What the Democrats Need to Do, Part 3: Play the Long Game

In the last two posts, I've tried to lay out a plan for how the Democratic Party can regain its momentum and move forward in the face of the relentless opposition of the GOP and the traditional ignorance and disinterest of the American voter. Today, the third and (for the moment) last element of my plan ...

Play the long game.

Republicans have invested years of effort in shaping the political environment at the local and state levels. They have steadily concentrated on winning the political offices that shape life and thought at the level where people actually live ... the local officials, the mayors, the governors, the school boards, the overseers of elections, etc, etc. They have done this by studying and understanding the people at the local level, playing on their needs, wants, and fears (real or imagined). 

Republicans have ruthlessly gerrymandered congressional districts to ensure that they will win elections without the inconvenience of having to win the popular vote. To be fair, Democrats have done their share of political gerrymandering, but they have never been as scientific and totally focused about it as Republicans. The chances of undoing Republican gerrymandering now underway are slim without passage of national voting rights legislation ... this ought to be the Democratic priority, arguably even more important than the Build Back Better program. Without it, Democrats will be locked out of elections they legitimately win by popular vote for a generation or more.

At the national level, Congressional Republicans have focused relentlessly on filling judicial positions with conservative judges vetted and approved by such conservative think tanks as the Federalist Society. The most flagrant examples of this are, of course, the appointments to the Supreme Court of Neil Gorsuch (after inventing the "tradition" that appointments cannot be made in an election year to block President Obama's nomination of Merrick Garland) and Amy Coney Barrett (after ignoring that "tradition" to push through her nomination just a week before the 2020 election), but equal attention has been paid to staffing circuit and appeals courts with reliably conservative jurists. 

Republicans are playing the long game, planning now for a future in which their white, nominally Christian base will be the minority in a rapidly-changing America.

Democrats must play the long game, too.

They must invest in the local door-knocking and connections with everyday Americans to spread their message face-to-face, without the misinformation and misdirection that's the stock in trade of the GOP. They need to clearly explain their policies and how those policies will benefit not just Main Street, but the most distant and outlying RFD or Star Route, where the most conservative Americans live.

They must clearly explain why government policies that benefit everyone aren't "socialism." 

They must clearly explain things like the difference between common-sense gun safety laws and the conservative scream that "they're coming to take your guns." After all, there have been seven Democratic presidents since the death of FDR in 1945, and not a single gun has ever been "taken" or "confiscated." 

They must understand the visceral appeal of simple GOP messaging and know how to counter it. "Critical Race Theory!," "Replacement Theory!," "Gun Control!," "Activist Judges!," "Lower Taxes!," "Protect Our Heritage!," "Support Local Education!," "Freedom!" ... these are all simple, direct concepts that require no thought, but need an equally simple and direct Democratic response. 

Playing the long game is hard. It requires extensive planning, understanding of local conditions, and a deep understanding of the needs and wants of Americans where they live. Democrats must understand that not every voter is interested in lofty goals and aspirations that don't directly affect them unless they can be presented in clear, unambiguously personal terms.

In summary, these are the first three steps that will help the Democrats regain the support of American voters: 

(1) Define your own programs; don't let the Republicans do it for (or to) you.

(2) Don't focus on gigantic, complicated programs that scare voters ... go for smaller individual initiatives that are easy to explain and defend to voters with the attention span of a two-year-old and the critical thinking skills of a religious fanatic. 

(3) Play the long game. The GOP does.

I have more ideas, but I need more time to flesh them out. In the meantime, what are your ideas? What should the Democrats be doing to improve their image and their electoral performance? Leave a comment to share your thoughts.

Have a good day. More thoughts coming.

Bilbo

What Democrats Need to Do, Part 2: Smaller Bites

Yesterday, I suggested that the most important thing Democrats need to do as they work to regain momentum is to seize control of their own narrative and push back against relentless Republican misdirection, distortion, and outright falsehoods. Today, Part 2 of my three-part series of posts on what the Democratic party must do to move forward in the face of the political equivalent of total war ...

