Trump has instigated a level of communication that used to be relegated to just political junkies. People are starting to feel the existential nature of their vote. Progressives must capitalize on this reality.
A few days ago I got a very long text message from a dear friend. He fit the demographic that was intent on voting for Biden for all the pseudo-practical reasons we have been forced fed explicitly or subliminally. Deep inside something has been nagging him about the 2020 election and the arguments and choices.
Text from my friend.
Hello to my two most political astute friends. With another debate coming within hours, I woke up with a nagging questions. Do and should people vote for the candidate they think can be elected (considering the electoral process) and if elected can best serve them considering the constrains of a divided Houses of Congress and the conservative Supreme Court.
If I wanted to be entertained, Warren would be my choice. But I ask myself what are the chances her grand scheme will ever become law in a country that can’t pass regulations to block gun sales to insane people. I don’t understand how it can happen, but there are many things I don’t understand. What are the chances the revolutionary polices she espouses are vote getters for Donald Trump? I see as highly likely it will cause people who don’t like Trump to go vote for him.
Look at Beto’s gift to the NRA by yelling “we are coming to get your guns”. The NRA has spent millions trying to convince their constituents the Democrats will do that.
My two questions here. Do the progressives think things thru and believe a wealth tax will become law if Warren is elected? (Didn’t Washington just lower taxes on the rich?) Or, do they see it as ‘I will vote for the person who speaks things I feel in my heart are right even if it means reelecting Trump.’
This message should make progressives happy especially since many are starting to see a trendline in various parts of the United States. In fact, I hear it a lot on my program Politics Done Right. Deep down on the inside Americans know there is something fundamentally wrong with the status quo, business-as-usual, or reverting to the past.
I answered the message as follows.
First of all friend, you will not imagine how that message warmed my heart. These are questions I hear every day. You are absolutely right in the way things work in this instant that it almost seems like a fool’s errand to vote for the policies we aspire for as opposed to what in our current state could possibly get passed.
The same applies to candidates — the short answer, vote your values. If we all did that based on polls we would be a very rich Denmark.
Here is my long answer.
We are at or near a flex point in this country, some call it a tipping point. I think a tipping point is too drastic. We are about to decide if the unfettered use of capital is what decides power.
We leave almost half of the voting population off the table because they have been programmed to believe their vote does not count. And the truth is we do not work very hard to educate them. It is easier to go for the low hanging fruit.
Many of us doing this work are working hard to change that paradigm. We talk to everybody irrespective of ideology and encourage them to vote for those that support policies that will make their lives better and their personal economies better. It is not pie in the sky. It requires selfless dedication. But if one believes there is a path to that achievement, it’s a dereliction not to work on it.
A large percentage of our population needs constant prodding and affirmation. Their ideological being is at least viscous but many times fluid.
Progressives assume everyone should have a fairly sharp mind or at least understand what we are trying to impart. We have a tendency to lay out the facts and then call it a day. If one does not get it too often we are impatient or assume some folks are unredeemable or incapable of logical thinking.
Conservatives treat everyone as if they are elementary school students. They speak in very simple terms even for subjects that cannot be explained that way. They believe in the art of repetition whether the information provided is true are false. They know that said repetition can make fallacies, truths in the mind of those whose ears they have. Additionally, they support and invest in all venues that replicate their message.
Over the last 40 years, many Americans have been voting against their own interests because of the conservative method of communication. Imitation is the highest form of flattery. On this, we should flatter the conservative methodology.