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THE MUSINGS OF A TRADITIONAL SOUTHERN DEMOCRAT

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Sid in his law office where he sits when meeting with clients. Observant eyes will notice the statuette of one of Sid's favorite Democrats.

Sunday, August 21, 2005

Democrats struggle with cultural divide. Study: Party fails to project moral values.

From the ajc:

After their shellacking in November, Democratic politicians promised to do a better job of telling voters about their moral values.

But judging by a candid report last week from key party strategists, Democrats have made little progress presenting themselves in a way that would recapture rural voters or make inroads into Republican turf.

The report by the Democracy Corps, based on interviews in rural areas and Republican-leaning states, offered a further testament to the cultural divide in America that has worked to Republicans' advantage in elections.

Authors of the study also pointed to openings for Democratic candidates: growing dissatisfaction with the Iraq war, unbridled health care costs and the direction of the nation in general.

But in a withering assessment of their own party, the Democratic pollsters who put out the study raised doubts about whether Democrats can cash in on GOP problems.

"As powerful as concern over these issues is, the introduction of cultural themes --- specifically gay marriage, abortion and the importance of the traditional family unit and the role of religion in public life --- quickly renders them almost irrelevant in terms of electoral politics on the national level," the authors wrote.

The report notes that Democrats running in next year's midterm elections begin at a disadvantage with voters in rural areas and "red" states --- states captured by the GOP in the presidential election.

"The real problem for Democrats is that their elected officials, and by extension their entire party, are perceived as directionless and divided, standing for nothing other than their own enrichment," the Democratic authors wrote.

The report carries weight because of its high-profile authors. The Democracy Corps' principals are Stanley Greenberg, James Carville and Robert Shrum, top strategists for Democratic presidential candidates in recent years.

"If Democrats want 2006 to be a major change election, they have to define themselves as opposed to the mess in Washington," said Karl Agne, a Democratic pollster and one of the authors of the study.

But Democrats may first need to deal with their own problems.

The report found that, particularly among less-educated voters, cultural issues "not only superseded other priorities, they served as a proxy for many voters on those other issues."

In other words, voters who paid little attention to the difference between the major parties on substantive issues like economic policy cast their lot with Republicans because of party leaders' opposition to same-sex marriage and defense of Christian values in public life.

Democratic candidates have long fought to escape the negative connotations of the word liberal. But the Democracy Corps study suggested that they've had limited success, judging by the frequency critics used that word in describing Democratic positions on cultural issues.

The Center for American Progress, a Democratic-affiliated nonprofit group in Washington, is leading an effort to highlight the morality of many Democratic and liberal stances on social issues.

He said Democrats often are restrained when talking about their faith because of what he referred to as the need for an appropriate separation of church and state.

But he said that after soul-searching about what ails his party, he has concluded that voters want to hear elected officials share their values so they can better understand who they are.

Carnahan cited President Harry Truman as a model for Democrats trying to reach a balance in presenting their public and private beings. Truman spoke often of his faith and quoted the Bible in his first address to Congress.

"I don't think it's so much changing as it is being open to sharing things in a better way," he said.

1 Comments:

Blogger RightDemocrat said...

I consider myself to be an "old school" Democrat. I believe in unions, Social Security, the New Deal legacy and racial equality. For the past 25 years, I have watched the tremendous harm done by deregulation and tax cuts. We have seen organized labor weaken and a loss of opportunities for lower income Americans. While Bush and the Republicans are losing credibility over Iraq and the handling of the economy, I question if there is any real hope of reversing 25 years of "trickle down" economics as long as Democrats fail to connect with mainstream Middle American values. Democrats need to do so if there is any hope of building a solid Democratic majority that can effectively govern.

Supporting organized labor is a mainstream Democratic belief. Social Security and Medicare are mainstream. A social safety net which everyone must recognize in the aftermath of Katrina as quite important is mainstream. Civil rights is mainstream and some may disagree but even some affirmative action programs are in my view, mainstream, although I do not like to see rigid racial quotas for hiring and colleges admissions. I do recognize that African Americans were oppressed and denied educational opportunities. We should all be concerned when any segment of the population lags behind in education and economic opportunities.

What is not mainstream in my view is how some socially liberal Democratic activists have attempted to define absolute abortion rights, gay marriage or civil unions with the equivalent benefits of marrriage and gun control as the core values of the Democratic Party. Most of these social liberal activists are far more passionate about defending late term abortion or advocating gay marriage than pushing for an increase in the minimum wage or expanding access to health care. The social liberal activist have produced an environment within the Democratic Party that is so self destructive and politically correct it is almost impossible to develop strong leadership and even communicate with mainstream America. That is the kind of liberalism that I object to - not traditional New Deal liberalism which is still
very much in the mainstream. In fact, it is the social liberal activists which have moved us away from our traditions of representing the common person.

I have no problem with anyone's belief in favor of abortion rights, gay marriage or gun control. What I object to is being told that all Democrats must embrace these things as the party's core values - something that is equivalent to a suicide pact for the party and a free pass for big business Republicans to rule America for at least another generation.


RightDemocrat
http://www.rightdemocrat.blogspot.com

8:54 PM  

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