Red State Political Education...how do we do it? How do we get people to show up?

[Ken Burch]

We need to be competitive in those states in electoral terms, but we also need to be able to educate people there, in an accessible, non-threatening way, about why progressive ideas are better for them, AS Red State residents, than the right-wing ideas they just voted for.

Seems like we need something like a progressive "Chatauqua", using modern culture, entertainment, and a sense of fun to change the consciousness in those places. That's the only way we're going to break the right-wing group mind-lock, the only way to get people past the race and culture divides, and get them voting for their true interests.

And it will probably have to be done WITHOUT the support of the national Democrats, since they still think we can only win in those areas by pandering to bad attitudes.

This is a thread to brainstorm on how to change this country, by opening the minds of the areas that are most opposed to change.

[Taverner]

1. Start with culture jamming

[Ken Burch]

4. That's what I'm talking about.

Get people who play the kind of music that Red State people like(I know, they like OTHER kinds of music too, I'm talking broad strokes).

Have barbecues...fiddle contests...get back in touch with the kind of things the Highlander School talked about...but in a 21st Century setting.

[jpgray]

2. The first thing is to spend money. The second is to have compassion for how they've been abused

They've been taught for years to hate and fear us and all we stand for. We have to have some compassion and understanding for their ignorance, or we won't even get a hearing. From there, we have to focus our contempt not on the spear-carriers but the leaders, on those who would praise them and cajole them into remaining in ignorance, and profit thereby.

[Ken Burch]

6. That's true, but make sure the compassion doesn't read as pity or condescension.

They need to OWN it when they break the cycle...and yes, thinking of it as a cycle of abuse is a good thing...A lot of male Republican politicians have that kind of "upscale wife-beater" vibe...Dubbikins had it(my wife, who'd been abused in previous relationships, recognized it in him early, God rest her soul)Trent Lott had it, McConnell, Rick Perry...the list goes on...

They're the successors to the "Bourbon" mindset(at least the Southern ones)in which they speak with the voice of those who see themselves as not just temporary political leaders, but natural liege lords of all the land. They sound like they could order a slave whipped, then calmly take another sip of their mint juleps.

And they've got working-class people convinced, as all abuse victims are convinced by their abusers, that "you're nothing without me".

[jpgray]

11. Happily there is no lack of brilliant voices from their backyards

Bill Moyers, Jim Hightower, the much-missed Molly Ivins--there is a force at work and a sense of community in red states that make for some of our greatest advocates, who grow up right alongside some of the worst misguiding ignorance that could possibly be encouraged. There's no lack of talent; it needs to be supported.

[Ken Burch]

13. Maybe we could have "Truth Aid" concerts or something like that.

With people like Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, Steve Earle, John Mellencamp, and younger performers from the Red States who carry on their values.

Music helps a lot. So does comedy.

A non right-wing version of the "Blue Collar Comedy" tour would be a big help.

[femmocrat]

3. I hope someone comes up with something!

I see this area leaning further and further to the right every election. I cannot fathom how people who have next to nothing can vote against their own self-interests. What on earth do they see in the republicans? I just do not get it.

[Ken Burch]

10. That's what we're trying to do here.

And it's a good sign that the right is slinging even MORE abuse at us in this post-election period-they know that it's always possible that they're house of cards can collapse at any moment.

[pinto]

5. Electorally, one approach is to find a handful of *local* issues that can be clearly

framed and communicated from a liberal counterpoint. In day-to-day, common cause contexts. And don't get sidetracked! We've allowed the right to sidetrack too many discussions to our detriment.

I'm sure there are many, many other ideas out there.

Good topic to open up. Thanks. :hi:

[Ken Burch]

7. This is a time to refhink and regroup.

These discussions need to be happening everywhere in the progressosphere.

[pinto]

8. Agree.

:thumbsup:

[Dreamer Tatum]

9. Based on 9 years here, my experience is that we need to

ridicule them as rubes every time they don't do exactly as we would like.

We also need to keep making fun of their accents and culture, as we've done for years. We need to assume they're by and large stupid, homophobic, inbred, toothless losers.

We need to type out things like "Murkin" every time we feed the need to be superior.

When elections don't go as we'd like, we need to write open letters to the red states, threatening to disown them, and in so doing remove any hope they will ever have of walking the gilded streets of New York or San Francisco.

