Let's talk about what Democrats should talk about to win 2018 and 2020; here are my five ideas

[yllus]

I think we know what the Republican strategy for the next few years is (it's more Trump), so my question to you is: What do you think the Democrats should propose to America in order to win its votes?

I've been mulling this on the airplane trips I've been on lately and scratched out a few notes to get started. Here's five from me:

1. Focus on pushing Medicare For All as not just only the cheaper option, but also the option fiscal conservatives themselves should want. This is easy: Not only does it provably save the nation money, cover more people and have better outcomes, but it allows all of those entreprenurial people hanging in at large companies because it's got healthcare and they have a wife and two kids to quit and start that next 1,000 employee company that makes America better. Medicare For All is a win for everyone, liberals and conservatives alike.

2. Talk up solutions to the mounting issue of jobs only existing in increasingly unaffordable big cities. The vast majority of newly created jobs have occurred in America's top 10 largest cities. This is leading to a housing crisis and is killing off vitally important medium and small cities and towns. One immediate fix is to diffuse the location of federal agencies from Washington D.C. to a variety of cities across the country. There are others... I don't know them. But it needs to be talked up, even just as, "I will get the world's greatest minds on this on day one!" Everyone can identify with a) yeah the city I live in is crazy expensive, b) I hate how long it takes me to commute to the city my job is in or c) there are no jobs in my small town.

3. Focus not on eliminating guns, but on a common sense approach to gun ownership. Guns are a part of the American identity. That's fine. But if you're a domestic abuser, are on a watch list or have serious mental issues, we are going to temporarily withhold the right of gun ownership from you until rehabilitation has occurred (and with Medicare For All...). This will require a better nationwide system of background checks but this can and will be done correctly and without discrimination or intent to repossess all guns from the populace.

4. Focus on the goods of legal immigration, fixing that system, and take a hard stance against illegal immigration. Frankly, calling illegal immigrants "undocumented immigrants" and appearing anywhere near a 'nobody is illegal' stance is a political loser. A winning candidate must come out hard against that in 2018's America. But legal immigration is a huge net gain for the country, so sing it long and hard. It means new employees, new consumers, and new ideas. Push improved use of E-Verify for employers and more legal immigration that doesn't take a million years to happen.

5. Give Trump voters an honourable path back to respectability. Okay, yeah, secretly you can despise them and be horrified that they'd cast a vote for a senile old racist. But a winning candidate must answer every request for comment about Trump or on the various racists, sex offenders, morons and traitors that work for him or in his party with a variation of this one response:

I acknowledge that Candidate Trump who saw in him a possible chance to break from having the same-old in the White House. And he had some genuinely alluring political positions: Bring back jobs and start making things in the USA again. 25 million new jobs. Bring back manufacturing. Run the government more like a business. Simplify everyone's taxes. Spend a trillion on fixing infrastructure. Ban politicians from becoming lobbyists. No more foreign wars. Fire the generals who seem to always tell us a win is one more surge away from happening. Sounds pretty good, actually, I think we can all admit.

But we all know that none of this ever happened; most of it was deliberately made worse. Past that, I don't care. It doesn't matter if a single man is good, evil, ridiculous or presidential. Every minute spent talking about a single man's behaviour is a minute that should have been spent on how we fix the many issues we have in front of us. I will not waste that time and neither should you. Let's talk about the issues and how we can start to fix them.​

This allows Trump voters to say, "Yeah, I voted for him because he said good things, but he didn't follow through so I'm looking for someone who will." Demonizing them or calling them stupid will only entrench them and get them reading more The Federalist and Infowars and turn them full-on crazy. I believe most really want a path with dignity out of Trumpland.

That's my five. What do you think, and what have you got?

 

[brycejones]

Honestly Democrats should ignore gun issues for now. People who are pro-gun will use it as almost their only deciding factor. Ignore it and work to generate momentum on other issues instead.

Immigration is a tough one, its an issue that like guns has been reduced to retarded bumper sticker logic. Focus on the dreamers and pledging to fund more border security.

