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Can Democrats Ever Succeed??
If you look at recent history politically, it has been dominated by Republicans. Since Lyndon Johnson left office in 1968, we have had 10 presidential elections. 7 were won by Republicans (Nixon twice, Reagan twice, Bush 1, Bush 2 twice), 3 were won by Democrats (Carter, Clinton twice).
Looking further, though, it can be argued that only the Carter victory was a legitimate one, as Clinton was aided immeasurably in both '92 and '96 by Ross Perot, who garnered a significant percentage of voters, most of whom would have likely voted Republican. The Bush 2000 win can be categorized in a similar way because of Ralph Nader, so eliminating those 3 elections, the tally is 6 to 1 in elections where only candidates from the two major parties recieve significant votes. Looks bad for the Democrats.
This period is the media age, where information is available on demand in the format you desire. I've been doing some thinking, and I've come to believe that despite all the efforts of Democrat politicians and supporters, it may not be possible for them to win in the current environment.
Why you ask?? Unity. The key difference between Democrats and Republicans, it seems, is Republicans are much more trusting. They believe what their party leaders tell them. Despite evidence that Bush fabricated the reasons necessary for war in Iraq, that the whole WMD theory was more excuse than belief, most Republicans still trust the guy they elected. Despite connections evident between Dick Cheney and oil companies, despite bills like the Patriot Act that endanger their civil liberties, and ignoring an increasingly implausible rationale for continued troop deployment in Iraq, most Republicans still believe in their elected leaders.
And this is to be expected. Republicans are generally trusting people. They trust their pastors, they trust their teachers, they trust the view of the world they grew up with is correct, ignoring evidence to the contrary. For those that grew up believing the Bible literally, no amount of evidence will convince them otherwise. Many Republicans still believe that we shoyuld not have abandoned the war in Vietnam, despite the mounds of evidence that the war was unwinnable.
Democrats are not this way, and are far less united. There are Christian Democrats, mainly Catholic. There are atheist Democrats, like myself. There are many Democrats who are rabidly pro-choice, but many of the Religious Democrats are pro-life. There are many rich Democrats who vote against their monetary interests, and there are many poor Democrats who vote because of their monetary interest.
What is very clear, though, is that Democrats walk to their own beat, while the Republicans are more in lockstep. One only has to look at the sucess of this "Christmas Controversy" to see how this works. It is a manufactured issue if there ever was one, with the right-wing media "outing" stores who say "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas." If any reasonable person took time to think about it, they would ask, "Who cares what greeting the store says?? Why is this an issue??" I agree with these people. But the religious right has created a frenzy among southern Christians, who won't shop at any store not using the appropriate greeting.
It is their right, of course, to shop wherever they want for whatever reasons they want to use. Furthermore, I really don't care what greeting stores use. This is just the most recent example, though, of an issue manufactured by the religious right and the right wing media to get their followers angry. The Swift Boat "controversy" is another example.
There is no equivalent to these factless frenzies on the left, and there never will be. I'm not calling all Republicans dumb, for there are certainly many smart, albeit misguided, Republicans out there. But they are definitely more trusting and less questioning than your average intelligent Democrat. Their natures lead them to their respective parties.
There is no way for the Democrats to become as united, and as a result, no way for them to force their political will like the Republican party can. The fact that a good portion of the Republican base doesn't understand the lies doesn't matter; the uninformed and the stupid have the same voting power as I do.
Does this mean the Democrats should stop trying?? Of course not. But it does mean that the battle may not be winnable, unless the state of the country is altered drastically. In today's media age, it is far too easy to control the minds of the easily impressionable, and the force of that control can never be equaled among thoughtful people.
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