I need some help.

[SheilaT]

Yesterday I had a brief conversation with a young women who told me she comes from a staunchly Republican family, and she's never voted. She's not entirely sure she's comfortable with the people currently in office, but sees the Democrats as people who will simply raise her taxes.

I spoke briefly about how Clinton brought us from deficits to budget surpluses, then how we now have a $7 Trillion dollar deficit under the current president.

What I want, if you can help me, are links to simple graphics -- like the one showing job creation since Truman, and maybe a very simple one of the Oreo cookies -- which I mentioned to her.

I DON'T want to overwhelm her, I DON'T want to do any Republican bashing, just a simple presentation of the facts.

And the reason she spoke to me was that we were both attending events at a nearby hotel, she with her company, I with Kansas Democratic Women. This is definitely someone who is convertible, and if I present the right stuff to her that she shares with others, it could make a huge difference.

Thanks in advance, SheilaT

[eaprez]

1. Buy Her A Ticket to F 9/11

[Eloriel]

4. She's asking for ECONOMIC info, not just any info.

Sheesh.

[eaprez]

7. Crucify me for God sakes!

sheesh!

[DeepModem Mom]

2. See MM's "Dude, Where's My Country" for an excellent...

chapter on talking to Republicans. Their concerns are not the same as ours.

[isa-lee]

8. Thanks for the advice

I talk to many independents and moderate republicans who are extremely unhappy w/the Bushies, but I think often I come on too strong and maybe do more harm than good. I will definitely get this book for some pointers. In addition, does anyone know of any good threads about convincing disatisfied republicans?

[DeepModem Mom]

10. Welcome to DU, isa-lee! Glad you've joined us --

[Eloriel]

3. Great news.

Can't help, but wanted to kick this for those who can to see it.

:kick:

[immoderate]

5. Bartcop frequently displays the graphs you want

It may be much to go back through several issues. But graphs about deficits, job creation are available.

--IMM

[SheilaT]

9. Any clue as to which issues?

The titles don't help much.

[SheilaT]

6. I am going to suggest

she see F9/11, but I want to start by sending her some concrete information.

One other interesting thing she said, was that her grandfather has recently passed away, and apparently when she expressed the possibility of voting Dem, her mother reacted in horror and said not to do that because then her (dead, remember?) grandfather would have not voice.

I said that no matter who she chose to vote for, she needed to cast her own vote. I'm so sorry i didn't have voter registration forms with me.

The other thing here is that I'm running for office, for a Kansas House seat, which I told her. She's just outside my district, but of course knows people inside my district.

[DeepModem Mom]

13. Kevin Phillips's "American Dynasty" has shocked,

and turned, some people I know from old-line Republican families. After reading the book, they realize that the Bushes are not the kind of people they thought they were.

[Don_G]

11. What About The Budget Deficit?

[sandnsea]

21. That is PERFECT!

I'm printing up a bunch of these to hand out at our Dem booth next weekend. Nothing further need be said!! Yeah!!! Thank you.

[Claire Beth]

12. yes! take her to see Fahrenheit 9/11 n/t

[TheFarseer]

14. Play up the deficit

Maybe bush is cutting taxes, but he's piling up debt. Give me your credit card and I can show you a great time - for a while, but eventually you have to pay for it. One stat that has always impressed me - 10% of our budget goes to paying interest on the deficit(more depending on who you ask) If we paid that off and had 10% more to spend on anything, wouldn't that be great?

[camby]

15. try this link on federal deficit - it also has links to articles

<http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock/>
the sad fact is that with the growing deficit, tax increases may be necessary. you need to let her know that the modest tax decreases given to the masses were way more than compensated for by huge tax breaks given to the wealthy. At the same time spending increased. Given our current direction, we common folk will be paying for the excesses of the rich for generations to come. That is the Bush legacy. It's not a question of whether taxes will be raised, but who will be paying them. If taxes are NOT raised, then the government as we know it will probably cease to exist. Which is commonly perceived as the hidden agenda behind the tax cuts in the first place - to put the govt in such red ink that the only choice will be "gov't lite" - i.e., no social programs, no social security, etc. If you do a google search on federal budget deficit and Bush, you will get many, many articles pointing out the current sad state of affairs.

[SheilaT]

16. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

All suggestions here are good ones. I'll start by sending her the deficit chart.

What I also want is the jobs chart. I used to be able to find it with a google search, but can't seem to any more.

I will also suggest a couple of books to her, but some of the best ones are quite strident, and the last thing I want is to make her think it's only left-wing nut cases who are criticizing Bush.

I love DU.

[BillZBubb]

17. Sheila, you MUST check this site:

http://www.academycomputerservice.com/economics/charts.htm

These charts would convince ANY open minded person of the disaster that Bush* has brought.

[SheilaT]

18. That's PERFECT.

Exactly the one I need.

Once again, thank you all for your help.

[sandnsea]

19. The Kennedy Tax Cuts

The taxes were so high because we were paying for WWII. He cut the taxes because most or all of that had been paid for. From 90% to 70%, nothing like what we've got going on today. They love to toss out the Kennedy tax cuts, but what it's really an example of is how much we used to expect the wealthy to pay.

There's also some charts on the Clinton taxes. Most working people didn't have a tax increase. The wealthy did. They call it the largest tax increase in history, but that's in sheer dollars. As the economy improved, revenue improved, tax dollars increased. But the tax increase on most working people was either nonexistent or offset by other tax cuts like the college credits. If you want those, I'll try to go find them again or see if I have them saved.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

20. 100 plus Billion bux a year (Iraq war) won't eventually cost her?