New Age Values for a New Age Democrat
The democratic party uses government intelligently at all levels to help local communities become and stay physically, socially, environmentally, economically, mentally, and spiritually healthy.
In the American Prospect, Lind, Judis & Teixeira, and Sirota think that the "values" debate needs to be marginalized in order for Democrats to succeed with economic issues. Yet, they do not offer a way to neutralize cultural issues without making Democrats look weak.
The problem is that it is impossible to neutralize cultural issues because conservative voters think that cultural issues trump economic issues. There are two reason why conservatives favor cultural issues over economic issues. The first is that, as cultural conservatives, they have accepted the argument from Protestant Christianity that economic prosperity is temporary, while pleasing God gives ever-lasting life. The second is that they think the Democrats represent the negative cultural forces that they think were unleashed in the 1960s and 70s: abortion, social decay, homosexuality; feminist movements, etc. Thus, while democrats can temporarily benefit from economic downturns that knit together a coalition, the cultural issues will keep coming back to hurt democrats.
The only way to take away the sting is to meet the cultural issues head-on. Right now, the best way to understand the national contest between Democrats and Republicans is to understand how cultural dynamics work. The first place to turn is culture itself: television, movies, comic books and novels. The first rule of a cultural product, no matter what the medium, is that there must be a protagonist and an antagonist. The second rule is that the skills of the antagonist must almost be equal to the skills of the protagonist. If there is inequality, then either the protagonist or the antagonist will always win the fight, and there will be no tension. We always know the outcome.
This is largely how the Democratic Party relates to the Republican Party. The problem is, the Democratic Party doesn't know it.
The Republican Party has been radicalized over the past 30 years, starting in 1964. It not only has radical ideas based on a systematic ideology, but it has a core of supporters who talk about those ideas on talk radio, cable television, think tanks, and in church. Those supporters have voted for radically conservative candidates, such as Reagan and George W. Bush.
The Democratic Party has a radicalized base that believes in different cultural values, but its leadership is not radicalized. Thus, there is a contest in the Democratic Leadership for the soul of the party. This contest is between Centrist Democrats who care mainly about economic issues and Liberal Democrats who care mainly about cultural issues.
Imagine a contest between the comic book villain The Joker, archenemy of Batman, and Barney Fife, the bumbling deputy sheriff of Mayberry from the Andy Griffith show. It is obvious who would win such a contest: the Joker, since he has superior skills and is willing to be ruthless.
The Democratic Party was radicalized in the 1960s and 1970s, thus provoking the radical reaction from the Republican Party. Since then, Republicans have used cultural issues to argue against all liberal, democratic beliefs, but Democrats have not responded in kind. Instead of avoiding discussion of values, the Democratic Party should now propose a different set of beliefs. The Republican Party is willing to do whatever it takes to win or steal elections, including the suppression of voter turnout, the challenging of voters at the polls, and the elimination of votes through computer fraud. All of this happened in the 2004 election, yet the Democratic leadership did nothing about it since they wanted to appeal to conservative people on economic issues in the future. Well, it is impossible to appeal to conservative people on economic issues, because they care most about cultural issues.
So, here is the values statement of the Democratic Party:
1. The Democratic Party values community and those forces the preserve communities. This means that the Democratic Party is against corporations that tear communities apart by eliminating small shops that serve local needs and replaces them with chain stores. The Democratic Party is against the value of greed, which spurs the destruction of communities, and for the value of happiness, which is a balancing of prosperity, or wealth, with the needs of the community. Finally, the Democratic Party is for all those forces that are helping people to reconnect with their communities: The Internet (websites, weblogs, email); community benefits; and neighborhood watch groups. The Democratic Party is against all those forces that take people out of their communities: jobs that force people to commute 1-2 hours per day, taking them away from their families and friends; jobs that force people to work 60-80 hours per week, thus preventing them from spending time with friends and family.
2. The Democratic Party favors feminine ethics over masculine ethics. This means that the Democratic Party uses government as an extension of the family to help out the disadvantaged in society. The Democratic Party promotes helping others through the redistribution of resources, talent and information. The Democratic Party believes that when taxes are cut and government is reduced, people help each other less. Democrats believe that government is a force for good, and that at its best, it serves the collective interest of society. Thus, the Democratic Party believes strongly in using government to nurture all elements of society to reach their fullest potential. We do not simply tolerate differences, we believe that our differences make us stronger by giving us more ways to help each other. We believe that individualist people are the loneliest people, and the people most in need of help because they have separated from people who are able and willing to help them. We believe that it is necessary to promote partnership between men and women in every aspect of life, from the family to the corporation to the government. Otherwise, men are unbalanced as they promote environmental destruction and warfare.
3. The Democratic Party promotes unity with mind, body, spirit, community, and earth. Thus, the party favors environmentally friendly practices. The party supports initiatives that promote happiness and well being in society, including harmony with nature. The Democratic Party believes that a happy human being is a healthy human being, and so it promotes government oversight of unhealthy practices in all areas of life, including unhealthy relationships, unhealthy business practices, unhealthy environmental practices, unhealthy social practices, and unhealthy individual practices.
4. To summarize, the Democratic Party believes in using government at all levels to help communities become healthy and stay healthy, starting with local government and local empowerment. The Democratic Party believes that the local level, where communities have the most power, is the most important level. Thus, the Democratic Party promotes initiatives that help communities fix problems at the local level first.
