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While Democrats are busy measuring public opinion and reacting to it, the Republicans are busy creating it.
The entire Republican platform is based upon a false reality: that we are winning in Iraq, that there were dire reasons to start the war in Iraq, that marriage is under attack, that Social Security is doomed, that Democrats are weak on terror, etc... The problem is that a significant portion of the public believes these things. This is the effect of the Republican propaganda empire. Their objective is to create a new reality to help people justify the Republican point of view. No one in their right minds would support Republican policy unless they were part of the top 5% of income earners in this country. This fabricated Republican reality bridges the gap between poor rural voters and the rich plutocrats that they worship and vote for. The advantage is naturally on the Democrats' side, since there are far more poor people than rich people in this country. A skewed reality is the only thing that can counter that.
The creation of Republican reality stems from wide talk radio networks that reach millions of people, cable TV, networks of preachers, and conservative websites. All arms of this propaganda machine are synchronized with a carefully crafted message that aims to delude the poor into supporting someone that hurts them. Poor rural voters send their kids to war more often than urban Democrats. They will be negatively effected by social security reform. They are hurt by the enormous debt that Bush has rung up. But the Republicans, through their preacher friends and talk radio, are busy sculpting a reality that blinds these people from independent thought.
Democrats, you would think, would be doing the same thing...making some sort of organized attack on Republican ideas that cuts through the bullshit these people are fed. We don't even need to lie to these people. Democrats would be better for them. All we need to do is tell the truth. Yet we are not. These people were forgotten about. They should be part of the Democratic base. Instead, we are listening to political consultants and making mild mannered statements carefully crafted not to piss people off. In this sense, we are reading the public's opinion and reacting to it instead of trying to proactively change it. We need to create crises in which people will have to turn to Democrats for protection. We need to grab control of more propaganda avenues, and when the PATRIOT ACT allows the arrest of an innocent citizen, we need to yell and scream to gun loving Libertarians that Bush is taking civil liberties away. We need to send out mailings to all registered independents that look like electric bills saying "You owe this much in government debt as a taxpayer" and send along a bill for $25,000. Say it is because of Bush's rabid spending habits. It's not even a lie!!
Right now the reality that Bush is protecting the poor still prevails in rural America. And there are rural parts of EVERY state, not just the red states. Democrats have to work to create their own version of reality that competes with and attacks Republican views, and creates a situation where Republicans are responsible for their actions. Only then will Democrats be able to win back a majority in our government.
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