How to win national elections in the south

I have seen many posts claiming that southerners are stupid, ignorant or naive.

The fact that many on this board and in our party fail to recognize is that we in the south are culturally more conservative. I think the death grip the Republicans have on the South could be broken with a few adjustments in our national message.

Abortion-

The majority of Americans support Roe v Wade. That includes the majority of southerners. The problem in the south regarding abortion in is two main areas

Late Term Abortion, which Republicans have cast as partial birth abortion. If we changed our position on abortion to forbid third trimester abortion unless the life of the mother was at stake.

Parental Notification- This is a huge issue here in the south... My daughter cannot get a tattoo without my permission...but she can have a abortion?

Change these two positions regarding abortion and many in the south would support us..... not everyone but enough.

Gun Control

This issue is a loser in the south, there is a real fear here that "yankees" want to take our guns. Laugh is you want but that is the fear.

I think our position should be that a waiting period and license is required for handgun purchases, but not for shotguns or rifles.

Gay Marriage

Civil Unions that are the same as marriage in all but name are the right course... even shrub is in favor of them.

As long as we let the Republicans stoke fears down here using this wedge issue we will continue to have problems.



I imagine I will get flamed a little.... but we cannot afford to abandon the south.... if you think we can... then I question who is stupid and naive

make that a state issue. But as for abortion I believe it should be 100% choice and a decision between a woman and her physician. There are also very good reasons why there isn't parental notification especially in cases of incest.

I support Civil unions, but why not gay marriage? what is the difference? If gay people want to marry it isn't going to hurt any straight people except maybe some bigoted sensibilities.

and they still lost to some horrible republican candidates.

They'll just manufacture new issues to replace these issues. I would suggest that Democrats need to fight harder to educate the public. Such as explaining to the south that their murder rates are the highest in the country, their teen pregnancy rates are the highest in the country, their education rates are the lowest, they have more people in poverty; and that the Republican Party platform is designed to get them to ignore the fat cats who are running away with their opportunity at a decent life.

as I understand it, those ARE our positions. I understand you're new here but it sounds like you've been buying what shrub is selling.

Abortion:
Late term abortions - The Democratic position on the "partial birth abortion" bill was that it should include an out for the mother's health. The repugs didn't include one. BTW - these so-called "partial birth abortions" are incredibly rare and medically necessary.

Parental consent - we are trying to accomodate for minors whose "guardians" raped them. Should we really require a girl who was raped by her father to go to him to ask his permission to get an abortion?

Gun control: Yeah, well this "yankee" doesn't want your guns. I want to make sure criminals who try to buy them have a hard time doing so and folks who are pissed off have to cool down a bit before they get one. Pretty sure that's all the Dems have been asking for all along.

Gay marriage: Did you listen to the debates at all? Did you listen to Kerry even once? If you did, I have no need to elaborate on why your suggestion that we change our position is a bit off.

Abortion

My pastor, yes I go to church, summed up what I feel is the concern with late term abortion down here. The "health" of the mother is to abiguous.... that could be her mental health. The life of the mother is something else entirely.

Parental Consent

Rape and incest are crimes. The truth is, if a girl is raped by her guardian she should go to the police. He wont be her guardian long. The whole argument that she would have to get permission from the man who molested her is foolish. If his crimes go unreported what happens? She comes home from her abortion to the same situation?

Gun Control

The problem items are handguns.... leave shotguns and rifles alone

Gay Marriage

I listened closely to Kerry.... he is against gay marriage but wont vote that way. He could have campaigned on civil unions, but he didn't. If he had.... well who knows.

The position you listed for abortion would be my ideal. Assuming, of course, exceptions can be made to the parental notification law in extreme circumstances.
We could make gun control less frightening with instant background checks, so that these requirements wouldn't end the practice of gun shows and such.
And on the gay marriage issue, I think it could have helped defuse it if Dem leaders in Louisiana had made it clear that Louisiana law already outlawed gay marriage prior to the amendment. I mean, it was such a non-issue, it baffled me that emotions ran so high.

...stuff, they vote AGAINST it. In reality, most of us are that way. For example, I have always liked Kerry, but I will admit that the number one motivator for me on Nov 2 was to vote AGAINST GW Crotch. I imagine many of you felt the same.

Well, I believe that Rove did a better job at giving southerners and rural folks more to vote against than we gave them. We made the entire campaign about Bush, and correctly so. But they were able to make the election about the culture war, thereby presenting a much wider array of hate for them to tap into.

If we want to win southern and rural states, we need to marry the word 'conservative' to radical bible-thumping conmen, who don't believe in dancing and are utter hypocrites when it comes to sex. It's not hard to do. We have to give the silent majority in those regions more to hate about the GOP side than the Dems.

Cynical, but it is the truth.

if we put someone out who is as charismatic as Clinton was, we'll win in a cinch.
Sad to say, but it really is just a popularity contest.

would keep republicans from stoking those fears?

Start a non-racist political rebellion against the federal government. God knows we need it.

You'll get a lot of Southerners that way. Many feel that both parties are bad, but if the Dems suddenly start addressing the REAL issues, then they will win.