The next step in rebuilding Democratic momentum is to realize that the average American, left to his or her own devices, lives within a relatively narrow range between “liberal” and “conservative.”* Most people are amenable to change, but not too much and not too fast, and this is where I think the Democrats have gone off the rails with their current agenda**. 

Virtually everything in the President's Build Back Better program is popular with a majority of Americans, but when it’s all put together in one gigantic package, it scares people who would otherwise be happy with incremental change ... trying to do one gigantic FDR-style package in the absence of a visible threat along the lines of the Great Depression is frightening and allows the right to raise the terrifying specter of “socialism,” which they do not understand, but which serves as a useful  boogeyman. Having one gigantic package with a vast price tag that is beyond the comprehension of voters whose annual income seldom exceeds $60K allows Republicans to harp about the cost rather than acknowledge the benefits. 

When we combine this with yesterday's discussion of aggressive messaging, it's easy to see how the Democrats routinely shoot themselves in their fiscal feet. Defending an enormous and complex program to a population used to sound bites and bumper stickers and unused to critical thinking and analysis is virtually impossible. How much easier would it have been to break the enormous Build Back Better program into smaller, easier-to-understand segments that would resonate with middle America and more easily gain bipartisan support? As a clear example, working families would cheer the provision of paid family leave, but when it's just one small part of a gigantic package, it gets lost in the political noise.

It's understandable that Democrats want to press their advantage while they have it, knowing that American voters have limited attention spans and short memories. But with such slim majorities in Congress, the dragging weight of such faux-Democrats as Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, and a Republican opposition in thrall to Der Furor and totally united to mindlessly block their agenda, the Democrats must live in the political world that exists ... not the one they think exists. There's no such thing as a "mandate" without an enormous electoral victory ... which they don't have.

The obvious answer is to work in phases. Decide the relative importance of the things you want to do, prioritize them, and move forward. Build support by clearly explaining how each one positively affects the lives of average Americans. Build momentum ... each small victory will make the next one easier.

In summary, these are the first two steps that will help the Democrats regain the support of American voters: 

(1) Define your own programs; don't let the Republicans do it for (or to) you.

(2) Don't focus on gigantic, complicated programs that scare voters ... go for smaller individual initiatives that are easy to explain and defend to voters with the attention span of a two-year-old and the critical thinking skills of a religious fanatic. 

An old saying says there is only one way to eat an elephant: a bite at a time. Let's eat that elephant.

There's another thing the Democrats need to do***, and I'll discuss that in tomorrow's post.

More thoughts then.

Bilbo

* Democratic strategist Paul Begala recently commented that most Republicans are "theoretical conservatives but operational liberals" ... they spout the conservative rhetoric, but tend to support liberal policies and programs that benefit their daily lives. I think that's spot-on.

** And where the Republicans, given the opportunity, will overreach in exactly the same way.

*** If you have ideas on others, leave a comment. We're all in this together.

What the Democrats Need to Do, Part 1: Better Messaging

This is the first of a three-part (at the moment) series of posts on how the Democrats can recover from their recent beatdown. I think each of these parts is obvious, but I welcome your comments and additions if you think I'm off base. If you like what you read, make sure to pass it on to your fellow citizens who vote (or could be convinced to vote) Democratic. Here we go ...

My feelings about the smoking wreckage left after last Tuesday’s election were summed up by a tweet from my friend Birgitta:

“So what we’ve been doing isn’t working. The fact is there are more liberal and progressive people in America than conservatives. What do we need to do to empower ourselves and make ourselves heard? I’m honestly asking. Let’s create a plan and get to work.”

I answered her with this tweet of my own:

“The first order of business will be to get serious about messaging, and stop letting the right set the terms of the debate. Let them react to our positive messaging, rather than us just hunkering down and taking fire from the crazies.”

