Two thirds of people let Mr. Hyde do the voting.

[gulliver]

One problem I see in Dem arguments is that we forget to "argue from evil." That leaves a lot of what we say falling on deaf ears among independents and Republicans. If we want to convert some of their votes, we need to make our good policies appeal to Mr. Hyde. This is essentially the opposite of what the Republicans do.

For example, take global warming. You could argue that nearly all scientists believe it is happening. You could argue that protecting the planet's climate is good for the future well being of humanity. You could argue that solving the problem will prevent human suffering and damage to nature and so forth. That argument will work on the vast majority of Dems and progressives. But it will turn off Mr. Hyde.

Hyde is paranoid, selfish, and stupid. Remember, Jekyll is the one with the advanced degree and morals. Hyde is an idiot who thinks more or less like an animal.

To get Hyde to vote for doing something, you need to make the argument appeal to selfishness, xenophobia, stupidity, etc. For example, you could use the Seven Deadly Sins and couch your argument to maximize them.

• Global warming may take the good climate from people who live on good real estate and redistribute it to people who don't deserve it
  
• The wealthy are giving jobs to foreign countries where people of non-white races live. And those people are buying up all of the world's gasoline.
  
• American kids aren't getting the educations they need to keep up the Baby Boomers' standard of living. Instead we are making more criminals and wards of the state.
  
• Rich people are over-educated. They think they're smarter than the rest of us.
  

[freshwest]

1. Great use of polarity. Good suggestions, some of them. K & R.

[dkf]

2. Don't we already argue that middle class Republicans vote against their economic interests?

[RC]

3. That is proven not to work.

Republicans do not understand economics in general and the effect of how more of less money in circulation has on the economy in particular.

[Posteritatis]

4. It's hard to *tell* someone that without coming across as insultingly patronizing. (nt)

[gulliver]

5. That's one tough frame.

The Republican non-wealthy who vote against their economic interests do it because their Hyde sides think they are voting from racism, vanity, xenophobia, sexual anxiety, chauvinism, etc. They undervalue their economic sacrifice in terms of the devastation it causes to their culture and families, because they have been taught to think that they are sacrificing for a higher ideal. It is essentially the same feeling that gets the Afghani goat-herder to strap on an explosives vest. They get to be martyrs, so it doesn't matter what the sacrifice is or whether it makes any real emotional sense. It's a mood.

If you don't want non-wealthy Republicans and some of the dumber independents to keep voting against their economic interests, you need to put a Jekyll face on a Hyde-angle framing. The Jekyll face part is easy. Stronger economics makes for stronger communities, stronger relationships, better lives. But you also have to imply that voting with the Democrats on economics provides an outlet for rage against change and an arrogant feeling of superiority over other races, other countries, and other cultures. Voting with the Democrats on economics means these non-wealth Republicans and independents get to keep their culture alive instead of watching other cultures thrive and supplant them. It means that their country stays the richest country, better than all of the others. In short, they need to ask just exactly what they are getting for all the money and power they are giving up by voting with a power bloc that is essentially just feeding on them.

[varelse]

6. It could work

but we'd have to give up most of our illusions about ourselves to even consider such a strategy.

[unkachuck]

7. "To get Hyde to vote for doing something,.."

"...you need to make the argument appeal to selfishness, xenophobia, stupidity, etc."

....that does sound a lot like old henry, may he rest in peace....

[RobertEarl]

8. Vote for RMoney

Mitt will change his ways and make sure you get to keep your job. Until now he's been selling jobs, but as president he'll change his ways.

Republicans, if we vote them back into power promise to never again spend trillions of dollars bombing the Middle East. They know they made a mistake and promise to not do that again.

If we put republicans back in office, Global Warming problems will vanish. Sure the insurance companies will raise their rates because floods will always happen just as they always have but that's just free enterprise making profits. The earth is warming up all by itself and floods always happen. That's why we buy insurance.

Education should not be free. Republicans will make sure our children earn their way through school. They can mow grass, get a job, do something besides just taking and taking.