HRC/Democrats Lost Due to WRONG Message

[NanceGreggs]

That’s the truth of the matter. For too many in this country, the Democrats are always wrong on all counts – not because we are wrong, but because we adhere to principles that are considered wrong by a vast swath of the citizenry.

The war between Democrats and Republicans used to be about common goals, the difference between the two parties being how best to achieve them. For decades, this has no longer been the case.

What we are now up against is not differing ideologies. American politics is now a war of the intelligent v the stupid, the fact-based v the gullible, the educated v the ill-informed – the latter group in each case having been nurtured by FOX-News, encouraged by people like Limbaugh, and ultimately catered-to by the GOP in every election.

We are fighting against people who will never accept what we Democrats stand for, regardless of who delivers the message; people who refuse to hear what we have to say, regardless of who says it, or how well they say it.

We have just witnessed an election where people – who know Trump is anti-union, doesn’t pay the people who work for him, and outsources his own brand-name merchandise to low-wage countries – voted for him as the champion of the working class. We saw people who claim to be upstanding, moral Christians vote for a man who bragged about “grabbing pussies”. We saw people who depend on Medicare, Medicaid, and Obamacare vote for the man who is set on destroying all of the above. And that’s just for starters.

It’s US v THEM, and the truth is:

When we say let’s embrace diversity, they hear let’s make America less “American”.

When we say let’s welcome immigrants, they hear let’s invite rapists and terrorists to live among us.

When we say a woman should have the right to choose, they hear let’s murder babies.

When we say LGBTers should have equal rights, they hear let’s indulge in immorality and turn our backs on God.

When we stand up for things like welfare and food stamps, they hear let’s give our tax dollars to those too lazy to work for a living.

When we stand up for freedom of religion, they hear let’s destroy Christianity.

When we encourage sensible gun control, they hear let’s confiscate everyone’s guns.

When we talk about the importance of education, they hear let’s raise a generation of liberal elitists who will look down their noses at the rest of us.

When we talk about raising the minimum wage, they hear let’s raise the price of burgers-and-fries so some acne-faced kid has enough money to buy liquor, drugs, and weed.

When we support concepts like sheltering the homeless, feeding the hungry, and caring for the sick, they hear – and they actually DO – the promotion of things that are somehow contrary to what Jesus taught.

Throughout his campaign, Trump has demonstrated his ignorance as to how our government works, how foreign policy works, and how our standing in the global community works – and he was elected by people who are just as ignorant as he is.

How do we win in future? It’s a good question. Do we try to capture the votes of the stupid, the ignorant, the ill-informed? Do we appeal to their racism, bigotry, homophobia, and xenophobia in order to win? Do we abandon our long-held principles in order to appeal to those who are dead-set against them?

It IS a good question – I wish I had a good answer.

Obama won by promising change to people who had lost their homes, lost their jobs, lost their savings, lost their sons and daughters in a senseless war. How do you win the votes of people who hear someone like Donald Trump say “change”, and assume that because things got better when Obama said it, things will get even better now that Trump has said the same thing?

It’s not the messenger, it’s the message. The Democratic message was and is the “wrong message” for those too ignorant to see facts as more important than rhetoric, for those who see the rise of bigotry and racism as a means to “making America great again”.

I, for one, will stand with the Democrats and their “wrong” message. I will stand with the party that encourages acceptance over exclusion, embraces diversity rather than demonizing it, recognizes the needs of those who have fallen on hard times, understands the importance of equality among ALL Americns, and continues to further the idea of unification over divisiveness.

I prefer to stand with those who fail by supporting what is right, than stand with those who “win” by standing up for what is wrong.