I definitely think that’s the first, most important order of business for the Democratic party. The GOP has no defined policies other than tax cuts for the rich and the elimination of regulations on big business, neither of which can be demonstrated to help average Americans. Beyond that, the entire GOP platform consists of hammering on divisive culture warfare issues and distorting Democratic initiatives and positions on issues to spin up a conservative base animated by unfocused rage. They are absolute champions of the distortion, misdirection, and outright falsehood, all of which the Democrats never manage effectively to challenge, despite having detailed policies, programs, and ideas that are demonstrably in the interest of the average American. The answer is obvious: 

(1) Get your own message out first, before the Republicans do it for you. Clearly and positively explain the basic details and advantages of your programs and policies at every opportunity. 

(2) Present your message in language that speaks to your audience ... and always remember that your audience is not hard-core progressives and academics with PhDs in arcane subjects, but people who need to be convinced that you are right - don't preach to the choir. Don't use the wonky language of policy geeks or ivory-tower academics ... speak in language the person on his (or her) way to work at 4AM, buying a coffee at the 7-11 in the most rural small town, will understand. 

(3) Don't use statistics unless you can relate them directly to the day-to-day lives of average Americans. Don't be the guy who uses statistics like a drunk uses a lamppost ... for support rather than illumination. Never bog down in discussions of enormous numbers that are beyond most people's comprehension ... if a statistic can't be made directly meaningful to your audience, don't use it.

(4) Never let a distorted GOP accusation go without a response ... always push back with accurate information. However, don't get bogged down in useless exchanges of sound bites. Clearly explain why they're wrong, and move on ... after all, the first info that's out is the info people will remember, so you're fighting an uphill battle already ... you just want to have the truth out there for those willing to hear it. Don't let the Republicans dominate with volume rather than facts.

My wife, who is from Germany, notes that most Americans are uncomfortable with detailed argument, analysis, and debate. They are not used to critical, analytical thinking. They want simple, satisfying answers, even if those answers are demonstrably wrong ... when the wrong answer is more comforting, most Americans will scoop it up in the proverbial New York minute. What this means is that it’s generally useless to appeal to Republicans with data and analysis that proves them wrong, because they won't pay attention long enough to understand it, even if they don’t simply dismiss it out of hand as “fake news.” Nevertheless, the Democrats owe it to the American people to get their message out.

That's step one, but it's far from all that needs to be done. Part 2 of my plan to regain Democratic momentum is coming tomorrow ... more thoughts then.

Have a good day.

Bilbo

Musical Sunday

Everybody is concerned with money. Inflation makes it worth less, which is bad unless you are rich and have a lot of it, in which case you make up for its decreased buying power with sheer volume. In Washington, Republicans (and a pair of faux-Democratic senators) scream about the huge cost of the President's Build Back Better program, but ignore its benefits to those who do not have the sort of money that most Senators have.

With this in mind, the 1976 song by Abba seems pretty timely right now ...

Have a good day and enjoy the rest of your weekend ... to the extent that your money allows you to do so.

More thoughts coming.

Bilbo

Cartoon Saturday

It's been another "OY!" of a week, hasn't it?

A January 6th Capitol rioter who said she'd never go to jail because she had "blonde hair white skin a great job a great future" and deserved a pardon from Der Furor has been sentenced to 60 days in jail; the 17-year-old son of Glenn Youngkin, the Republican winner of the Virginia governor's race who ran on an insistence on "election integrity," attempted to vote twice, despite being underage; in a late-night vote, the House passed President Biden's $1 trillion Infrastructure and Jobs bill, which now goes to the White House for signature - a huge legislative achievement despite Republican opposition and Democratic infighting; a juror in the murder trial of Kyle Rittenhouse has been dismissed for making a joke about Jacob Blake, the Black man whose shooting by police sparked the protests during which Rittenhouse shot and killed two protesters; and in Colorado, a man has been arrested after he set his mother's house on fire while using a blowtorch to get rid of cobwebs.

The election is over, but the bumper crop of election-related cartoons is too good to pass up ...

Some people can make the best of a bad situation ...  

Isn't this just how it works? ...

The GOP made big gains, indicating a desire by many voters to turn their clocks back more than an hour this month ...

