General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Why Hasn't The American Left Convinced More Americans To Vote For More Progressive Candidates? [View all]JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)1) We aren't focusing on the problems of ordinary people -- like divorce, divided families, trying to keep a family going without having enough money, trying to stay hopeful when everything goes wrong, being sick and not being able to afford to get well or not having a way to get well, having to take care of sick or poor parents, having to put your kids in lousy day care while you work for pay too low to cover your costs, working in a restaurant, working in a hotel, driving a truck, feeling angry at people who have good jobs when you work really hard plus overtime for not nearly enough to take care of your family. Having to pay for taxes on top of all that.
2) We think in the abstract and talk in the abstract and don't get real enough.
3) We try to be too nice about topics that people have been taught to focus their anger on -- like immigration and race and guns and private property, gay rights and paying debts. We don't come out and say what we really want on these issues. We beat around the bush when we need to make our beliefs clear. We try not to offend the stupid Republicans. We try not to step on toes. We cower when we should attack. Instead, let's just say what we think. Coming out in favor of gay and lesbian marriage did not hurt Obama one bit. Supporting immigrants won't hurt either. Let's be true to what we believe in. We don't have to attack or cower. We just have to say what we think. Our fear of being who we are goes back to the McCarthy era. We don't need to feel that way. We have nothing to fear but fear.
4) We don't have enough of our own media. That is because we don't have a lot of money. But we can make up for this by creating our own outreach person to person. We need a lot more volunteers who talk plain talk with people and know how to listen.
Most people have progressive thoughts and ideas. More Americans lean to the left and support progressive ideas than support conservative ones. But they don't support or like intellectual language. And we haven't figured out how to talk about our ideas without intellectual language. I'll be the first to admit that I'm not good at it.