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problem, government is the problem." The Republicans and the right wing media have spent much of the past twenty years using propaganda to first make the word "liberal" a dirty word and now they are doing the same to Democrats.
This campaign has been very effective. One of my coworkers told me that both parties were out to scam the middle class Americans so why even bother to vote? Another woman who voted for Bush said that she didn't believe that Kerry could fix the problems in our country because no politician could fight against the factors that cause the problems. And furthermore, because no politician can really fix the problems, Bush was not to blame for any of the worsening problems due to his policies. What this shows is that the Republicans benefit from a growing cynicism about our government, while Democrats need people to believe that it is possible to make government work for them.
The Republicans' second tactic is to build pleasing lies about what they want to do without telling people about the consequences of their policies. So you hear the Republicans talk about the unfairness of the "death tax" while preaching tax simplicity. Of course, when they are full of triumphalism as they are right now, they start to talk about how in order to pay for making the tax cuts for the wealthy permanent, they plan to end the employer deduction for providing health insurance which will effectively wipe out the way most people get their health coverage.
So what can Democrats do? Oliver Willis (http://www.oliverwillis.com/) had a great idea the other day. He believes that we Democrats need to rebrand ourselves so when Americans hear or see the word Democrat, they think about what Democrats have accomplished, not what Republicans want people to believe about Democrats. A successful campaign will build a much better environment for Democratic candidates to run in because they won't have to remind people that Democrats have a better record for solving the problems of ordinary Americans.
Other ideas that are bubbling up in the political blogs provide practical suggestions to demonstrate that Democrats are concerned with providing real solutions for the problems that affect ordinary citizens. Kevin Drum (http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/) suggested having Democrats band together to provide health insurance for people belonging to the Democratic Party. This would be one tangible way that a Democratic value, health care for all as a shared responsibility, could be shown to work better than the Republican version of every man for himself. Steve Guilliard (http://steveguilliard.blogspot.com/) suggested that Democrats organize ways to help people who need help. As he said, the purpose is to show that Democrats are public-minded citizens and believe in doing their civic duty. How about having Democrats sponsor health clinics or tutoring clubs or even credit unions? Having the Democratic Party actively involved in activities that help people outside of the election cycle can go a long way in showing that the Democratic values are real. Democrats will once more be the party for the people and not the corporations.
Fortunately, several positive signs during the past year show that things are not quite as bleak as they might sometimes appear. Concerned citizens banded together to stop some of the more blatant corporate giveaways, including stopping the crass attempt to let powerful media owners control too many stations in media markets and also making Sinclair back down from their attempt to misuse the public airwaves. Furthermore, Democrats found they can be competitive with the Republican money machine without having to sell their soul to corporations. This means that Democrats can address the concerns of the majority of Americans without being emasculated by corporate sponsors. And if Democrats once more show that Democrats are truly the Party of the people -- a Party supporting a government of the people, by the people and for the people -- then surely the Republican majority will vanish like the chimera it is.
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