Spreading the Progressive Message: Do we have to have a Dumbed Down Message?

As mentioned in previous blog posts, there is a great need for Progressives and Democrats to spread a message that is appealing, makes sense, and is comprehensible to the American People who feel (wrongly) that the Democrats have forgotten them. One of the criticisms of Hillary Clinton's campaign is that she did not deliver a compelling enough message to get people to vote for her as opposed to voting against Donald Trump. To be fair to the former Secretary of State who did win the popular vote by close to 3,000,000 votes, the media hardly ever covered her speeches on policy and the people (unfortunately, some of the same people who felt the Democrats have left them behind) did not pay enough attention to her policy positions which were fully articulated on platforms such as her campaign website, much unlike the President's who was more of a strong man bumper sticker campaign.

Here lies the problem and it is not unique to this time period. The very successful politicians in recent American History history ranging from Theodore Roosevelt to Donald Trump have won with slogans and bullet points that appealed to the short attention span of the American People. Unfortunately for the minority of the people who are wonky and do like to read the details, most of the American People need dumbing down messages like "Building walls with Mexico paying for it" or this favorite from the second Russian Revolution in 1917 "Land, Peace, and Bread."

Could Progressives and Democrats do better in messaging? Yes, they can. The two links below explore this. However, Centrist and Liberal Democrats do need to come together and bridge the strategies to achieve their goals. Progressives and Democrats do agree on these five priorities:

1) Living Wage for everyone with access to retirement benefits in addition to social security.
2) Clean Energy, Outer Space, and Environment Programs coupled with a national infrastructure program.
3) Free College (although I would match that with dedicated National Service for at least two years).
4) Medicare for all if Obamacare is not fixed.
5) Jobfare instead of welfare: making sure everyone that wants a job can get one (preferably in the area they are trained for).

Liberal Progressives would like to pass these measures in the simplest way possible. For example, Medicare for all makes sense on all levels. Unfortunately, the reason we have Obamacare is that there are parts of the country that prefer more conservative aspects to progressivism. This is why centrists and liberals need to come together. We also need to do a better job at messaging and giving both the slogan and bullet points (the dumbed down version) and the wonky version that gives the benefits and costs of each program.  That is the way we win the people. It should not be hard. We won the popular vote last time and need to remember that the people are already on our side. We just need to make that final push and enact policies that people will realize we have not left them behind.


http://theweek.com/articles/709473/4-dumb-ideas-that-centrist-democrats-simply-adore

https://baselinescenario.com/2017/06/15/telling-a-better-story-a-new-economic-vision-for-the-democratic-party/