In the American Prospect, Lind, Judis & Teixeira, and Sirota think that the "values" debate needs to be marginalized in order for Democrats to succeed with economic issues. Yet, they do not offer a way to neutralize cultural issues without making Democrats look weak.
The problem is that it is impossible to neutralize cultural issues because conservative voters think that cultural issues trump economic issues. There are two reason why conservatives favor cultural issues over economic issues. The first is that, as cultural conservatives, they have accepted the argument from Protestant Christianity that economic prosperity is temporary, while pleasing God gives ever-lasting life. The second is that they think the Democrats represent the negative cultural forces that they think were unleashed in the 1960s and 70s: abortion, social decay, homosexuality; feminist movements, etc. Thus, while democrats can temporarily benefit from economic downturns that knit together a coalition, the cultural issues will keep coming back to hurt democrats.
The only way to take away the sting is to meet the cultural issues head-on. Right now, the best way to understand the national contest between Democrats and Republicans is to understand how cultural dynamics work. The first place to turn is culture itself: television, movies, comic books and novels. The first rule of a cultural product, no matter what the medium, is that there must be a protagonist and an antagonist. The second rule is that the skills of the antagonist must almost be equal to the skills of the protagonist. If there is inequality, then either the protagonist or the antagonist will always win the fight, and there will be no tension. We always know the outcome.
This is largely how the Democratic Party relates to the Republican Party. The problem is, the Democratic Party doesn't know it.
The Republican Party has been radicalized over the past 30 years, starting in 1964. It not only has radical ideas based on a systematic ideology, but it has a core of supporters who talk about those ideas on talk radio, cable television, think tanks, and in church. Those supporters have voted for radically conservative candidates, such as Reagan and George W. Bush.
The Democratic Party has a radicalized base that believes in different cultural values, but its leadership is not radicalized. Thus, there is a contest in the Democratic Leadership for the soul of the party. This contest is between Centrist Democrats who care mainly about economic issues and Liberal Democrats who care mainly about cultural issues.
Imagine a contest between the comic book villain The Joker, archenemy of Batman, and Barney Fife, the bumbling deputy sheriff of Mayberry from the Andy Griffith show. It is obvious who would win such a contest: the Joker, since he has superior skills and is willing to be ruthless.
The Democratic Party was radicalized in the 1960s and 1970s, thus provoking the radical reaction from the Republican Party. Since then, Republicans have used cultural issues to argue against all liberal, democratic beliefs, but Democrats have not responded in kind. Instead of avoiding discussion of values, the Democratic Party should now propose a different set of beliefs. The Republican Party is willing to do whatever it takes to win or steal elections, including the suppression of voter turnout, the challenging of voters at the polls, and the elimination of votes through computer fraud. All of this happened in the 2004 election, yet the Democratic leadership did nothing about it since they wanted to appeal to conservative people on economic issues in the future. Well, it is impossible to appeal to conservative people on economic issues, because they care most about cultural issues.
So, here is the values statement of the Democratic Party:
1. The Democratic Party values community and those forces the preserve communities. This means that the Democratic Party is against corporations that tear communities apart by eliminating small shops that serve local needs and replaces them with chain stores. The Democratic Party is against the value of greed, which spurs the destruction of communities, and for the value of happiness, which is a balancing of prosperity, or wealth, with the needs of the community. Finally, the Democratic Party is for all those forces that are helping people to reconnect with their communities: The Internet (websites, weblogs, email); community benefits; and neighborhood watch groups. The Democratic Party is against all those forces that take people out of their communities: jobs that force people to commute 1-2 hours per day, taking them away from their families and friends; jobs that force people to work 60-80 hours per week, thus preventing them from spending time with friends and family.
2. The Democratic Party favors feminine ethics over masculine ethics. This means that the Democratic Party uses government as an extension of the family to help out the disadvantaged in society. The Democratic Party promotes helping others through the redistribution of resources, talent and information. The Democratic Party believes that when taxes are cut and government is reduced, people help each other less. Democrats believe that government is a force for good, and that at its best, it serves the collective interest of society. Thus, the Democratic Party believes strongly in using government to nurture all elements of society to reach their fullest potential. We do not simply tolerate differences, we believe that our differences make us stronger by giving us more ways to help each other. We believe that individualist people are the loneliest people, and the people most in need of help because they have separated from people who are able and willing to help them. We believe that it is necessary to promote partnership between men and women in every aspect of life, from the family to the corporation to the government. Otherwise, men are unbalanced as they promote environmental destruction and warfare.
3. The Democratic Party promotes unity with mind, body, spirit, community, and earth. Thus, the party favors environmentally friendly practices. The party supports initiatives that promote happiness and well being in society, including harmony with nature. The Democratic Party believes that a happy human being is a healthy human being, and so it promotes government oversight of unhealthy practices in all areas of life, including unhealthy relationships, unhealthy business practices, unhealthy environmental practices, unhealthy social practices, and unhealthy individual practices.
4. To summarize, the Democratic Party believes in using government at all levels to help communities become healthy and stay healthy, starting with local government and local empowerment. The Democratic Party believes that the local level, where communities have the most power, is the most important level. Thus, the Democratic Party promotes initiatives that help communities fix problems at the local level first.
posted by Marriah @ 4:21 PM
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