The GOP has been doing it to us for years: using wedge issues to divide Democrats and get many Americans to vote against their own socio-economic interests. So, can we do the same thing to them?
We have seen the fractures in the GOP finally coming to the surface in recent weeks. There is a significant faction of Republicans who see the danger in the nuclear option, and an even greater faction supporting the stem cell bill. Given the fact that there are already clear rifts on the right we could exploit, splitting the GOP should not be that difficult. Stealing constituents without sacrificing our core beliefs would be much harder, but I don’t think it is entirely necessary, either — we just need to split them asunder.
Real economic conservatives hate Bush’s deficit spending, but they wont vote our way either because they are generally against the kinds of social programs we champion, so would likely be loath to join with us. There are economic conservatives who are socially liberal (libertarians) who may be easier to win over to our side, but it all depends on whether they place more weight on their economic conservatism or their social liberalism. There are also those conservatives who are frightened by the unholy alliance between the NeoCons and the fundamentalist Christian right. Again, these people are not likely to join our side, but we should be exploiting this division in the GOP to fracture the right into two or more camps.
So where are other rifts we could exploit that will not only split the right, but possibly bring us converts?
More across the bump…
The first thing we need to do is get people to stop being duped by the right. I know all about Lakoff’s reframing and other’s arguing we need to rework our messaging. I don’t disagree that our messaging could be more effective, but I think our problem has as much to do with saturation as it does with content or form. If we can continue to grow our echo machine and combat the GOP’s echo machine, I think we win back a lot of people who have been misled, even if we don’t significantly rework our messaging. Air America and the blogs are the start of this, but we definitely need more, and we need to halt the GOP attempt to take over Corporation for Public Broadcasting to make it a propaganda machine. We made great gains at the state level in ’04, even in red states. That says to me we just need a national echo machine to combat the lies coming from Faux News et al about our national candidates.
I also think two huge opportunities exist for winning small factions of Republicans to our side. The first is the issue of gay rights. We all know about how the Log Cabin Republicans came out against Bush in ’04. The Log Cabin Republicans are Republicans because they are economically conservative. But when the very soul of your being is being attacked by your own party, I would think that those attacks would hold more weight than your economic views. I could be absolutely wrong, but the Log Cabin website states
It seems it may be out of our hands entirely, and depends on what direction the GOP takes. This is a rift we should be exploiting.
I know there are those who will point out that gay rights is one of the wedge issues the right uses against us. Many on the left believe that if we continue to promote gay rights, we will continue to lose middle America. I don’t entirely buy this. This is one instance where reframing may help. It is not gay rights, but human rights we stand for. With our own echo machine going full blast, we can perhaps counter the Republican spin on this. Besides, I don’t want us pandering to bigots anyway.
The second issue is the environment. There exists a faction in the GOP of self proclaimed Teddy Roosevelt Republicans, or Green Republicans. A great example of this group is the Republicans for Environmental Protection, or REP. The REP website says
The Republican party is drifting further and further from fulfilling the desires of these green GOoPers. Can we win them to our side? Again, I’m not sure… but, if they are truly Teddy Roosevelt Republicans, then maybe we can. After all, Teddy Roosevelt was the President of the Progressive Era, so maybe this group would be more open to some of our other progressive ideas. T.R. not only started the National Forest system, but was a trust-buster and was pro regulation of businesses. Those are all Democratic positions now. On the other hand, T.R. was also the cowboy who said, “Speak softly and carry a big stick,” and expressed that the U.S. can and should meddle in Central and South America. If these Republicans really hold Teddy Roosevelt values, then they will agree with us on some things (mostly domestic) and disagree on others (foreign policy). Of all the conservative factions, I think they might be the most amenable to joining us, especially on the local and state levels where foreign policy is a near non-factor.
Regardless of whether we can get these factions to join us, we can win in ’06 and ’08 by simply splitting the Republicans. We should be encouraging real conservatives to reevaluate the NeoCon agenda. It wont be easy given the state of the media. However, I have hope because I am willing to bet that almost every one of us has a friend or relative who is a conservative. If you do, start sending them essays critical of the NeoCons written by conservatives. As another option, send them writings by historical Republicans like T.R. and Eisenhower which are in direct opposition to what the NeoCons are now doing. We need to show people how far afield of the traditional GOP the NeoCons have taken their party. So that is the game plan: shatter their solidarity; divide and conquer. It can be done, but it is up to us to do it. Any other suggestions?
(cross-posted at Daily Kos)