Prospects for Democrats winning in November in the House and Senate have picked up recently. Nonetheless, political pundits are still not counting on the Democrats to win the House of Representatives. Candidates have eight weeks to refine their policies, messages, and strategies to energize and mobilize voters.
Candidates need fresh language, issues, and tough rebuttals to the neo-fascist GOP.
If they break through the force field of their political and media consultants—often conflicted with corporate clients and 15% commissions for TV/radio ads—and tap into the experience of citizen advocacy groups, they can win a comfortable margin in Congress.
Astonishingly, citizen leaders for years have been marginalized to their and the Democratic politicians’ disadvantage. The Republicans do not make such mistakes. Witness the roles and influence of right-wing advocacy groups such as the Heritage Foundation, the Cato Institute, and the National Taxpayers Union.
Most political campaigns get tired and repetitive. Each day is like the previous day—think Bill Murray in the movie Groundhog Day. Candidates need fresh language, issues, and tough rebuttals to the neo-fascist GOP, which doesn’t even bother to camouflage its anti-democratic missions, its takedowns of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, and other government programs for the people. Republicans boast about long-range plans, which they fakely call “populist,” but they are driven to put the plutocrats and oligarchs in full predatory charge of our federal and state governments.
Above all, Democrats need to give voters from all backgrounds practical motivations to register and get out to vote in record-setting numbers. Setting a voter turnout record is not hard. With predictions of 130 million eligible voters not voting, getting ten million of these Americans voting in the swing states could produce a working Democratic majority in Congress.
Citizen advocates know what it takes to make a more just society for all Americans—all workers, all consumers, all patients, and all communities. With no ax to grind, civic leaders have learned how to speak plainly, authentically, and persuasively, for they know that is the way to succeed in making life better, safer, and fairer. They also can’t stand bullies.
Recently, over two dozen of these leaders placed their specialized knowhow and clear ways of communicating what they know—that reach people where they live, work, and raise their families—at the disposal of the Democrats. Some have run referendums and have developed sensible, often unused ways to get people to vote. Others have honed effective language such as “go vote for a raise, you’ve earned it and it is long overdue,” or talk about “investing in public works,” not “spending.” Builders of factories say they are investing, not spending, don’t they?
It’s “climate violence,” not “climate change.” Taxpayers should demand: “We want our tax dollars used to benefit our communities and families, not used for reckless corporate welfare or taken by corporate looters defrauding government programs like Medicare or the Pentagon.”
Start returning calls by the citizen community from which nearly all the blessings of justice and liberty in our nation’s history have emerged.
Civic leaders know how to win debates, how to urge cracking down on corporate crooks, and how to expose waste, fraud, and other abuses that rile people up who often feel powerless. Above all, civic leaders are all about empowering you or, better said, “We the People.” Remember, the Constitution placed the basic sovereign power in our republic and in the hands of the citizenry.
More specifically, if Democrats want the past pathways to a bright future, children’s rights, superior healthcare, elevated livelihoods for workers and retirees, racial and gender equality, an economy for all of us, neighborhood renewable energy, affordable housing, a redefined national security, and engaged voters, they need to start returning calls made to their campaign offices.
Let me repeat, start returning calls by the citizen community from which nearly all the blessings of justice and liberty in our nation’s history have emerged.
Candidates that are kept so busy that they don’t have time to adjust, re-adjust. and re-invigorate their campaigns in the real, not the virtual, world are at a disadvantage. You win by developing your own escalator, not by paying minders to place you on a media treadmill that eats up campaign contributions without energizing voters.
See winningamerica.net for more information.
Nader is opposed to big insurance companies, "corporate welfare," and the "dangerous convergence of corporate and government power." While consumer advocate/environmentalist Ralph Nader has virtually no chance of winning the White House, he has been taken quite seriously on the campaign trail.Indeed, he poses the greatest threat to Sen. John Kerry. Democrats fear that Nader will be a spoiler, as he was in the 2000 election, when he took more than 97,000 votes in Florida. Bush won Florida by just 537 votes. The win gave Bush the election. Nader, an independent candidate, who also ran in 1992 and 1996, is on the ballot in 33 states, including Florida, Ohio, Wisconsin, and New Mexico—tough battleground states. Kerry stands a chance of losing those vital states if Nader siphons away the votes of Democrats. President Bush and Kerry have been in a statistical dead heat in nationwide polls, and votes for Nader could well tip the balance in favor of Bush.Many Kerry supporters contend that a vote for Nader is in reality a vote for Bush and have made concerted efforts to persuade Nader to throw his support behind the Democratic candidate. Nader, however, has held fast to his convictions that the two candidates are nearly indistinguishable and are pawns of big business.Designing Cars for Everything but SafetyNader was born in Winsted, Connecticut, on Feb. 27, 1934 to Lebanese immigrants Nathra and Rose Nader. Nathra ran a bakery and restaurant. As a child, Ralph played with David Halberstam, who\'s now a highly regarded journalist.Nader with Democratic nominee Jimmy Carter outside of Jimmy Carter\'s home on August 7, 1976, discussing Consumer Protection. (Source/AP) Nader graduated magna cum laude from Princeton in 1955 and from Harvard Law School in 1958. As a student at Harvard, Nader first researched the design of automobiles. In an article titled "The Safe Car You Can\'t Buy," which appeared in the Nation in 1959, he concluded, "It is clear Detroit today is designing automobiles for style, cost, performance, and calculated obsolescence, but not—despite the 5,000,000 reported accidents, nearly 40,000 fatalities, 110,000 permanent disabilities, and 1,500,000 injuries yearly—for safety."Early Years as a Consumer AdvocateAfter a stint working as a lawyer in Hartford, Connecticut, Nader headed for Washington, where he began his career as a consumer advocate. He worked for Daniel Patrick Moynihan in the Department of Labor and volunteered as an adviser to a Senate subcommittee that was studying automobile safety.In 1965, he published Unsafe at Any Speed, a best-selling indictment of the auto industry and its poor safety standards. He specifically targeted General Motors\' Corvair. Largely because of his influence, Congress passed the 1966 National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act. Nader was also influential in the passage of 1967\'s Wholesome Meat Act, which called for federal inspections of beef and poultry and imposed standards on slaughterhouses, as well as the Clean Air Act and the Freedom of Information Act."Nader\'s Raiders" and Modern Consumer MovementNader\'s crusade caught on, and swarms of activists, called "Nader\'s Raiders," joined his modern consumer movement. They pressed for protections for workers, taxpayers, and the environment and fought to stem the power of large corporations.In 1969 Nader established the Center for the Study of Responsive Law, which exposed corporate irresponsibility and the federal government\'s failure to enforce regulation of business. He founded Public Citizen and U.S. Public Interest Research Group in 1971, an umbrella for many other such groups.A prolific writer, Nader\'s books include Corporate Power in America (1973), Who\'s Poisoning America (1981), and Winning the Insurance Game (1990).
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