Real issues are always about power. Who has it, how they are using it, who SHOULD have it and what they would do with it once they do. Talk about tyranny and domination. That's what the Republicans are signaling when they say "activist judges" and "big government" and such. Dems don't talk about this, though, mainly because their message requires challenging their corporate pay-masters.

*

I know many think we are all racists down here. Its not racism... The south was largely Democratic until 1980.... there are not suddenly more racists down here...

a few of these tests. I hope you'll find much food for thought!

https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/demo/

Didn't they have these same dumb quizzes on King of the Hill?

But, you are right about one thing, racism is often unconscious, and it definitely has an impact on the Southern identity and the way we vote. Much of the Republican fever here was a backlash to the Civil Rights movement.

But I'm not real sure how one would apply that to strategy. The Democratic party should stand for diversity and inclusiveness, and if it begins blatantly appealing to racism, it will have lost all appeal for me.

So what if the woman needs an abortion because of her mental health? You just disregard this? Hello! Look at women like Andrea Yates and that poor creature who cut off her kid's arms and left her bleeding to death. (Why is it that these women are always so religious, by the way? You never seem to hear about atheist moms sacrificing their kids.) Those women should not have had kids. I think the biggest question is why you or your pastor feel so sure that you have the answer about incredibly complex and unique personal decisions? That's not a flame. It's a question. Do you think that all abortions all the same, that all people are the same, that every woman and her choice can be lumped into the same categoty and just written off?

Additionally, I realize that not all people who are against abortion are religious Christians, but many, many are. It seems like the same train of thought that allows people to proselytize allows them to feel like they can make these judgments about abortion. They know the one true answer and feel compelled to share it with others. Why can we not trust our citizens to try and make ethical decisions without enforcing black and white laws that do not reflect real life. You mention that a girl who is raped by a guardian should report that person to the police. Well, duh! But get real! Think back to when you were 15. I didn't want my dad to know that I had a period, and I was well educated and pretty well adjusted. You think that a 15 year old girl who has been raped by her dad is going to go to a judge? Plenty of 15 year olds in this country can hardly read, but they're going to have the sense to go to a judge to petition for an abortion?

That also does not address the problem that a child's morals may be different from her parents. If a girl happens to live in an extremely religious family where abortion is seen as murder, but the girl does not see abortion this way, should she be forced to abide by her parents rules about this? True. She is not legally an adult. But she will be one day, and that baby isn't magically going to go away when she turns 18. Do you really think that all parents act in the best interest of their children? Should she be forced to have a child because her parents do not want her to have an abortion? What if she tells her parents and they shun her for the rest of her life for being a "slut?" How about addressing the root problems instead? Why is it that the group that is most in favor of limiting abortion is the least in favor of sexual education?

It is blind thinking like this that bothers me. The world does not exist in black and white.

I am a recovering conservative but I still believe that my daughter should not be able to get an abortion on her own under age (she is 17). I also believe that abortion is a very difficult issue and that a man can only understand it to a degree since he can not get pregnant and does not carry a child to term.

I also agree that third trimester abortions are problematical to the Democrats.

I think that the second amendment could be interpreted in such a way as to allow some governmental regulation of fire arms.

The thing that kills Democrats and made me think about Bush is the way that the Democrats seem to have a animosity to Christian's or some one who gets solace and peace from his faith in Christ and GOD.

Wisc Badger,
What I object to about SOME forms of Christianity is the tendency for very religious Christians to proselytize and try to force their beliefs on others. I am a reform Jew. Jews don't try to convert others to their religious beliefs. Bush drives me nuts because he assumes that this is a Christian nation. It's not. He assumes that Christianity has "the answer" to all of those moral problems and that he has a responsibility as a good Christian to spread the word (and apparently make it part of the law). While certainly not all Christians are like this (as I have plenty of friends who are Christian and my husband is a non practicing Christian) this is built into the religion. The religion advocates trying to convert others.

That was fine when it was just people trying to approach me on the street about letting Jesus into my heart. I could always politely decline. But it gets more frustrating when those people are in the White House and trying to enforce morality on me because they assume that this is a Christian nation.

I am from the South. I live in good ole' Richmond...capital of the confederacy. Home of Lee/Jackson/King Day! We are not all conservatives by any means, and I for one don't want to see the democrats cop out.

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

And capitalize on big-guy-against-the-little-guy economic issues which have served us well. The Pukes win by capitalizing on "Moral values" social issues and just ignoring economic issues. Wonder why poor white guys vote Republican? That's why.

But I don't think the Dems need the south, actually, to win.

If the Dems lock down the northwest, and add a couple of states in the midwest, the Dems have it.

But the South needs you! Please don't write us off.

Plus, if the Dem party can make more friends in the South, it will be able to win handily in future elections. Wouldn't it be great if the national elections didn't come down to a few counties in Florida or Ohio?

What we need is a candidate like BC who appealed to all demographics.

The only one I see who can do that is Wes Clark.

He owns guns, can talk about family values in an honest non- pretentious way but if you read his policy papers, is a true liberal.

A man for all reasons!