The Left Needs More Media Events...

[ulTRAX]

We probably have all heard of phony media events that have a built in political message. The so-called Tax Freedom Day comes to mind http://www.taxfoundation.org/taxfreedomday.html
It's when the AVERAGE taxpayer is no longer working to pay taxes. Of course there's no such thing as the average taxpayer. It implies that ALL workers are working some 3.5 months a year just for Uncle Sam. Of course this is nonsense. It's an invention of the right wing Tax Foundation. It includes those who pay more under what's left of our progressive tax structure.... skewing the date upward. As such it seems to serve no other purpose than manipulate public opinion. The media dutifully complies in airing this phony media event each year.

So what other sort of media events can be created to create more of a Progressive consciousness? I'd try to get away from playing the average game and stick to real numbers. How about targeting the two biggest wastes of money in the federal budget. We could have "Military Day"... the day that first 420 Billion in tax revenues have been collected to pay for an imperialistic military establishment. After that Interest on the Debt Day to indicate when revenues are no longer collected to fund 320 Billion in interest payments.

How we can raise consciousness about the deficit and debt are another question given that even the Democrats refuse to tell Americans the truth about the extent of Bush's fiscal irresponsibility.

[mtnsnake]

1. Hear hear!

Yes, we need SPECIFIC ideas like this if we're going fix what ails us, and one of them is that we've failed miserably to get the message across. I've complained on this forum more than once how our leaders aren't loud and clear enough when it comes to getting the message across about things like taxes and the deficit. Half the people in this country don't even know what a deficit means or how it cam possibly affect them in the future. Someone should've written right on a blackboard just how many zero's a trillion has in it.

The majority of this country, the gullible and the foolish, all fell for the marketing puked out by the Bush campaign. Bush said they'll be better off because he would lower taxes, and they believed him. He told the truth in that he'd lower taxes, but he lied in that he told them they'd be better off. Kerry said he wouldn't raise taxes on the middle class, but he never explained CLEARY how the deficit and how Bush's tax policies would DIRECTLY affect the common citizen, even Republicans, sooner than later.

[ulTRAX]

3. what message?

mtnsnake wrote: "I've complained on this forum more than once how our leaders aren't loud and clear enough when it comes to getting the message across about things like taxes and the deficit."

I'm not sure there is a coherent Democratic message about much. Speaking about ideas for fixing that...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x2744460

I proposed this at another group and they loved it... but it was quickly sabotaged by Party loyalists who didn't want their sacred cows threatened thus defeating the main intent of the proposal. Their prototype is here: http://www.broadbandcooperative.com/zope/ThinkTank

It got a positive response here but the person I was working with to submit the proposal has no been heard from in 10 days. In the mean time DU has made some changes but still nothing along the lines of a bottom-up rethink.

[Nordic]

2. I agree. The Dems need to figure out how to use the media as it exists

rather than just whine about it.

The media is the biggest enemy of democracy right now, but we have to learn to use it anyway.

Media stunts are one way.