Lesson 1: How to communicate with an idealist Progressive [View All]

The Democratic Party is split between what I'll call the "mainstream" Democrats (Kerry / Edwards) and the more "fringe" Progressive Democrats (Kucinich / Sharpton).

We Progressives think the main problem is fighting "establishment power". Mainstream Dems think the problem is that a bad man is in office. Progressives have a vision for a drastically different world. Mainstream Dems maybe just want prosperity like in the days of Clinton.

We have little in common except one thing: we all want Bush out and voting for Kerry in November is the only way to do that.

When I look at the postings here over the last few months, it’s clear that Mainstream Dems don't have the necessary skills to communicate effectively with the Progressives. You need us. You need our help. You need our support. And somehow you think you'll get it by using negative tactics like:

- Talking down to us
- Using sarcasm
- Reminding us how few people in this country support us
- Telling us to get over it and this is the way things have always been
- Calling us Bush Supporters (the most ridiculous of all).

If you want to win our support, you have to change your tone. Here are some general guidelines:

- Do not try to impress us or threaten us with the power behind your movement. Bush also has a lot of power behind him, but that doesn't make his movement right.

- Don't use a condescending tone.

- Don't use propagandistic phrases like the pundits use on TV. We see through them and will call you on it.

- Try to be honest with yourself and then with us to get our respect. Drop the pride a little.

- Do not remind us repeatedly how so few Americans support our candidates. We know we are few in number. We are reminded of that every day of our lives every time we watch TV or do anything.

- If you want us to join your movement, you have to treat us like we belong there.

- Don't be so concerned about whether everyone is "on the same page". We are individualistic, independent thinkers and do not necessarily wish to be lock-step with anybody. Give us room to express our individuality without you feeling so threatened by it. Don't worry, when it comes down to it we're on your side.

- Respect our idealism. Thomas Jefferson and many Americans since him were radical idealists. We are few in number, but we have some of the vision that makes this country great.

- Make use of our ideas and our messages. Notice how Kerry used some of the ideas of Dean and Kucinich quite effectively. The Democratic Party needs a big vision and a clear messages. The Democrats have not had this for some time.

- Don't get frustrated when we don't support Kerry 100%. Remember, we are against establishment power, so supporting Kerry is very painful for us. But most of us aren't blind and we know very well that Kerry is a better choice than Bush. We’ll do the right thing in November.


That's probably a good start. Maybe others can add to this. Remember that when you make these mistakes, it is in our nature to respond to you in ways that make you angry. For example, a Progressive saying "maybe I'll vote Nader" is just a way of proclaiming his/her sense of independence. Don't take it so seriously.

Focus your energies on educating the ignorant...not on herding the independent.

Note: I apologize if any other Progressives take offence to my relatively weak attempt to speak for “us”.