This is for all those people who say that there's no difference between Democrats and Republicans. There is, in fact, one significant difference, and this difference is why the Republicans have had the upper hand for most of the last generation. The difference can be expressed in ten words (five for each party, so that there's no bias):Republicans assume voters are stupid; Democrats fear this is true.
The extreme right wing, which controls the Republican party, assumes the voters are so stupid that nobody will notice the most outrageously idiotic Republican statements. This is how they can claim in 2000 that deep tax cuts for the wealthy will cut the surplus, and claim in every year since that deeper tax cuts for the wealthy will cut the deficit.
Those who control the Democratic message (if there is one) are afraid that if they take the time to say that the Republicans are breathing hot and cold with the same breath, nobody will get it. They're afraid to say, "Tax cuts for the wealthy got rid of the surplus, so the way to bring it back is to repeal those cuts."
Republicans assume voters are stupid, which is why they can say with equanimity that they are keeping us safe, but they still need greater control over our private lives in order to keep us safe. Why don't Democrats challenge that? Because they're afraid that voters won't understand the obvious contradiction.
Republicans claim that we invaded Iraq because of the "war on terror," even though there were no terrorists in Iraq until we invaded. They claim that our invasion was part of the plan to capture Osama bin Laden.
Did anyone notice that the only time John Kerry was leading in the polls was when he directly challenged this assertion? And did anyone notice how quickly he dropped that strategy, or how quickly his lead evaporated when he changed tactics?
The voters aren't stupid; they're amazingly intelligent and insightful. They are also begging for someone - anyone - to acknowledge this fact.
Any time you act based on fear, you're bound to lose. Since 1980 (at least), Democrats have almost always acted based completely on fear of losing, and they've almost always lost. The only Democrat who assumed that voters would "get it" was Bill Clinton, and he's the only Democratic President to serve two full terms since Franklin Roosevelt. That's not a coincidence; it's a correlation.
If Democrats want to regain control of Congress and the White House, we have to start by assuming that voters are smart. We have to base our platforms, our strategies and tactics, our speeches - in short, everything we do - on the idea that if we just tell the truth the voters will understand.
We also have to be at least as aggressive as the Republicans are in pushing our views.
Until we rid ourselves of our irrational fear of the voters, we will never win. As soon as we purge this fear from our system, we will do nothing but win.
Copyright 2005, Dan Jacoby
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