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Old 01-26-2006, 02:37 AM   #5
HelenTay

Join Date
Oct 2005
Posts
402
Senior Member
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1) Tone it down on abortion.

Polls I've seen show that 1/3 of the public opposes it altogether. (The rates are higher or lower on regional levels.) Even most pro-choice people know abortion is a painful issue and that there are mixed interests between the foetus and the mother. Alot of pro-choice people have limitations on what they support. Examples of where pro-choice people depart amongst themselves would be post-first trimester abortion and especially partial birth abortion and parental and spousal notification.

The problem is that too many special interest pro-choice groups like NARAL and NOW spend a fortune and scream the loudest to get clout and tear up anyone who won't follow every one of their whims. These groups, however, take very inflexible positions where some of the points are definitely in the collective minority compared to the anti-abortion and restricted pro-choice views of the majority, as with lightning rod issues such as late term abortions and partial birth abortion and spousal and parental notifications. Worse, these groups also scream and holler like having an abortion is a wonderful thing and America's most important right whilst the foetus is a piece of worthless cellular glob until birth and a hindrance to women's unrestricted personal choice. This throws off a huge odour of coldness and insensitivity towards the sensitive nature of bearing a child, a very personal thing, and often very painful to even those who have undergone the procedure.

2) Give the 2nd Amendment and America's gun ownership culture its due respect.

America has a specified Amendment protecting gun ownership as well as most states. Gun collection and hunting are huge pasttimes in the rural parts of America. Seeking heavy gun restrictions directly attacks generational and regional cultures and the results are obvious. Removing such weaponry from the public is also futile given gun ownership is entrenched. At a time when it seems the Republican Party has taken a strong turn from its traditional libertarian roots towards Big Brother on several amendments, the Dems would give themselves constitutional consistency to attack the recent encroachments on the 1st, 4th, 8th and other Bill of Rights Amendments by removing the one area where they appear dismissive--the 2nd. Being the party of the people's constitution against Big Brother is very appealing, but it requires consistency to gain credibility, and backing the 2nd like the rest of the Bill of Rights would open the door to claim being the defender of the Bill of Rights and freedom from government encroachment upon it given they are more liberal than the current Reps when it comes to the rest of the Bill of Rights.

3) Play up the fact that the current Reps in Congress have abandoned smaller government and fair and responsible fiscal management. This one should be obvious. Play up the balanced budget and the lack of benefits people have gotten from this, some of which has given even less back than the Dems of the 70s.

4) Explain why Big Brother and Religious Right conservatism is often unduly intrusive and invasive to American valued freedoms. Alot of conservatives are 'negative liberty' libertarians--they want the government to stay off their porches, out of their bedrooms,--basically out of their lives. A good number of people don't want to sacrifice constitutional liberty for claims of safety. And alot don't want some politician deciding how to run their lives where it does not really harm others but merely offends another person's restrictive sensibilities who want to tell others how they must live their lives.

5) Show the flip side of 'strict constructionism' with the Constitution. Alot of power-hungry people in the government right now want the constitution construed in favour of their ability to regulate the people instead of giving them liberty from government. That creates alot of negative side effects with bossy social issue special interests groups, government power appetites, and lobbyists, and these hazards should be highlighted.

6) Stop having a non-negotiable large checklist of special issues. This is what drove people away from Dems and is now driving people away from Reps. Be a 'Big Tent' party as much as possible and try to reach flexible and compromising positions.

7) Remember the Average Joe. This was always the strength of the party. School quality, day care, medical care, school loans and grants, fair and safe working environments, etc.

8) Remember the military and take care of them with the best salaries, equipment, benefits and family aid they deserve. They defend this country and deserve the best. They are not responsible for who orders them to do missions--the government chooses that. They are usually the working class who sacrifice alot. Don't look like you cheer the enemies who shoot at them when criticising any decisions made by Bush and the present Reps in Congress. Make sure they have the best of what they need and back them. There was alot of room to point out how shabbily they were being treated, and instead, the message was missed, and instead the anti-war types came across as cheering lowlifes like Saddam, Zarqawi, etc.

There's more, but that's a start.
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