What are you winning when you put DINOs into power?
When you put DINOs into office, you get Republican-like legislation.
Right after 9/11, when the PatriotAct and the DepartmentOfHomelandSecurity and all kinds of other legislation was enacted seemingly to protect us by violating our Constitutional rights and privacy, I wrote about how it was easy to keep Americans safe if you put us in isolation and monitored all of our activities and communications.
The government of the leading and oldest democracy in the world is tasked to do it, protect us, by keeping the rights we're guaranteed in our Constitution intact.
Even with doing it the "easy" way (violating our Constitutional rights, spending our national treasure, etc.), we're still not safe and live in a chronic state of imminent attack. So the "easy way" isn't working.
The same is true for putting DINOs into power.
Real Democratic policies aren't that hard to sell to Americans. When most Americans want Medicare and other government programs which they've benefitted from to continue and teabaggers shout "No government control of healthcare; Get your hands off my Medicare", the answer is EDUCATION.
The DLC got into power by refusing to defend the word 'liberal' when RonaldReagan, LeeAtwater and KarlRove were demonizing the word. Instead of educating the public about liberalism, and how liberals were responsible for creating the largest middle class in the history of the world, a strong regulatory system that provided clean water systems, nutritious affordable food for everyone, a public education system that led the world, etc., the DLC convinced Americans that liberals could never win another election. The DLC attributed to ideology what is more accurately explained by lousy campaigns outgunned by election dirty tricks and fraud.
When informed of the issues, most Americans agree with liberal policies. Neither they (nor I) would characterize themselves as far-anything or extreme, but mainstream. For example, nobody likes the idea of abortion, but most Americans don't want the government involved if they find themselves in the predicament of an unwanted pregnancy. And if you frame it as, "You like to kiII babies?!?! ?!?!", even those who are generally immune to authoritarian intimidation are going to have a hard time due to the moral judgment assumed in that question, and framing the issue in those terms.
If the Bush years taught us anything, it's that anyone can sell anything to Americans, if you're stolid and relentless in your salespitch and tactics. It's not that Bush-Rove were geniuses and knew something that nobody else knew; Bush-Rove were just more ruthless doing what politicians had gone to great lengths to hide from Americans: If you keep at it, escalate your attacks, don't take 'no' for an answer, never back away, you'll wear the opposition down.
But Obama only does that to progressives.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost
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