May 19, 2019

Just say it: The GOP is a cult

The GOP has been a religious cult for several decades. Trump has changed it from a religious cult to a personality cult. The GOP openly denies science, from global warming, evolution and basic data collection and fact gathering. This open rejection of reality based on group identity is literally the definition of a cult. Trump's open lying that is accepted by the group is emblematic of a cult leader. Trump twitter rants and continuous campaign rallies is as well. Demonization of critics of their faith statements is also a clear red flag.

Democrats and the media should be calling them out on this. Clearly rational, logical arguments on specific issues is not working. I'm not a psychologist, so I would like to hear suggestions of dealing with people in a cult. I believe conservatives need to be challenged in their thinking that forces them to reconsider their group identity. Attacking a cult leader is not generally effective. The key is getting individual group members to self awareness of the situation and giving them a path out of the situation.

If 2020 Democratic primary candidates make this a shared talking point, it will force the media to cover the topic. The goal is to brand the GOP not as a legitimate political party but as a cult following. I think this will challenge many conservatives willingness to self identify with the GOP.

Regards,
@RightLies

March 14, 2018

Beto mistake: Texas alternative to Assault Weapons Ban

Beto made a political mistake for an all-out assault weapons ban in Texas.
I believe Lamb's approach in PA must be followed in Texas for any chance to win. i.e. go very light on gun regulation.
I suggest a more nuanced solution;
Anybody can own an assault weapon but must keep it at storage locker at a gun range.
Or they can join the National or State Guard to keep it at home for a "Well regulated militia"

Gun industry should like the extra revenue to store them at a gun range. And Cruz can't rant about gun control.

February 14, 2018

US Healthcare "Best in the World"?

In talking with conservatives about healthcare and public policy, I hear repeatedly that the US has the "best healthcare in the world". My response is that is like saying Italy makes the best cars in the world. Italy does make Ferrari, Maserati and Lamborghini and they are the best cars in the world, but it certainly doesn't mean they have best car industry. America does have an out sized proportion of world class research hospitals but that doesn't mean America's healthcare industry is meeting Americans needs.

January 21, 2018

America's Fake White People

America's problem is not fake news but fake white people. As a Caucasian I am very proud of the many accomplishments of whites. These include pretty much inventing Democracy, arguably the largest racial group contributing to science, inventing the University system (some Muslim influence as well), inventing public education as well as many other contributions.

Yet "fake white people" disregard all these things. They refuse to use science as the foundation for setting public policy, they disparage academics, they use any voter suppression they can get away and they cut funding to public education.

The past election has pitted whites who got As & Bs in school vs those who got Cs,Ds and Fs. Basically Trump supporters have been intellectually lazy their entire lives. Which is not being physically lazy or even stupid. Even being successful in business can be done while being intellectually lazy. What Trump has accomplished (with Fox News et al) is build their belief system into arrogant self identity system that for lack of a better word can be loosely defined as a "personality cult". Trump supporters will clearly never be convinced with logical reasoning or by pointing out the gross failures of their leader , something typical of a personality cult.

Once we accept that 1/3 of America is under a "cult" and to pretty much write them off. We then need to plan according in getting the remaining 2/3 to the polls.

December 4, 2017

Put Alabama Roy Moore voters in public child molestor database

Since voting records are public record. Should we create a public searchable database of Alabama Roy Moore voters? Publicly shame them with a searchable website/database. With some SEO we could make it that when anybody searches Google for their name their despicable voting for a child mostester comes up. Good luck getting a job with "associates with child molester" in search results.

Great to get this in the media, should scare the shit out of a lot of potential Moore voters.

April 16, 2017

"Corporate values" initiative to get employees to vote (hopefully democratic)

Almost all corporate HR departments have a "corporate values" initiatives. These are created to get employees to feel good about their company's meeting social responsibilities. I suggest a liberally minded non-profit could develop a campaign to persuade companies to include employee voting in all local and national elections as an area social responsibility. We could even supply the HR department with data if their employees voted, of course NOT including who they voted for. I would note that some HR departments may score their employees on their corporate values goals. This can even impact an employee's bonus. So HR could bake this voting data into an employee's score.

