Reply #10: It's not a matter of direction... [View All]

...it's a matter of definition. Specifically, for too many people, we're known by the cariactures drawn of us by people like Rush Limbaugh. We need a clearer voice, one that will be easily understood even in red America.

After that, it's all strategy. Here's mine. Parts of it sparked a flame war over at Daily Kos last week, but I'm putting it out there anyway.

1. Narrow our focus to a shorter list of issues that affect the largest number of Americans.

2. Refuse to take the bait on wedge issues like gay marriage. This, more than anything, gave the GOP the opening they needed to bring out all the yahoos, both religious or otherwise. This issue is a loser, one of many, and rather than defend issues we didn't bring up, I would prefer to throw them back in the Republicans' faces, calling them on their preference not to discuss things that are actually important.

BTW, this was the subject of the aforementioned flame war on Kos last week. If you are one of those people who think the Democratic Party should adopt this issue as one of its own, please be prepared to explain why doing so is more important than defeating the Republicans and saving the country. Remember, the first step in rendering first aid is to stop the bleeding, not invent new methods of open-heart surgery.

3. Shitcan the Iowa/New Hampshire "first in the nation" system. It allows groups like Club For Growth to very easily choose our candidate for us by providing a small enough battleground for them to do so without spending a lot of money. Not only did they play a pivotal role in sending Howard Dean (who might have won with the right running mate - we'll never know for sure) back to Vermont, they did it without breaking much of a sweat, which meant they could continue pounding on the nominee - "their" Democratic nominee - with impugnity.

I would prefer a national primary in which only those who have been members of the party for at least one year get to participate. No open primaries. If any state insists that "independents" get to vote in OUR primary, it gets cancelled, and the delegates get chosen by caucus, "smoke-filled room", or whatever.

We can do things a LOT better than we have been doing. This would be a good start.