A different take on the cities issue:

Focus on how we are going to help people prepare for their next opportunity, also it may be time to tell some people that if they really want a new start in life they may have to move. Parts of the country with poor infrastructure are bad short to medium term bets for any kind of real economic turn around. But talk about how to bring down the cost of college, its time to reinvest in America's knowledge base like we did after WW2 and set the country up for the next 70 years.

Real investments in infrastructure to support America's businesses and yes even the ability of the wealthy to make money (raise their damn taxes). This is what the wealthy can do for their country instead of looting it.

Health care for all yes

 

[shortylickens]

Neither party has focused on public education for a very long time, and I honestly believe its part of the reason we have a hundred million people that dont know how to think.
I am sure its the main reason we keep losing jobs to India and Korea.

 

[whm1974]

Neither party has focused on public education for a very long time, and I honestly believe its part of the reason we have a hundred million people that dont know how to think.
I am sure its the main reason we keep losing jobs to India and Korea.

I agree. If was a candidate for office the three things I would push for are Single Payer Healthcare, proper Public Education, and fixing and improving Infrastructure.

 

[Atreus21]

1. Focus on pushing Medicare For All as not just only the cheaper option, but also the option fiscal conservatives themselves should want. This is easy: Not only does it provably save the nation money, cover more people and have better outcomes, but it allows all of those entreprenurial people hanging in at large companies because it's got healthcare and they have a wife and two kids to quit and start that next 1,000 employee company that makes America better. Medicare For All is a win for everyone, liberals and conservatives alike.

No conservative, fiscal or otherwise, should be in favor of handing over healthcare to the government.

 

[whm1974]

No conservative, fiscal or otherwise, should be in favor of handing over healthcare to the government.

If the Government can do a better job and it's cheaper to boot, and it enables all citizens to be able to have healthcare, then why not?

 

[Moonbeam]

If the Government can do a better job and it's cheaper to boot, and it enables all citizens to be able to have healthcare, then why not?

It's his religion.

 

[hardhat]

Any push, even against domestic abusers having guns, will alienate a lot of people. I like the idea of working to improve infrastructure, especially when you contrast what Trump has done (nothing) to what many other countries have done, like moving towards more solar power. I don't think the Democrats should be focusing on the dreamers so much as finding an ethical way to handle detainment and deportation. Like it or not, most people view illegal immigrants as underhanded cheaters who don't pay taxes. But that doesn't mean we can separate parents from their kids.

But besides all of those issues, the most important issue has to be the economy. Point out Trump's failure to revive the coal industry. Point out the growth of low paying or part time employment. Talk about how Obama turned the economy around, while Trump has done nothing to help the middle class. Talk about the growth of inequality. Talk about how rebuilding infrastructure will be great for current jobs and the USA's future leadership. And DON'T focus on social issues. It is good to be anti racist anti sexist and anti homophobic, but everyone already knows about those ideas. You won't gain voters by doing the same thing over again. Talk about the economy, because that's what people really care about.

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

Keep saying Trump is a deplorable and no one should vote for him.

I heard that is the key to a winning ticket....

 

[yllus]

No conservative, fiscal or otherwise, should be in favor of handing over healthcare to the government.

I think folks that consider themselves to be fiscal conservatives should consider a few points:

1. Single payer is unequivocally the most efficient way to manage healthcare in a nation. Aside from the living proof of a dozen nations, even conservative think-tanks in America agree. The cold hard evidence of dollar figures can't be denied.

2. No sane politician would ever promote "handing over healthcare to the government". The most efficient implementation of single-payer such as Medicare For All continues to have lots and lots of privately owned and operated hospitals, clinics and other front-line care staff. No VA nightmares here.

The main change would occur in the enormously simplified method in which they'd bill for their services. Instead of having relations with 184,119 different healthcare provider networks, they simply bill their state. That reduces everyone's administrative costs, streamlines and levels what everyone gets charged, lets the patient shop around anywhere they want for service and allows people to get preventative care to stop small problems from blossoming into big ones (which lowers costs for everyone).

You effectively get the best of capitalism and the best of socialism: Professionals make great money for hustling hard and doing good work, and patients get more choice and predictable costs.