The non-profit would provide branded marketing material to the HR departments. They would need to have a booth at HR conventions etc and advertise in HR trade rags.

This campaign could target companies with desired demographics for liberal voting.

February 25, 2017

Poll: Should Democrats offer compromise restrictions on abortions to win elections?

Why should Democrats compromise on abortion?

1. There is limited demand for abortions after mid-terms. Less than 2% are done after mid-term and they are mostly medically required (i.e. almost never elected). So there is room to offer limitations with minimal impact to availability as long as there are caveats for medical needs.

2. Anti-abortion is a single voting issue for a large voting block. Some 60% of GOP voters rank abortion as important. Yet only 1/2 of these voters want a total ban on abortions. So there is room to a talk compromise that would flip some voters. From my personal observation, quite a few pro-life voters, most of whom are religious, would vote Democrat if not for this issue.

3. The GOP leadership treats abortion as red meat issue, they will never really compromise. So Democrats can offer the compromise knowing we will never have to deliver. But if we campaign as compromising, I believe we can peel off a few points.

4. The Anti-Abortion movement falsely paints abortions with grotesque imagery of late term procedures. By offering modest late term restrictions, Democrats can actually reverse this tactic against them.

I propose a policy brand of "The Abortion Restrictions Compromise" that would limit elective abortion after mid-term but making exceptions for medical need. The medical need would be a determined by the doctor (vs a judge). I suggest Democratic candidates declaring their support for this policy would gain voters vs an unrestricted abortion position. I believe this will play well in modestly conservative regions or any close election.

My fellow Democrats, your thoughts?

January 3, 2017

A Plan to Retake Congress in 2018 Midterm

I would like to propose a “campaign” for Democrats to retake Congress in 2018. This campaign is less to do with finding a new hot button issue to motivate voters or discovering a more motivating candidate. This campaign is a way for everyday Democrats to reach out to our fellow Americans to show up to vote in the 2018 midterms. This is still a rough idea so there will be ways to improve upon but I would like to get my fellow Democrats feedback if this is a good idea.

The campaign is based on the fact that 3 to 4 million American jobs are based on tips. This number includes restaurant wait staff, Uber and Lyft drivers, pizza delivery etc. The majority of these employees are millennials or gen-Xers, a demographics that leans Democratic but has poor voter turnout, particularly in midterms. Democrats are known as both good tippers and regular consumers of these services. The fundamental goal of this campaign is to teach Democrats how to engage these employees in a brief and positive way of the importance of registering to vote and following through with voting. I see Democrats “evangelizing” these employees on voting, to briefly explain this campaign and then follow through with generous tipping at 20% plus.

Creating a campaign brand may help with the conversation. I was thinking of something like TipTheVote.org. And possibly encourage the use of buttons and stickers of “I Will Vote 2018”.

I see the conversation as brief, asking if they voted and/or are they registered to vote. And if they plan to vote in 2018. No need to talk about parties or issues unless they want to. But also ask if they heard of the campaign. Of course giving a generous tips helps with your likability.

There are 72 million registered Democrats. If we assume this campaign was popular, say 5% would become active in the campaign that is 3.6 million or roughly 1 to 1 with the number of employees. If we also assume 2 conversations a week and it would be a nice frequency to reinforce the conversation without being overbearing. The exact number of impressions is hard to predict but if this ran for most 2017 and 2018, I believe almost all these employees would be engaged numerous times.

Note: The “I Will Vote 2018” may also be a conversation starter in other social interactions we have.

I’m not sociologist or marketing expert but I would think that if Democrats were mobilized to reach out to this important voting contingency and motivating them for the midterm it could have a powerful results.

Again this is just a rough idea but your thoughts?