WE ARE GOING TO WIN 2008 AND HERE'S HOW FROM A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE!!

[NNguyenMD]

Ok don't kill me for making this analogy, but I just realized something that I thought was infinitely interesting.

I was thinking about why we have an electoral college to elect the president versus a straight popular vote, and remembering what my college Civil War History professor told me. I remembered that the conjuring of the electoral college had little to do with equalizing the representation of small states compared to little states in congress, as much as it was a tool designed to protect slavery.

Just a refresher for those of you who have already heard this to death from teh 200 election. In 1789 when they were shoring up support to ratify the constitution, the slave states said "ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!! You're not going to let the Yankees walk all over us!" They reacted that way b/c back then the Free States out numbered the Slave states enough so that a presidential election based solely on the popular vote would favor the North almost every time, remember more people and bigger states. And since the slave owners knew that there were many in the North, at least among its "elitist" leadership, who were so adamant about abolishing slavery, they got scared shitless and so they offered the Free States a deal.

They'll elect the president through the electoral college of the states, who's representation would be determined by a state's white populations AND 3/5THs OF ITS SLAVE POPULATION as determined by its previous census. And since slaves dont' vote, the a white southern voter got more representation in congress per capita individual than his counterpart in the North. This effectively protected slavery as no president could have been elected without the galvanized support of all its Free State, and at least a few Slave States based on this system.

This worked all the way until 1860, when Lincoln become the first president to win the election without a single slave state. The South got scared Shitless and realized that they couldn't pull the same shit any more and thus began the civil war. The REPUBLICANS effectively were able to shut out the southern DEMOCRATS. Although before you all crucify me for the W vs Lincoln comparison, I am fully aware that the roles of both parties back then took a reversal with the Kennedy revolution, and today the Dems are the party of Lincoln, and the Repubs the party of racism and oppression.

Anyways, I'll get to the point, We are in almost exactly the same position as we were in 1860. The slave issue galvanized the national electorate by defined geographical lines. When the Free State Republicans mustered a broad coalition of anti-slavery parties, they realized what incredible power they wielded, and that they didn't have to pander anymore to the Slave powers of the South, and could ignore them while STILL winning elections.

WHAT WE NEED TO DO IS TURN ONE OR TWO MORE STATES BLUE BY 2008. And I think those two states we're still in the game in will be OHIO and NEVADA, maybe Missouri and West Virgina and we should still try for Florida too. We need to make inroads in states with HUGE major metropolitan cities to win this next one, and we're DEAD CLOSE to doing it. Realize this guys, if we got anything out of this election then it was realizing how much closer we are to reclaiming the country and pulling it from the hands of the fundies than everyone thinks.

The Southern Democrats of 1860 waged a polarizing CULTURAL WAR based on preserving Southern values. The Lincoln Republicans only started winning when they finally defined themselves as the abolitionist party that would NOT back down to slavery even if it meant war. Guys, we don't need to move to the center, we need to make our message loud and clear that we are against the religious fundamentalist. WE ARE THE PARTY OF TOLERANCE AND ACCEPTANCE OF EVERYONE, and are thus the true party of the people. Anyways, that was my two cents.

[Abelman]

1. How to do it:

We have to get people running at the local level and the state level in these states. People need to see what real Democrats are like.

[MatrixEscape]

2. Ah, now the pessimist in me comes out ...

People assume that there is going to be a 2008 election. Or, at least, something we might recognize as one.

If Bush's "victory" is not repudiated by the final count, then I would suggest considering a whole new kind of America.

Listen carefully to how cocky he sounds now. I have heard people say he's the same old Bush. No sir, he is super-sized Bush the Great Emperor now. He can do WHATEVER he wants, and that will be based on a combination of corporation and Religious Right agendas.

I will eat my hat if there is a real 2008 election rather than a permanent "emperor" with other officials appointed in some Biblical way.

Ah, but that is the pessimist in me ;) There will have to be much awarenss and quite a struggle to prevent my prognostications from coming true.