I guess it pays to grease both sets of palms ...

The app I need in election years ...

It would be nice if it worked, wouldn't it? ...

The advantage clowns have in election years ...

This is a campaign promise I wish they'd all fulfill ...

It's not just in election years, but I can understand the confusion ...

They don't ...

And that's it for the first Cartoon Saturday of the month ... I hope it helped you process the results of the election.

Have a good day and a great weekend, and come back tomorrow for Musical Sunday, when Abba weighs in on the solution to Congressional budget problems. More thoughts then.

Bilbo

The Right-Cheek Ass Clown for November, 2021

A new month has begun, and with it comes new opportunities to recognize noteworthy (as opposed to praiseworthy) achievements in ass-clownery. The field of candidates is, as always, quite broad and deep, but this time the choice seems to me to be fairly obvious.

As we approach the end of the year and the promise ... or threat ... of the year to come, we present the award for

The Right-Cheek Ass Clown for November, 2021

to

The Democratic Party

The Democratic Party has received this award twice before, together with the Republican Party, in honor of the two parties' inability to work together for the benefit of the nation. This is the first time I have presented it to the Democrats on their own.

I think we all realize that both of our major parties have their own shortcomings and deserve their share of blame for the state of the nation. But where the Republicans have earned their awards by their complete lack of interest in programs and policies which benefit anyone but the wealthy and big business and their focus on the acquisition and retention of power through stacking the judiciary, suppressing the votes of those who might oppose them, and harping on imagined culture wars, the Democrats have earned this award for their utter ineptitude in using their control (however narrow) of the Presidency and Congress to advance their agenda.

The stupid and needless fighting between the Progressive and the Moderate wings of the Democratic Party have done nothing but dilute power of their winning message by allowing the GOP to seize control of the messaging and paint the Democrats as radical socialists not only unable to deliver on their promises but hell-bent on destroying the nation. The squabbling among Democrats has obscured the fact that they are actually trying to legislate ... to show that the government can deliver programs that benefit actual, ordinary Americans rather than big business and the top 1%. As best I can remember, the only actual legislation that Republicans have passed for years was the huge - and unpaid-for - tax cut that provided limited aid to real people while delivering a huge windfall to the GOP's big-money supporters.

The Democrats are doing the hard work of trying to legislate, but are doing it in the worst possible way. They are squandering their message of help for middle America by letting the perfect be the enemy of the good. The Republicans, for their part, are happy to sit back and let the Democrats take aim at their collective feet while they wait for their next opportunity to seize power and do ... well ... nothing. As former President Lyndon Johnson once said, "Any jackass can kick down a barn, but it takes a good carpenter to build one."

The Democrats at least want to be good carpenters ... but are destroying their own barn through their inability to work together. They earn, in addition to this award, a score of 3,500 on the Gohmert Stupidity Scale ... reflective of the fact that they appear to be unable to recognize and correct the damage their stupidity is causing to themselves and the nation.

The Democrats have heroically saved defeat from the jaws of victory, allowing their self-destructive internal arguing to hand the GOP an undeserved win that many ... including many Republicans ... will soon come to regret. We are reentering the era of the Empowerment of the Crazy, with all that it implies.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear Readers, the Right-Cheek Ass Clown for November, 2021, is the Democratic Party. Let us hope they can save their program of aid for the nation from their own political ineptitude.

Have a good day, and come back tomorrow for Cartoon Saturday. More thoughts then.

Bilbo

Will Rogers

Today is the birthday of the great American humorist, commentator, and radio personality Will Rogers, the man whose gently satirical style and down-to-earth humor I have tried (with debatable success) to emulate over the years. Will’s folksy style and common touch let him poke fun at every level of society and address controversial topics in a way everyone could appreciate, and which – not being mean-spirited or spiteful – seldom gave offense. He skillfully skewered politicians, celebrities, gangsters, and government agencies and programs without regard to party, and once noted that, “I am not a member of an organized political party. I am a Democrat.” He also commented that “Everything is changing in America. People are taking the comedians seriously and the politicians as a joke.” 

