Democrats lost a lot of their popularity because they had been kneeling down to Republican agenda for years. Politicians like Dean woke the party back up, and a lot of people started respecting them more after that.
What I think the Democrats and the left in general needs to do is to play fire with fire with this "morals" issue. It's time we showed why our leftist ideas are moral and why their fundamentalist Christian right type morals are not.
For example, take the gay marriage issue. I think it should be shown that homosexuals don't hurt the heterosexual community, and that they don't threaten heterosexual marriage. There's no evidence that it would threaten heterosexual marriage. Let's start declaring the right to be anti-marriage for denying gays the right to marry; because right wingers against gay marriages are anti-marriage.
Let's start calling those against gay adoption out as what they are; anti-family. Basically, these people are saying that children who need parents should be deprived of a family because the people wanting to adopt them are gay. In one case I read of, there was a family in Florida about to be broken up because there was a possiblity that the state would break them up for being headed by a gay couple.
Here the story is. This story was a special case because these kids wouldn't have been adopted by most "loving" heterosexuals.
http://www.lethimstay.com/loftons_kids.htmlThere's noting pro-family about breaking up families.
And let's look at the abortion issue. Stop threatening it. Stop trying to make it a state's rights thing for the most part. I say we start digging up all the immoral ways that the individual states try to stop abortion, and expose them.
And then say "There's nothing pro-life about putting women's lives in danger".
Then, let's do the stem cell research thing. Let's make it abundantly clear that the cells used for stemcell research are the same type of fertilized eggs that are probably washed out through regular birth control. And if these are cells that are about to be thrown in the garbage anyway, then show that. Then, let's how how moral it is to use these cells to save lives. Then, let's say "There's nothing pro-life about preventing life saving research".
And let's take a close look at something Bush did a while back when he spoke for I think it was Journalists of Color (I'm not calling them colored. I'm saying that "color" was in their name). Basically, an African-American journalist brought up how some African Americans were deprived of the right to vote based on the false accusation of being a past criminal. He asked Bush if he would pass an amendment guaranteeing voting rights. He said he would "think about it". I think we should look at that and scream out "There's nothing to think about regarding ensuring our democratic voting rights!".
Let's use the same tactics that the right is using; morality. Let's not play a game of ignoring their accusations that they're more moral than us anymore. Let's prove it the other way around. And if you're wondering where my "There's nothing" comment from from, it comes from Bush saying stuff like "There's nothing complicated about supporting our troops". Now, Kerry did explain that the reason he chose not to support it was because it was taxing the middle class and poor, and not the rich (which would make things harder on the middle class and poor). But Bush thought there was nothing complicated about it (at least he pretends not to understand, I think he sometimes just plays dumb). Well, let's talk about areas where we think there's nothing complicated about, and throw it up for the world to see.
Let's do no more bowing to the right. They don't bow to us for the most part, and that's what earns them the "respect" that they do have. They have their social agenda, and they supposedly don't cave in. They know they can play the moral highground and win. They're also very self-disciplined about how they approach their issues; meaning they don't back down easy. Let's do the same thing. Let's get a really strong sense of self-discipline and not back down from it. Let's knock them out of power the way they're knocking us out. In other words, let's beat them at their own damn game.
If we move more toward the right, then what purpose if there of having a Democratic Party?
I do think that getting in the center might be a good idea right now, so people on the right will listen to us and trust us more than they do now (which will eventually build up our side). However, most Democrats are already in the center. I'm just saying don't move more toward the right.
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