We always get the shaft because we stand for what's right. Take taxes...

[mtnsnake]

Raising taxes on the wealthiest of Americans is the right thing to do....BUT, we will always get screwed for suggesting it because the other side successfully paints us as raising taxes on everyone. Until we find a way to get that "Democrats always raise taxes because we're evil" label off our backs, we'll have trouble winning a single red state over. Until we make them realize elementary facts like paying your fair share of taxes is patriotic, we'll remain behind the 8-ball.

Too many of the ignoramuses in this country cast their vote based upon their $200 or $300 tax break they'll get from Bushco this spring. The facts that they're making less than ever overall, that the economy is going down the tubes, and that they'll have less to net at the end of the day for their families, it doesn't sink in as long as no one is explaining it to them properly.

Before we can even think of winning in 2008, Howard Dean and the rest of our Party need to find ways to better educate the American public how doing what's right is a GOOD thing, not a bad thing...how raising taxes on the wealthy is a GOOD thing for 95% of us, and will net the average Joe a hell of a lot more than Bush's 2 or 3 hundred dollar tax breaks. They need to explain in black and white how a $200 tax break doesn't make up for the HUGE cost of cutting educational programs, ignoring health care, or rolling back laws which protect the environment. They need to explain in simple terms how continuous tax cuts and monstrous deficits are going to make us all desperate in a matter of a few years. They need to explain it in terms that any 2-year-old can understand. We've been using the wrong rhetoric for too many years.

Does anyone have any ideas how Dean and Co can get the message out, and get it out soon? Any ideas how we can turn the tables on the issue of taxes? Any ideas of how we can change our perception from one of being goats to one of being heroes instead...BECAUSE of our rightful position on tough issues like taxes? We really have to find a way to do this, or we're sunk again. The negative perception has to be changed into a positive one so it'll work FOR us, not against us. Our rhetoric has to change, period, and be driven home.

[simcha_6]

1. We don't do it as Democrats

We need to get the public as involved in politics as we are. Look, for guidance, at Venezuela. People there in the last few years got so engaged that now ordinary people will discuss contitutional law. We need the same sort of atmosphere here.

How do we do it? Get neighborhood discussion groups going, first of all. Small groups of people with similar concerns getting together to discuss local and national politics, in an atmosphere conducive to talking intelligently. This isn't a national debate, but a chance to think, discuss ideas, and figure out what's truly in the peoples' best interest. Political rhetoric, bullsh*t, and ad hominem attacks will not be tolerated.

Sample schedule for such a group

Week One: Local water policy- conservation and development

Week Two: Tax policy

Week Three: Constitutional Law

Week Four: U.S. aid and foreign development

Get people thinking, instead of feeling, about issues.

Do you think we could pull it off?

[mtnsnake]

2. "Get people thinking, instead of feeling"

is a good point.

Do I think we can pull it off? Only if we become more organized than we have been and learn to make people understand the basics behind our stances...the basics that are necessary for running anything from a small business to a large country.

Our message has sucked. In the past we've spent too much time telling everyone we're going to raise taxes on the rich, and too little time explaining in simple terms exactly how that will benefit everyone else. We've been poor at providing examples and analogies.

[simcha_6]

3. How productive is DU?

Do you think we could harness the anger here to do something more productive than rant among ourselves, such as use this as a tool to, for instance, find others in our own communities and plan and sponsor such events?

Maybe get a new section to the website where people with ideas can organize state or community wide events. (I'm sort of new here, maybe this already happens)

[mtnsnake]

4. I'd hate to think what it would be like without it but

lots of times I think that some good ideas get buried in a sea of negativity. There's certainly good reason to be negative, though, considering the circumstances, but we also have to spend time thinking out solutions and moving forward.

Somehow our party leaders have to find ways to make Democrats "good" instead of "evil". They have to figure out how to make the other guys look "bad". It's time to turn the tables. For the life of me, that shouldn't be so hard to do. All it would take is someone standing up there and delivering a message that explains things clearly. Make them understand.

[simcha_6]

5. I'd say that we stand for doing the hard thing

Since Republicans basically operate from the mentality of individual greed, they appeal to all. We stand up for doing the right thing to benefit the most people. The only way we can compete is to

A) Show people that "everyone does better when everyone does better"
or
B) Make Americans more selfless.

Good luck.