Courtesy of my son Matt, I was able to visit the Will Rogers Ranch near Los Angeles a few years ago, to get a feeling for the man I’d so long admired. It was a humbling experience and a reminder of what we've lost in the bitter political and social recriminations of today. Join me today in raising a glass to the great Will Rogers, who once said “I joked about every prominent man of my time, but I never met a man I didn’t like.” We need men like him today more than ever.

Have a good day, and strive to make America the friendly and open nation of Will Rogers, not the closed and bitter cesspool of Der Furor and his worshipers.

More thoughts tomorrow, when we present the first Ass Clown Award of the new month.

Bilbo

P.S. - I was named William in honor of my father, but I'm also proud to share my name with Will Rogers. These two men are my most revered heroes.

Election Day, 2021

This is it, folks. It's Election Day, the one day on which YOU - one American citizen - get to formally and officially commit your voice to the individuals, parties, and governing philosophies of which you approve. You don't do it with guns and unfocused rage, you do it by the simple and dignified act of going to your local polling place with your fellow citizens, standing tall, identifying yourself, and casting your ballot.

If you haven't already voted, be sure to give your decision on the candidates plenty of thought in these difficult times. Regardless of what you may think of the Democrats' specific policies and programs, they at least have some. The entire political program of the Republican Party consists of three things: wipe out taxes (especially on business and the wealthy), remove all restrictions on business, and worship Der Furor. All of these have led directly to the mess in which the nation now finds itself. 

If you believe in the Republican program of simply slashing taxes and eliminating programs, ask yourself what those taxes pay for and how those programs that are disappearing ultimately benefit you and your community. Nobody likes to pay taxes, but everyone likes the things they pay for. The simple fact that the government pays for a public service with your taxes does not equate to "socialism," "communism," or any of the other isms that are the boogeymen of the right.

Ask yourself what specific programs Republicans have advanced that directly benefit you, as opposed to big business and the top 1%. Ask yourself how much of that largesse has actually "trickled down" to you ... how much of the vast wealth at the top of the pyramid and the huge profits of big business have directly helped you. Has it improved your wages? Has it improved your life? Is your job more secure? Be honest.

For at least a decade, the GOP has railed against the horror of "socialized medicine" (however that is defined) and tried over and over again to get rid of the Affordable Care Act (AKA, "Obamacare") ... but has never - not once - provided anything that will replace it or improve the provision of affordable medical care to ordinary Americans. You'd think they'd have been able to come up with something.

Republicans have nothing to offer but unguided rage. They turn school board meetings into circuses by thundering against the horrendous evil of teaching Critical Race Theory to elementary and high school students ... without understanding what it is (just ask them to define it) or realizing that it is not a topic discussed anywhere below the university level. They insist on religious freedom, but only as it applies to evangelical "Christians." They insist that elections are "unfair" or "rigged" if they do not win, and rather than presenting policies and programs that will attract support from a broader swath of the population, they concentrate on simply reducing the number of people likely to vote against them by "scrubbing" voting rolls and gerrymandering electorally safe districts for Republicans*. While they insist that elections they've lost are "unfair" or "rigged," they have yet to provide the least bit of actual evidence that any measurable fraud or illegality has occurred ... their goal is simply to muddy the waters and encourage citizens to doubt the security of the electoral process.

The Democratic Party, at the moment, is doing its own imitation of the classic clown car, fighting with itself over its admirable goals and unable to present calm, rational summaries of its policies to push bak against the relentless Republican drumbeat of distortions, misrepresentations, selective statistics, and outright lies.

You have a choice today. 

You can vote for the party which is trying to make the government work for you, or for the party that has no clear policies or programs that will benefit you. 

You can vote for the party which is trying to protect your right to vote, or for the party that is trying to ignore and whitewash the violent and terrible riots that attempted to overturn the last election.

You can vote for the party which is trying to protect your right to vote, or for the party that is trying to make sure your vote won't count, even if they allow you to cast it.

