derogatory; I hope you understand that I am just stating what was said on the program, ok? Thanks!)
We have some issues to overcome - the gun culture vs gun control; the Bible Belt vs pro-choice and gay marriage/civil unions; things like that may be stumbling blocks. I believe those issues can be dealt with effectively by the Democrats. One of the strategists mentioned the environmental damage done to our country by Bush and Co., and how that might be a way to talk to the hunters and to promote Democratic views. We may be able to counter some of the resistance to legalized abortion in much the same way Clinton did: keep it safe, legal and rare, and point out the facts about pre- Roe v. Wade back alley abortions, and do we want to return to that, etc. We can also point out prevention of abortion is best done by preventing unwanted pregnancy, with abstinence being the best option for teens. I think people ought to be aware also that most forms of birth control are threatened by the anti-abortion extremists, and that 12-15 pregnancies per female is the average that would occur with no birth control. And, just as the AIDS issue was un-demonized to some degree by the married woman (sorry, can't remember her name) who spoke at the Republican convention some years back, I think we need to put an everyday, neighbor's face on the gay rights issue. Fear and ignorance can be overcome!
I think the Democrats need to focus on true ideals of the people, things with which real folks, northern or southern, can identify.
If it hasn't happened to them yet, most people can at least identify with those who have lost jobs; they may know someone who has been negatively impacted by the lack of benefits for a same-sex partner; they may have, or know someone who has, lost their life-savings in mutual funds or some other investment, where the head honchos walked away with millions.
In other words, the issues with which everyday, ordinary people identify, will be the issues that win the election. I think we can overcome the challenges of the tough issues like abortion and gun control if we can truly educate people about issues that hit home to them: jobs, the economy, fairness, decency. It is most vital to shape the conversation and the issues ourselves, as much as possible; the Republicans have, for too long, been allowed to define the hot topics.
'Morality' is the biggie in my book. The Republicans have defined morality as 1) sexual fidelity (abstinence if unwed, and of course, sex must be between two and only two people of opposite gender); 2) absence of drug use; and 3) being anti-abortion. (The first two, of course, only apply to Democrats and Liberals; it is perfectly acceptable to be unfaithful or a drug user if you are Republican yourself.)
Greed? Doesn't make the list of 7 deadly sins anymore; greed is good, moral, and Christian...prosperity theology is the order of the day. Gluttony? Getting some press, but certainly not immoral (unless you are a 'welfare mother' maybe...) Pride? Sinful? Not to Republicans. So we need to take control of the language and the values and true morality, as opposed to moralism, and we can do this! We have to do this. We can't afford not to do this. We have to take back our country!
Sorry to ramble on so long;
Your turn!

[TheUnknownPoster]

1. Why is it that people always either have to be stupid or tricked

...into voting for the other party. I've seen conservatives make the same assumptions about liberal voters.

I live in the South and honestly believe that many Southerners vote for Bush and other Republicans not because they're evil or been tricked into supporting them but because they honestly believe in conservatism and the party's policies.

If you want to win these people over you have to show them how their lives would be better under a Democratic administration while assuaging their concerns about guns, gays, abortion, God, terrorism, and war, which may be different and even opposite from you're own. Only then, when you have a equal and serious exchange of ideas can the best policies be formulated and win out.

It's the same principles we need to win in Iraq when you think about it.