Reply #8: The way to win the 2006 elections

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

The way to win in 2006 is to not allow the Republican spin machine to frame the debate. By now, we know well their tools of framing: hate and fear.

We must have a two prong approach. First we must point out all the things that have happened during the Republican majority. List all the Republican promises that have been broken. Remind people of all the Republican lies. Ask them if they are truly safer and better off under Bush.

Then we must offer hope. We must state categorically that when we win, the process of legislation will be open; no closed door secret meetings with special interests, no bills presented that were written by lobbyists for their clients. We must state that we will represent the people and will listen to the people and their wishes. We must be bold and frankly state the problems facing us: and energy crisis and global warming, and what we propose to do about them. I would suggest an all-out research/development effort to create new technologies that will allow us to maintain our planet and give us bountiful amounts of energy for years to come. We must show true compassion-take away the tax cuts from the richest of the rich and reinstate programs for the poor. Reagan gave the public the myth of the "welfare queen"-we can give facts of hard working people who have been struck down by war, accident, or illness who have had their very oxygen taken away because of Medicaid cuts. We must appeal to the true part of religion by asking what the Bible, the Torah, the Dhammapada,the Gita, and the Qur'an say about helping others-and stress that our programs will be known by their good works.

There are many changes coming. We can be a force for these changes if we present candidates who are willing to frame a platform that will allow us to survive into the future.