Why I created this Blog
Hi folks,
My frustrations over the reelection of George Bush and the terrible analysis on the left has prompted me to create this blog. While much good came out of the progressive movement, I see many mistakes that we need to work on if we are to effectively reach out to the American people to create a true progressive majority.
I was listening to the Majority Report on Air America Radio tonight with Janine Garofalo and Sam Seder and I got real angry at them for saying that people who voted for Bush are just ignorant and uninformed. That is the problem with the left, though we claim to be great egalitarians, too many of us are elitists. This so fits into the Republican caricature of us as limousine liberal elites who want to tell working poor folks how to live and what their values should be.
Frankly, Karl Rove and the Republican right just plain out organized us. I know that is difficult for lefties to understand but it is the painful truth. They motivated rural, often times working class folks to vote against their own economic interests because "Liberals want to force gay marriage down your throats and kill the unborn". We have to figure out a way to talk to these folks based on our values of economic and social justice and the importance of community.
If we are ever able to build a majoritarian movement, we have to rid ourselves of this elitism that folks who voted for Bush are just stupid. They voted for him because he spoke to them about their values and what is important to them. We need to speak to them about values of justice and respect for others and how we all need health care, a good paying job and a clean environment. We need to talk about how we have to stick together in America to accomplish these things and how the real corporate elites in this country don't care about people. Based this mutual respect, I am sure we can have conversations with these folks about gays and abortion in a way that is respectful of their beliefs but realize that we hold common values that corporations and the rich folks who run this country don't care about.
People are not stupid. If spoken to in a respectful manner and pointing out what we have in common, I'm convinced that the folks who voted for George Bush and the Republican party can be part of a progressive majority that challenges the corporate elites who really don't give a shit about gay marriage but use the issue as a cover for their real corporate agenda.
posted by Raddude @ 10:20 PM
3 comments
3 Comments:
I agree with a lot of what you've said here Dominic. I also felt frustrated with the entire voting process and certainly noticed some of the issues you mentioned in terms of Rove out-organizing the Kerry camp. And, as you've mentioned, it certainly does seem that they were able to motivate the rural folks. I think they even motivated some percentage of that audience to vote against Kerry, not necessarily pro-Bush. As far as having those fruitful conversations you mention, I think that may be leaning a bit towards the idealistic side.
As far as discussions about jobs and economy, I think that would be hard to stick given that rural folk, unlike us, tend to be outside of that economic atmosphere. Most don't have the city jobs and aren't impacted by what we're impacted by. Additionally, small towns where healthcare is generally available (let's face it, typically there's not going to be a 6 hour wait in an emergency room of a town that only has 1000 people), don't necessarily feel the crunch that we feel when hospitals close because they've been servicing people who can't get health insurance. And the environment? That's a whole other issue!
Also, I think the fact that some of the topics like gay marriage and abortion are even such big issues signifies the great divide in opinions, to the point that the mention of the word 'gay' or 'abortion' incites such committed belief that it's almost belief without reason. This makes it very difficult to bridge that gap. What would be the angle which could narrow that divide, so that issues like that can even be discussed? Because right now, it doesn't seem that they really can be discussed.
Amy,
I've been in Washington state since April as part of my union's attempt to take back this country. Our union, SEIU had over 2000 people going from safe states (like my home state of California) to the swing states(though Washington state quickly became safe Kerry a few months after I got here).
In my experience here, I've met quite a few rural voters. I'm not saying that our conversations were easy by any means. I'm a Chinese American activist from the gay loving Bay Area after all. But I know that we still had more in common with each other than one might think. We all care about making a good living and having high hopes for our children, whether we work on a farm or in an office.
And you are very wrong about health care. It is true that rural voters will have different concerns about health care. In rural communities, a big problem is finding medical care at all. It is very difficult for someone in a rural community to find a doctor that is in their HMO. They often have to travel for hours at a time to find the right doctor that their insurance will cover even if they live close to their own family physician.
Many of the people that I've worked with over the years in unions have come from rural communities. I've had many good discussions with these folks from topics like affirmative action and guns to gay folks. Though I can't say that I've been able to convince everyone of my viewpoint, I can honestly say that many of those folks respect what I have to say and at least think about the issues I've raised. And what I always try to end up at is that we have more in common than we think and that our real enemy is the corporate elite in this country that doesn't care about our values and is only interested in making money and expanding their influence.
Absolutely I'm an idealist. This idealism comes from seeing first hand how people can change for the better when we work together and find our common values rather than what divide us.
Hey Dominic,
I think your blog is terrific, and I will post something later in the
week (okay, girl geek!) when I'm more coherent, but I couldn't agree
more. And I'm glad to see you share your analysis more widely. You have
great political instincts and experience!
For all that our spleen wants to vent on Ohio voters (and we should
allow ourselves one day of that), I have LONG been convinced that the left
talks about issues and facts and stats and the right talks about values
and worldview and they win. As someone said yesterday on NPR, when
Bush raises gay marriage, we can't duck and say, "well now, ahem, about
minimum wage..." And it stings, but I think it's clear that Karl Rove
just plain out organized us in the heartland.
I think our true worldview (the one we have such trouble articulating),
our values of justice, real opportunity, community ... can always trump
corporate greed, discrimination/divisiveness and exploitation (of
anything from workers to the environment). We just have to find more ways
to have more, deeper conversations with people to develop a common
worldview that says, your pro-life and against gay marriage, I'm pro-choice
and pro-gay rights and we respect each other's opinions, but what we
both care about MOST in life is economic and health security, a future
for our kids and our planet, and we have to vote that together.
Washington State is largely rural. Many of SEIU's members are the
proto-typical Bush voter on values. But more and more, as we work to build
the union and to build their political consciousness, rural people who
go to church every Sunday and think abortion and homosexuality are
wrong and wish we all prayed to one God in school see that what they most
need from government is a living wage, a good education for their kids,
a place to get health care when the family needs it without fear of
debt or losing the family farm or property. Which is why I think we need
more purple states if we're going to see enough blue states on the map
in 2008.
I'll send you the email from my former boss, dear friend and terrific
person Richard Kirsch on the outcome of Election Day. Somewhere I have
a lot more analysis of the conservative worldview and some fledgling
efforts to start defining and articulating a progressive one, if you're
interested, I'll dig them up for you.
See you at the OK corral,
Christy
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