Meme

( The page 23 meme )

Tom's Post-Election Post

I keep starting to write my post-election thoughts but life keeps getting into the way. I guess I should put it into a bullet list so that at least I put the info down in one place. If I try to write out a long essay it would never get written, and people wouldn’t read it anyway.

I’d like to thank the people that have contacted me to ask, “Are you ok? You’ve been pretty silent.” I appreciate the calls. Yes, I’m ok. Upset, but ok.

Here ‘tis:

I’m upset that Kerry didn’t fight harder

• Kerry sucks for giving in. He knew that Karl Rove is good at suing his way to win close elections. All the techniques are documented here. How to beat him becomes obvious once you know his techniques.
• Yes, Kerry could have won in the courts. There were enough problems with the Ohio vote to make the case: President George W Bush garnered 4258 votes in precint GAHANNA 1-B. Funny thing is, though, there are only 638 voters in that district. And many other examples could have been exposed.
• The Republicans knew Kerry could win in the courts if Kerry didn’t try. The hotel that the Dems were staying in in Ohio was flooded by Republican goon squads who terrorized the Dems to frighten them out of proceeding. They were riding the elevators up and down bullying anyone from the Kerry campaign. They wouldn’t have done that if they didn’t think they could lose in the courts.
• What would I have done? Weeks before the election I said what I would do: A close election is won or lost in the first 6 hours after the polls close: you have to immediately start the media machine to set the stage for victory in the popular opinion and therefore the courts. The moment the polls close Kerry should have started creating the frame that we’ve won, and that the fraud in Ohio needed to be investigated. Everyone knew this. Why didn’t they do it? This is fundamentally why I’m so upset.

Kerry had been warned that his campaign strategy was broken:

• Democrats have a winning message. They just have to trust it enough to deliver it. This time they clearly didn’t.
• My translation: I know that Dean wasn’t electable, but if Kerry had taken more of Dean’s strategy he would have won. I hoped that Dean could win, but realistically I knew we were just beta testing strategies for the eventual front-runner that would be someone else (intermixed with multi-day binges of getting my hopes up that Dean could actually win it, but I digress.)
• I’m pissed at the fact that Kerry won the primaries on the “I’m the only one that is actually electable” meme and was wrong.
• I’m pissed that this is the kind of warning that I and dozens of other people made and Kerry ignored us. Part of that is being pissed that I didn’t move to the D.C. area, live on people’s couches, and volunteer full time for Kerry like I had with Dean.

I’m pissed that financially I was heavily invested in Bush’s defeat, and it didn’t happen:

• I quit a 6-figure job to join Dean’s campaign.
• I was without salary for 3 months this year, yet still paid alimony to the ex.
• When I rejoined the paid workforce, my salary was 15% less.
• I donated small and medium amounts to various local and national campaigns.
• I’m not saying this to brag, I just need to get it off my chest! This delayed buying my dream home by a year or two, which I had rationalized as being “worth it” if it meant getting Bush out of office, but now I’m out the money down and Bush is still in power!

”How could people be so stupid as to vote for Bush?”

• I can’t tell you how much I hate that meme. People aren’t stupid for voting for Bush. celticdragonfly said it best here. I’ve heard many people say, “It only turns people off to say such things” but she is the the first person I’ve seen put it clearly into words that explain the why. The type of personality that would propagate that meme is the same personality that won’t change their behavior unless they know the “why”. Thanks to Laura for writing that article.
• Knowing the “why” will stop people from repeating the meme. George Lakoff makes the point that without having something to say instead, we are silent. So what should we say instead? For the last 30 years Dems haven’t invested in updating our talking points. We have talking points, but they aren’t very good. When we do speak, we use the language of Republicans, which is carefully crafted to assure that talking against an issue either sounds ludicrous or immoral. For example, they use terms like, “tax relief” as a code word for “kill programs that help people”: If you reply to “tax relief” by saying you’re against it, you sound like you are saying you are against relieving someone from an affliction. “Without relief, there is continued suffering. Since no one wants suffering, we see anyone who interferes with the relief as a “bad guy” - as someone who must be defeated. This in turn sets up the reliever as a kind of hero. Every time the phrase tax relief is heard or read by millions of people, the more this view, which sets up taxation as an affliction and conservatives as heroes, gets reinforced.” Talk about what’s important: efficient government, “Taxes Are Investments”, Taxes are the dues we pay for being citizens and benefitting from Democracy. Are you paying your dues, or are you trying to get something for free at the expense of your country?
• The people that feel “elitists” are telling them they are “stupid for voting Republican” need to realize where that attitude is coming from. Books like What’s Wrong with Kansas document how the Republicans have invested billions of dollars in research to find how to sell their policies. The result is that people sign on because of the things that they feel are better for them and nobody can make that determination but themselves. However, the sneaky thing is that many things have been hidden in that package that hurt the lower and middle class that are so attracted to the parts that they see. After years of Republicans slowly creeping forward with this agenda “under the radar” Dems are caught off guard. Now that it is too big to fight quickly, they respond, “How could you be so stupid” because they think it “just happened.” It didn’t “just happen”, it was formulated over years and required an estimated 30 billion dollars spent at right-wing think-tanks since 1968. They’ve invested hugely in infrastructure while Dems spent their donations on charities like battered women’s shelters, AIDS clinics, and so on. As taxes are are cut, Dems replace the money by shifting more donations to what the government used to pay for, leaving less money for strategic infrastructure like think-tanks and so on. Dems are finally realizing they need to invest in similar infrastructure.
• (Oh, and I hope that celticdragonfly is reading this because she first said the phrase, “Don’t think of an Elephant” to me when we were in highschool and I want to know if she remembers)

What to do in the future?

If you are upset at Bush winning, then it’s time to train yourself and becoming part of the revolution. If the election got Dems to work together, the loss is making us admit our failings that were “the elephant in the living room” that everyone was afraid to discuss. I now present...

Tom’s Training Kit:

• Step 1: Read Don’t Think of an Elephant. It explains why the Republican language is so effective, why ours has lost its power, and starts formulating how to fix the problem by using language that is more direct and powerful (and has the amazing side-effect of being more honest.)
• Step 2: Read The Non-Designer’s Design Book, Second Edition because I’m sick of seeing badly designed flyers and if you just read the first 3 chapters you won’t be able to design shitty flyers any more. (I know that’s not really a political issue but...)
• Step 3: While you are waiting for the Elephant book to arrive, read A tutorial on framing by George Lakoff. If it inspires you, keep reading more perspectives on the issue.
• Step 4: Join www.verifiedvoting.org because they are going to make sure that e-voting is safer next time.
• Step 5: Get involved! 2-3 hours a month can make a big difference. (I implore you... don’t start a new group. It’s better to spend 6 months shopping for a group that is “doing it right” than to start a new group and add to the mess.)
• Step 6: Be inspired by what D. L. Hugley said on Real Time with Bill Mahr this week. (from memory) “I used to be an independent. I voted for Republicans or Democrats based on the candidate. But today I am a Democrat. I am a Democrat from now on.”
• Watch this space. I don’t know what is going to happen, but I’m confident that this loss will force the Dems to get their spine back and start being ”big idea” Democrats again.