The New Political Strategies

Lie, Avoid, Deny, Attack the character of the accuser, and Dismiss. These are the key word to Tea Party/Republican’s campaign strategy going into the mid-term elections. In years past, any candidate would give his/her right arm for national presence and the opportunity to present their views on the national stage. How did we arrive at candidates running from cameras and refusing interviews? How did we arrive at bigots coming within a stone’s throw of major state office? How did we arrive at otherwise reasonable people willing to follow certifiably nutty candidates?
The press will tell you that the constituency is angered, incensed, and not going to take it anymore. They are so mad they are willing to cut off their noses to spite their faces…and candidates KNOW IT! So rather than present a level measured view to how to correct the issues of the day using either right or left wing principles, we are instead talking about witchcraft. We are talking about a candidate that wants to wean his own mother off of Social Security and reduce her Medicare benefits. We are considering candidates that would force a woman to have the child of a rapist or an family member in cases of incest. People proclaiming to want to change the fiscal responsibility in Washington, are themselves fiscally irresponsible. People that claim to represent the best in American values are enjoying the company of prostitutes, Brazilian lovers, and rented boys. People who decide how government will spend our taxes don’t pay their own. The press keeps saying people are angry…you ask the man on the street, he says he has heard that people are angry…people are angry, people are angry…if you say it often enough, and repeat it every news cycle, it becomes thee standard. If you tell people to go to a meeting and shout down the opposition-because they are angry…well you see the results. This isn’t political discourse, its Junior High School schoolyard shenanigans… barely worthy of mention. But just as sex sells, so does anger and reporters continue to look for the hottest buttons to draw the reader/viewer without regard for the fallout.
The other emotion about to determine who drives the car is fear. We are trying to scare common folks with exotic tales of madrassas, Kenyans, birth certificates, Black Liberation Theology – which most people can’t even define, death panels, draconian gun control, government collusion in 9/11, government takeover of your very ability to breathe, the death of marriage, international vendettas as cause for war, un-American presidents, and lying presidents. Up until now, the right has had complete control over the fear button… but that’s about to change.
The only chance Democrats will have this mid-season is to take control of the fear button and press it hard until November 2nd. Without debating the merits of using fear to incite the constituency, there simply is no other way. Poll after poll shows that the electorate is not satisfied with the first two years of Obama’s administration…wow, what have we come to when a president that has arguably accomplished more in two years than any other, is summarily dismissed as having done too much, not having done enough, over shot the mark, under shot the mark and done nothing, ALL AT THE SAME TIME!
Some Democrats, and more importantly the Independents that voted for change in 2008, are unaware or apathetic to what is about to happen during the midterms. The sea change of the congress will have one, and only one effect on governance – There will e NO governance. In the past, when one side wanted a program or a tax cut or whatever… they would negotiate the merits of their idea while providing some benefit to the other side, that’s over. The negotiation would continue until most settled on a result acceptable to both parties… I think they call it compromise (haven’t seen any of that since the brother took the reins), that’s over now. Well if it didn’t happen before in the 60 or no Senate, you can bet your last dollar that it will never happen now- THAT is something to be feared. America cannot afford a stalemated government, we can’t afford a purely liberal government and we can’t afford a purely conservative government. What has worked, and what will work best for ALL Americans is a balanced approach…social services AND tax cuts, individual liberty AND freedom of expression, a strong Military AND a solid Education system. I don’t know when this cycle of extremes will end, but until it does, or until politicians learn to act sensibly, rather than appealing to their base in the interest of keeping their jobs, the stalemate will continue and the ONLY people that will suffer, is the American people, the American ideal, and many American Dreams.