I encourage you to vote for the party that is at least trying - however ineptly - to develop and present specific programs that will help you and I ... not those who need help least. 

Vote, dammit.

Have a good day. More thoughts coming.

Bilbo

* To be fair, Democrats engage in gerrymandering, too ... but any dispassionate review would show that Republicans are far more thorough and relentless about it.

Poetry Sunday

Today is Sunday, October 31st ... Halloween! It's the day when the dead walk, the vampires feast, the mummies stalk their unsuspecting victims, and the werewolves howl in the night. It's also the day the witches brew up their potions, as they did in this classic scene from Shakespeare's Macbeth ...

The Song of the Witches

(Macbeth, Act IV, Scene I)

by William Shakespeare

Round about the cauldron go;
In the poison'd entrails throw.
Toad, that under cold stone
Days and nights has thirty-one
Swelter'd venom sleeping got,
Boil thou first i' the charmed pot.

Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn and caldron bubble.

Fillet of a fenny snake,
In the caldron boil and bake;
Eye of newt and toe of frog,
Wool of bat and tongue of dog,
Adder's fork and blind-worm's sting,
Lizard's leg and howlet's wing,
For a charm of powerful trouble,
Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.

Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn and caldron bubble.

Scale of dragon, tooth of wolf,
Witches' mummy, maw and gulf
Of the ravin'd salt-sea shark,
Root of hemlock digg'd i' the dark,
Liver of blaspheming Jew,
Gall of goat, and slips of yew
Silver'd in the moon's eclipse,
Nose of Turk and Tartar's lips,
Finger of birth-strangled babe
Ditch-deliver'd by a drab,
Make the gruel thick and slab:
Add thereto a tiger's chaudron,
For the ingredients of our cauldron.

Cool it with a baboon's blood,
Then the charm is firm and good.

Not a recipe you'd expect from Gordon Ramsay or The Barefoot Contessa, but suitable for the right dinner guests. Have a good day, treat the trick-or-treaters generously, and enjoy the rest of your weekend. More thoughts coming.

Bilbo

Cartoon Saturday

Halloween is just around the corner ... the one day per year when we'll be able to see something more frightening than a conservative Supreme Court majority and the daily news ...

The judge presiding over the trial of Kyle Rittenhouse, who is accused of shooting and murdering two people during protests in Wisconsin last year, says the two dead persons may not be called "victims" by prosecutors in court, but that the defense may refer to them as "arsonists," "rioters," or "looters;" in an attempt to distract attention from its failure not only to control hate speech on its platform but to increase it as a way to increase revenue, Facebook, Inc. has changed its name to Meta Platforms, Inc.; in Houston, Texas, the mother of three children who were found abandoned in an apartment with the body of their brother - who was believed to have died "around Thanksgiving" - said she checked on her children "every two weeks;" Ohio recalled 35,000 new license plates after realizing that a "Birthplace of Aviation" banner depicted on the plate was shown attached to the wrong end of the historic Wright Flyer; and two men in Jefferson County, Washington, were arrested after they used a chainsaw to cut chunks of wood from cedar logs supporting a local bridge to sell as material for shingles ... a county official told reporters, "Can't believe we have to say this, but don't take chainsaws to our bridges."

For the final Cartoon Saturday of our Halloween extravaganza, we dig up a collection of cartoons about the hideous, shambling mob of mindless, brain-dead characters ... no, not Republicans, zombies ...

We start with a clever mash-up of clown car and zombie cartoons ...

When zombies go into business ...

You work with what you have ...

This is the sort of zombie I'd be ...

Who knows? It might help ...

When the zombie plague finally meets the robot population ...

In life, they belonged to the plumbers' union ...

I love this one, even if it's too evil for words ...

There's really no good excuse for not wearing a mask unless ...

I usually forget something when shopping, too ...

So, there we are ... the last collection of Halloween-themed cartoons for 2021. I hope I've helped you cope with the real world in my own small way.

Have a good day and a great weekend, and don't forget that Tuesday is Election Day - do your civic duty and vote!

More thoughts coming.

Bilbo