Frame Busting & Taking Hostages - Part Two

As I said at the tail end of the first part of this series, this section addresses the young voters. As Chris Bowers points out, there's been a consistant track record of declining turnout in Democratic voting ranks among Americans under 30 since 1976 that he accurately attributes to the ever widening income gap between the electorate and the nation at large and also points out that Americans born in the mid to late 1980s are due to start voting shortly (e.g. the second baby boom), which will increase the ammount of young voters this country hasn't seen in some time.

Chris's point about the income gap still applies to these young voters (even more so considering they'll be paying for Bush's deficit much like we old codgers are still paying for the Reagan era), but there's something else about today's group of young voters that changes the game: these young voters are in the 18-34 age demographic and between work and/or college, going to the movies, or playing video games, their spare time and attentions spans don't leave much room for listening to Democratic candidates prattle on. In fact, they grew up listening to DLC-type Democrats such as the Gores, the Clintons, Sen. Lieberman, and Sen. Kohl rant and complain about Sub-Zero's spinal-cord collecting fetish in the realm of Mortal Kombat and rap/hip-hop music, itching to regulate and censor both "in the interest of the children" with Rockstar's "Grand Theft Auto" series gaining the last dose of sabre rattling from among them.

But were their actions really "in the interest of the children" or something else entirely?

Join me on the flip side ...

I've decided to take time away from the ranting and snarkery at my corner of the world and post a series of updates to my diary here in the hopes that they'll serve as the good clean kick in the ass the Democratic Party needs. In this series, the name says it all -- I outline what I personally believe should be arguments the Democrats should make in 2006-2008 to earn victory provided they shoot from the hip with it. Notice I said earn the victory.

Lipservice and old standbys aren't going to cut it. Why won't they work. For one, using them just insults the intelligence of the voter and if the DNC is going to do that, they might as well forget it right now and remain the "weak", "spineless", "go along-get along" party that'll keep losing because the voters "don't know where we stand on the issues". Seriously, when it comes to insulting the intelligence of the voter, let the Republicans corner that market. Secondly, I'll expose the lipservice and old-standbys anyway to ensure that if any Democrat dares to use them in 2006-2008, they're met with fire and brimstone from the netroots of leftwing blogistan.

This is where the "taking hostages" part comes in -- the DNC lost the last few elections because they refused to fight fire with fire (or slime with slime if you're reading from Karl Rove's playbook), letting the GOP's "ownership society" run roughshod all over them. As Hunter at DailyKos pointed out in a well said rant, the Rovians/Straussians of the GOP have changed the name of the game and I've got a simple saying: Don't try playing poker at a eucher table! That's our problem -- we're trying to make a full house at the GOP's eucher table and we've been getting "Yuked". It's time for the Democrats to retire the poker mentality, roll up their sleeves, crank some Nazareth, and play the same damn game the Republicans have been playing for the past 5 years using their deck and their rules so that we can slam both the right and left bowers accompanied by the ol' acer each time they dare to call or order up trump.

If that makes us partisan, so be it. At least partisans aren't weak and spineless and can't be accused of not knowing where they stand on the issues. Being partisan would be change for the better as it implies the idea that we're not just singing it -- we're bringing it. That makes the Republicans seeth and if the success of A-list left blogistan is of any indication, seething Republicans end up helping the Democrats because their foaming-at-the-mouth bitterness draws attention to what we're doing and that could also translate into giving Democrats much needed credibility if we're doing our part to earn the honor from the people.

So, let's us perform a quick spinal collumn check and get down to business in Extended with part one of this series ... and the title will probably shock you.

The retirement of Justice O'Connor has many of us worried as to not just who will be her replacement but exactly will be the nature of the beast? Will Bush replace her with a moderate justice or will he reach over into the Fundy Fristian camp and pull out a far right-wing idealogue? Make no mistake -- the Religious Right is on the move and they won't make any compromises whatsoever. They are the "New Highwaymen" of the Party of Lincoln that are just itching to hold the Republican party hostage yet again, putting a gun to their heads and pulling the trigger if Bush doesn't choose a judge that'll cater to their agenda.

If you care to join me on the flip side, I'll explain how the Religious Left can drive that wedge home...