If Ukraine Can Fight, Why Can't the Democrats

Friends,

I have been agonizing about how steadily the Democrats are losing the political battle, principally, it seems to me, because they are on the defensive.?We need to put aside their gentlemanly, policy-focused approach and put Republicans on the defense.?A friend of mine, Rachel Bratt, a former policy professor at Tufts, have put together the bones of a more aggressive approach.

The problem is that we don’t know the main players who would need to read this and, if in agreement, put it into action.?Can you help??Would you send it to people you know??We need to do something more than we are doing.

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Here are our thoughts, the bare bones of an action plan:

As hard and as earnestly as President Biden and Congressional Democrats try, they are losing the messaging battle to combative Republicans with no attachment to the truth or to well-documented facts.?Polls and prognostications about the upcoming elections are clear about Democratic disadvantage and decline.?The question is: what should we do?

In short, Democrats need to take the gloves off and stop acting like ‘gentlemen,’ as if their good behavior and earnest objectives will eventually win the day.?Many excellent strategists have shown convincingly that Democratic expertise comes across as condescending and alienating.?We need to launch a messaging campaign, perhaps employing some top-notch advertising firms, to frame a series of media spots that can be shown on TV and used in social media. And every Democratic candidate needs to reverse the blame for what is wrong with America.?“You (Senator Y, Representative X) have brought us to this moment in history when we teeter on the edge of authoritarian government.

It is urgent that we develop new ways of messaging; the time to “play nice” has passed.

We need your help.?We are not well connected to the Democratic establishment. Do you have access to the inner sanctums of Democratic politics? How can you/we get the attention of the decision makers to make our point???

Here are some initial thoughts about what needs to be stressed in an aggressive messaging effort.

First, we need to get off the defensive and put Republicans on the spot.?We need to say to our constituencies that Republican Congressional and Senate candidates, whether from cowardice or greed, have lied and cheated, that their policies have helped the rich and robbed the vast majority of the population. They are enemies of the “the people.”?

Second, we need to explain clearly and succinctly how, going forward, Republican policies will continue to harm “the people,” while underscoring the recent past triumphs of Democratic policies. We got the Affordable Care Act, while they have pledged to eliminate it. We want to tax the rich and give the money and services to the great majority, while they want to provide generous tax breaks to the wealthy; most recently demonstrated by the Trump tax law.

Third, their policies, not ours, have and will diminish our standing in the world. By undermining NATO and our other relationships with allies, they made the world less safe and less predictable. In contrast, the Democratic party’s resolve and clarity of purpose has played a central role in assisting Ukraine and presenting a united front against Russia.

Fourth, they, not us, are trying to dictate how we behave, forcing women to give birth to unwanted children, while professing bodily freedom and autonomy when it comes to vaccinations.

Fifth, it is they, not us, who are the masters of “fake news.” Increasingly, they are undermining the role of a free and independent press and replacing serious analysis with outrageous conspiracy theories. They give airtime to blatant lies and they collaborate with those in high political places who have no respect for what it means to live in a democracy and who, in fact, recently attempted to overthrow it.?Most importantly, they will do so again.

Sixth, they are trying to take our governmentaway from us by empowering a White minority through Congressional redistricting, bigoted voting laws, and, through a refusal to abide by our vote.?If adherents to the current “big lie,” or future deniers of election results were to hold sway, they would eliminate the peaceful transition of leadership.?That, in turn, would lead to dictatorship.?

Unless we take up the fight with the full force of our convictions and criticism, we will lose our democracy to an authoritarianism that we are aleady seeing in several neo-fascist regimes.

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Barry Dym, Ph.D.

Rachel G. Bratt, Professor Emerita, Tufts University