Who Are Democrats Appealing To ?

If you've read this blog before, you probably know that while I am not a Democrat, I'm very definitely on the left side of the political spectrum. Liberal, progressive, socialist - I'll answer to any of those labels. I've written about how I stopped identifying myself as a Democrat because I felt the party had moved too far to the right. I just cannot support "conservative" Democrats such as Joe Leiberman.

Well, today I was down at the Tarrant County Courts Bldg. talking with an employee down there. The conversation drifted into politics, and I asked him where he was on the political spectrum. He replied that he was a conservative Democrat, but then admitted that he had been voting Republican lately. He told me that he felt the Democratic party had moved too far to the left.

Imagine my surprise! I left the party because I felt it was moving too far to the right, and he left the party because he felt it was moving too far to the left. Can both be true? Are the Democrats losing people from both the left and the right? This is the problem with the Democrats right now. Most voters simply do not know what Democrats believe in.

Democrats have let the Republicans set the agenda and define the political terms. Democrats must seize the initiative and show the voters they do have beliefs they are willing to fight for. And I'm not talking about the party platform. The platform is an outdated concept. Before the advent of modern media, the platform was a good way to communicate your beliefs to the voters. Today, no one reads the platform except the people who wrote it and a few candidates. In our fast moving world, voters won't take the time to read such a document [and the media couldn't care less about it]. Voters want your info short and fast. Democrats need to pick three or four ideas they really believe in, capsule these ideas into a short and dynamic presentation, and drum it into the heads of the voters.

David Van Os is a good example of how the Democrats need to campaign. He has charisma and that will help him, but more importantly he has beliefs. He makes it very clear that he will fight for those beliefs. He has also capsuled these beliefs so they will easily go on to billboards, yard signs, and bumper stickers. I believe he has the best chance of any statewide Democratic candidate of getting elected this year. He will not let the Republicans define him.

There were a couple of things we agreed on. Both my friend and I believe that most politicians don't have any beliefs until they read the morning polls. This is not attractive to the general public. Most people would vote for a person they disagreed with, before they would vote for someone whose beliefs they do not know. The devil you know is always preferable to the one you don't know.

We also agreed that Democrats cannot win by telling everyone what is wrong with Republicans. People are very aware of what the Republicans have screwed up in the last few years. What the voters want to know is - how are Democrats going to fix it. Democrats must have a plan and not just a complaint.

Democrats have a golden opportunity this year. I hope they don't blow it again by letting Republicans define the agenda, and then running poor campaigns.