"Don't think about Lakoff"
Nov. 4th, 2004 09:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mmcirvinWhile the partisan split in US politics has a large cultural component, I think Lindsey Beyerstein is right about the uselessness of Democrats trying to adopt right-wing cultural positions as a tactical move.
Instead, I'd try to get people who are not very political to move toward us ideologically. Late in an election campaign, it pays to run to the center; it's not time for the big-picture worldview appeals, but to run to what people already believe. But the election's over now, the liberals lost by a narrow margin as these things go, and while hardline religious conservatives arguably made the difference, there's no way we're getting to those people.
Rather, now is the time for liberals to push liberal values and liberal ideals instead of candidates, to the people who aren't very ideological in the first place. Liberal religious appeals can be a big part of that (though as a nonreligious person I'd feel hypocritical making them), and they are already important in African-American communities, but don't expect them to neutralize Republican appeals to white cultural conservatives in the red states.
Instead, I'd try to get people who are not very political to move toward us ideologically. Late in an election campaign, it pays to run to the center; it's not time for the big-picture worldview appeals, but to run to what people already believe. But the election's over now, the liberals lost by a narrow margin as these things go, and while hardline religious conservatives arguably made the difference, there's no way we're getting to those people.
Rather, now is the time for liberals to push liberal values and liberal ideals instead of candidates, to the people who aren't very ideological in the first place. Liberal religious appeals can be a big part of that (though as a nonreligious person I'd feel hypocritical making them), and they are already important in African-American communities, but don't expect them to neutralize Republican appeals to white cultural conservatives in the red states.