3. The chilling effect on entrepreneurs due to fear of losing healthcare is enormous. At a time in human history where it's hard to see where we go next for employment once self-driving cars and more manufacturing automation is a reality, we need people to be able to work for themselves in business of just a few employees.

 

[ivwshane]

Since its unlikely Democrats will have any power to accomplish anything in Congress, its probably best to highlight the hypocrisy of Republican rhetoric vs the policies they actually create. However its not enough to just highlight their hypocrisy, they also need to show what good policy would look like and how it would actually address the supposed concerns of Republicans.

For example: many Republicans are anti abortion. The best way to lessen the amount of abortions is to have a quality sex education system in place. They could also tie it to women's right to have health care that empowers them and how access to such health care can lower the rate of things like breast cancers and lower infant mortality rates which are ridiculously high for a first world nation.

Democrats could highlight the Republicans inability to actually address immigration reform when they have control of all three branches of the government. Not only should they highlight their inaction but they can also highlight their unwillingness to go after businesses that hire illegals. They then can highlight their solutions and how previous legislation they've passed that the house blocked addressed those issues.

One of the things the DNC should be hammering home across the nation is the fact that sane people and businesses don't hire people to work for them who hate the very thing they are hired to do. For example; would parents hire a baby sitter to watch their children if they knew the babysitter hated kids? Would you hire a someone to work for you that hates your company? The answer is, of course, no and they should highlight the shit out of the fact that Republicans are actively trying to undermine government institutions (see EPA and the CFPB).
The DNC should also be running ads highlighting how the policies the Republicans have pushed for while they have control have, almost exclusively, benefited to the rich and to a greater extent, large businesses. They should show how corporate profits confine to rise and how their taxes have gone down and yet tax revenue hasn't increased and wages still have remained stagnant. They can highlight how trump and Republicans have made it easier to defraud people with less accountability and how they have enabled less transparency with regard to donations and politics.
Basically they just need to highlight all the things the Republicans have done and none of them help your average American.

Local politicians should be running on local issues, the DNC should be there simply for support and not really to dictate what policies politicians should be running on.

This election and the 2020 election should be a repudiation of Republicanism or more accurately, trumpism.

 

[soulcougher73]

No conservative, fiscal or otherwise, should be in favor of handing over healthcare to the government.

This fiscal conservative would.

 

[theeedude]

Regulating out of control prescription drug prices should resonate.

 

[dank69]

Democrat platform: Fuck you, keep your GOP if you love them so much.

 

[fskimospy]

I do think that pointing out the bait and switch that Trump pulled here will be useful. He said he was going to help out the little guy but in the end that was yet another scam. Once he got into office what's the only big thing he did? Hand out a trillion and a half to his friends. Just this week it comes out they are considering handing out $100 billion more to the ultra rich. He said he cared about regular people but that was just another lie.

We can leave out the fact that the fact he was lying was transparently obvious during the campaign to everyone with a brain because 'gee you fucking idiots, who could have guessed' is probably a bad campaign slogan.

 

[thilanliyan]

No conservative, fiscal or otherwise, should be in favor of handing over healthcare to the government.

Works fine for lots of other countries...?
Why wouldn't it work in the US?

 

[fskimospy]

Works fine for lots of other countries...?
Why wouldn't it work in the US?

It's interesting that his argument is that conservatives should not care if it's more effective, they should oppose it solely on the fact that it's from the government.

Cutting the nose to spite the face I guess.

 

[SMOGZINN]

The cold hard evidence of dollar figures can't be denied.

You greatly underestimate peoples ability to deny things they don't want to believe.

My ideas for the Democrats message:

Lets get into the sewer! Lets be every bit as mean and low as Trump is. Lets appeal to the lowest common denominator. Get Trey Parker and Matt Stone to write the campaign speeches.

Things I would campaign for:
Making Wresting real again
Massive tax cut on the middle class, tax rate for those making less than 120,000 a year around 1%.
Give away free beer for voting Democrat.

We will pay for it all by legalizing marijuana and taxing it at 20%.