In short, we need to keep the status quo, don't we?

[Ken Burch]

12. This thread is about challenging such things as well.

Don't assume I'm endorsing the status quo. It doesn't work and we need to move past it.

[Dreamer Tatum]

15. Sorry, but abject and utter hatred of the South on DU will never go away.

That's just how it is.

Likewise the hatred of fat people, but that's a different matter.

[Ken Burch]

17. As a fat person, I don't see much of that on DU.

We are capable of changing how we talk to people.

Why would you want to discourage us from trying?

[hughee99]

14. What, you don't think the strategy of calling them ignorant rednecks,

racists, and homophobes is working? We may just be a few election cycles away from berating them into seeing the light. Let's stay the course. :sarcasm:

[Ken Burch]

16. I'm trying to work for something new in this thread....And I agree that we need a new way of talking

to Red State voters.

If we're the party of "CHANGE", we can change ourselves as well.

[hughee99]

18. I was just kidding

I understand what you're getting at.

I think we need to make some inroads into these areas. Dean did a really good job at introducing "electable" democrats into districts that were repuke strongholds. We can't get hung up on having the sort of candidates who could win in San Francisco run in rural red states, and we have to accept the fact that some elections we can win these seats, and some we will not. The important thing is that AT LEAST the people of the district are looking at both candidates, which means we have a shot in every election.

As far as the philosophy goes (rather than strictly electoral strategy), that's more challenging, because even if some people are making a little progress on the issue, you still have others calling them racists, sexists, rednecks etc. The people who truly are like this will wear it as a badge of honor that "libruls" don't like them, and the regular folks who get lumped in with it will be pissed that someone who's never met them and likely has spent almost no time in their state, is calling them all names. We won't be able to change their perception of us until we change our perception of them.

[Ken Burch]

19. Well, thanks for the clarification and further response.

We need to move forward.

And part of moving forward is challenging the constraints some of our leaders have chosen to accept.

That's what this thread is about.

[Gemini Cat]

20. It would help if we started respecting our fellow citizens.

Stop assuming they're uneducated or stupid.

[Ken Burch]

21. OK.

This goes to the question of how you express anger at retrograde things in particular areas without making unfair assumptions about everybody in those places.

It's also about learning how NOT to be baited by demagogues who choose to use regional stereotypes as ideological "human shields" against attacks on their ugly ideas.

[dmr]

22. K&R

:kick:

[JHB]

23. Political Clubs (and: Why limit it to red states?)

Don't get me wrong, it's needed in red states, but I think there are plenty of "blue" areas where it might also help to have some more formal discussions of what liberalism and progressivism is (and is not), what the goals are, and what tactics to use to achieve them. Too often when people learn their liberalism "by osmosis" they lump it together with other things they learn that way (class attitudes/biases, regional prejudices, etc.).

That would also help when blue state volunteers travel to red state areas to knock on doors for GOTV drives and other outreach efforts. One thing I've heard from people in red areas is encountering youthful volunteers who refer to "the locals" in the area they are canvassing, the "local" in question hearing a silent "yokel" appended to it. Not the way to counter "elitist" impressions.

What you're talking about is a revival of political clubs, with a liberal/progressive focus, both in the old-fashioned sense of a meeting place and updated with a virtual presence. The clubs weren't always about politics, either -- they'd show movies, host dances, rent their space for wedding receptions, etc.; typical local meeting-place stuff.

The rise of television as the main medium for political messaging (and the inherent expense of ad-buys, and a new generation of TV-oriented political consultants), plus demographic shifts, led to a decline in these since the '70s. More than ever there's a pressing need for their revival.

[JHB]

24. K&R

[Initech]

25. A good first step would be to get Fux News turned off everywhere.

People might actually start to think for themselves if they didn't have the Fux Ministry Of Propaganda's brainwashing 24 hours a day.

[TheKentuckian]

26. Destroy their hate radio and Faux and the Republican national message will be killed in the crib

They then would have to depend on their state issues and get crushed most everywhere most of the time.

They barely have any message. If their nonsense stream were to be cut and Mitch and Sir Boner de la Orange had to move this deal they'd be deader than fried chicken.

Fuck the education, cut off their head.