When the Democratic candidate for Virginia’s governorship lost his re-election to a Trump extremists, mainstream media said — as they typically do in such cases — that the Democratic Party needs to become much more conservative. That is a WRONG conclusion to draw from this.
The Democratic incumbent was a “CORPORATE” Democrat who was already conservative. His conservative track record as incumbent governor gave no inspiration for people to turn out. Democrats must EARN THE VOTES by promising AND DELIVERING BOLDLY on bold issues.
Election results are SYMPTOMS of what is happening — or not happening — at the level of public policies. Candidates must root themselves in BOLD PROGRESSIVE VALUES and — when elected — actually DELIVER on those. Then voters will reward them with re-election.
In the absence of this, it’s easy for Republicans to raise phony-baloney “issues” and appeal to people’s fears, anxieties and angers. If Democrats do not have SAVVY SUBSTANCE, voters will fall for the phony-baloney.
After the Virginia governorship election, a smart writer pointed out that “corporate” Democrats have only themselves to blame. This fleshes out a recent e-mail about the election results: https://www.alternet.org/2021/11/virginia/?utm_source=&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=8169&recip_id=22838&list_id=2
Actually, a number of down-ballot candidates who took STRONG POSITIONS FOR THE CLIMATE did win elections in many parts of the country. Instead of lamenting the election results that went the wrong way, let’s recognize them as surface symptoms of what is going on at deeper levels. We can produce better election results by strategically addressing the underlying emotions and values and helping people heal from their fears and angers – and their feelings of powerlessness – so they can take positive actions (including making wiser and more compassionate decisions about voting).