 

[Stokely]

Unfortunately, one way for them to win is to become simplistic jingoistic liars...apparently. People want to be told in simplistic terms what they want to hear; messy context and factual in-depth information answering the question of "how, exactly, will you do that?" need not apply.

Another thing they could do is to clean up their own act, meaning the DNC. Pissed-off Bernie voters certainly were one reason Trump won.

Lastly, run a fucking candidate that doesn't have 20 years of baggage (unfair or not) that has been built up as literally worse than the devil with half the country. Related, said candidate doesn't get "their turn" just because they've been in the party for 60 years. I honestly think Joe Schmoe from Pocono would have beaten Trump simply by virtue of not being known. Granted, you need to have better speaking skills than a stump (due to the shallow cult-of-personality personality worship the public has....who gives a damn if someone is an actual competent manager....)

 

[Blackjack200]

Democrat platform: Fuck you, keep your GOP if you love them so much.

Oh crap, Hillary's going to run in 2020?

 

[trenchfoot]

For starters, slap a gag order on FOX and their ilk from constantly lying and deceiving their listeners and have them stick with the cold hard facts of the matter at hand. And yes that goes with every media source in the nation, but clearly, the conservative spin machine has flown off the rails and have created for themselves a hardened base totally devoid of self awareness and reasoning ability.

This would go along way toward creating an atmosphere of being able to compromise on the issues at hand, rather than how the far right led by Trump is promoting divisiveness, hatred and fear in order to stay in power.

That the Democrats are wholly dependent on the Repubs to get their own shit in order and to have them put nation over party is of course THE problem the Dems have to somehow deal with.These things need to be dealt with before the Dems can even start to implement some reasonable strategy toward winning elections.

I mean, when the other party is taught to hate and fear all others with a passion or face extinction, there is no reasonable plan that can disarm these deceptively armed emotional triggers that the GOP have learned to pull on their constituency with perfect timing and aim.

Fighting insanity with reason is a losing game and the GOP knows this. The survival of the Repub party is dependent on keeping their constituency in this altered state of mind. The party will do most anything to keep their constituency trapped in this condition because they know the truth will set their constituents free from their grip.

edit - Apologies to yllus for my vent. I'll ponder on what the Dems can plan out to overcome what I've mentioned and post up on that.

 

[soundforbjt]

1) Ask people the last time their wages went up, Push for higher salaries, something they can actually see every pay period.
Unemployment rates mean nothing to people stuck in low paying jobs.
2) Make training for trade jobs, Electricians, Plumbers, etc available in public schools for those not planning/can't afford college.
3) Infrastructure.
4) Work to lower drug prices (Ban all advertising on drugs) Stop the AMA from regulating how many Doctors there are graduating each year.
5) Take money out of politics, end citizens united, etc.
Just a few, for a start.

 

[dank69]

Oh crap, Hillary's going to run in 2020?

No she just max donated to 19 Democrats, the selfish bitch.

 

[Blackjack200]

No she just max donated to 19 Democrats, the selfish bitch.

Qween

 

[DrunkenSano]

Guns should not be an issue to be talked about at all, it's just a waste of time and shifts focus away on stuff that could sway Americans. I'm not saying guns isn't important but it's a subject that is very deeply rooted and you won't convince people when it's time to vote. What will convince people is the focus on economy (short term and long term), the non-1%ers and how to make their lives better, a fleshed out and easier to understand plan to healthcare which also means a hard clampdown on the scam that is the medical industry right now on how much they are charging people.

I would also personally like to see US troops and assets completely pulled out of the Middle East. It's a complete fucking drain on our resources that we desperately need at home and it's fucking up a lot of Americans that are sent overseas. Keep the bases in Europe and Asia, but completely pull out of the Middle East, let them flatten each other. It's an issue we will never resolve in our lifetime.

Lastly, I also like to see both parties break up into more pieces. Far right with their own reps, middle right with their own reps, center with their own reps, middle left and far left. More options for us to vote instead of shit candidate #1 and shit candidate #2. Current system, it's just how less shitty one person is compared to another. Also, maybe put an age cap on running for government, anyone over retirement age, GTFO. We need new blood and newer ideas in.