Reading tea leaves
For all the reading of tea leaves many are still unsure about what the Democratic victory means.
According to exit polls, the main issue with voters was corruption. Other issues were terrorism, the economy, and Iraq. The basic temperament was anti-incumbentism regardless of party though most who got thrown out were Republicans.
One of the biggest turn-offs during the campaign season were the negative ads. It hurt anyone who went there and even some who didn't.
The most resonant message had to do with working Americans and doing something about the middle-class squeeze, health care, education, and just plain doing the job of running this country so that everyone benefits instead of only a select few.
In general, what people wanted was to put a stop to something they felt was out of control, namely corruption in and of government, and this includes Bush and his administration's assault on the Constitution and the Geneva Convention. Americans are not torturers and we want habeus corpus.
The instinctive feeling is that the average person doesn't matter. That no one actually cares about them except within their immediate sphere of family and friends, and then sometimes not even then.
In general, they have the feeling that they are a mere means for someone else's end. Namely, as a tool for someone else's profit and power in the work place and in politics, the two often going hand in hand.
The 12 years of Republican rule in Congress and the 5 years of Bush since 9/11 have done much to abuse the psyches of the general public. This being the culmination of the hard right turn the Republicans took to get Reagan elected by inviting the likes of Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, and others of their kind into the party.
While it is not possible to instantly deprogram people from 30+ years of hard core conservative rhetoric, it is possible to give them something else to latch onto. But in order for that to work, the basics of society absolutely must be stabilized from all the disorder that came out of the '60s and the liberal idiots who said there are no norms and there ought not to be any. Well, there are some norms that simply have to exist in order for society to keep from flying apart. So, our job will to put some back in place, get some economic security happening, ensure health care for everyone, and get our infrastructure fully funded. With these at the top level and our own work in the ground, it will be possible to bring sanity back to America.
The rubric would be: American Renaissance: Rebirth of the America Spirit.
More on this later.
According to exit polls, the main issue with voters was corruption. Other issues were terrorism, the economy, and Iraq. The basic temperament was anti-incumbentism regardless of party though most who got thrown out were Republicans.
One of the biggest turn-offs during the campaign season were the negative ads. It hurt anyone who went there and even some who didn't.
The most resonant message had to do with working Americans and doing something about the middle-class squeeze, health care, education, and just plain doing the job of running this country so that everyone benefits instead of only a select few.
In general, what people wanted was to put a stop to something they felt was out of control, namely corruption in and of government, and this includes Bush and his administration's assault on the Constitution and the Geneva Convention. Americans are not torturers and we want habeus corpus.
The instinctive feeling is that the average person doesn't matter. That no one actually cares about them except within their immediate sphere of family and friends, and then sometimes not even then.
In general, they have the feeling that they are a mere means for someone else's end. Namely, as a tool for someone else's profit and power in the work place and in politics, the two often going hand in hand.
The 12 years of Republican rule in Congress and the 5 years of Bush since 9/11 have done much to abuse the psyches of the general public. This being the culmination of the hard right turn the Republicans took to get Reagan elected by inviting the likes of Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, and others of their kind into the party.
While it is not possible to instantly deprogram people from 30+ years of hard core conservative rhetoric, it is possible to give them something else to latch onto. But in order for that to work, the basics of society absolutely must be stabilized from all the disorder that came out of the '60s and the liberal idiots who said there are no norms and there ought not to be any. Well, there are some norms that simply have to exist in order for society to keep from flying apart. So, our job will to put some back in place, get some economic security happening, ensure health care for everyone, and get our infrastructure fully funded. With these at the top level and our own work in the ground, it will be possible to bring sanity back to America.
The rubric would be: American Renaissance: Rebirth of the America Spirit.
posted by NeoLotus at 4:07 PM
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