BigTexx's gay-marriage post got me thinking. What issues are there that both parties can bring up every 4 (2?) years to fire up the base voter turnout without sparking the other side? Issues/proposals that will never actually pass since they would then effectively be removed from the playbook. GOP - gay marriage ban, flag burning ban DEMS - ??? I'm curious to hear from Democrats. It appears to me that the GOP has 2 tried, trusted, and effective ploys here that have proven successful at increasing GOP voter turnout. As long as they don't start throwing the bomb on every down, they could reuse these indefinitely.
The liberals love to play the "rich people suck" card. Class warfare. The problem with the liberals is that they're not good at playing any cards. The conservatives are a much smarter bunch and better at it.
But you see the reality is that while the republicans might be better at winning elections (better at lying and taking advantage of people), they don't know how to govern once they're in office. Democrats by and large are better at this democracy stuff.
I was trying to think of a policy initiative they propose along these lines....but I just can't think of one.
Seriously...I know what you're getting at...but I just don't see it. Other than reversing some of the recent tax cuts, or very general motherhood type statements -- and even then they tend to get very slippery -- I haven't seen any proposals for new or increased taxes. Certainly not to the extent of 'we're gonna ban gay marriage...we're gonna stop the burning of the flag...or even we're gonna protect the unborn' Maybe that's their problem.....failure to get out a message!
The larger problem that the liberals have is not being able to provide any proposals. They just sit back and play armchair quarterback and complain, without providing any solutions. They throw **** until something sticks.
Actually...they're so busy deflecting the **** that's being thrown around they don't have time throw any of their own
one of the big democrats 4 year issues is minumum wage. its been a long time since there was an increase - its probably about time.
Medicare, social security, education, out sourcing, the environment. One of the reasons while the Dems have been having some trouble with pushing these issues on a national level is that the GW Bush Admin took a page from Clinton and made their own proposals on these. Of course those proposals haven't worked out very well so its likely that Dems will continue to bring those up. Particularly social security. That is one issue that the Dems pretty much always have the Repubs running scared from.
There's one. A form of Health Care. It's probably one that they'll talk about a whole lot more than take action on.
Maybe too besides being better at playing the cards, conservatives get more worked up when the cards are played. I would have to say that the conservative base is larger and more passionate then the liberal base. I know far more conservatives then I do liberals. So if your base is larger and more passionate, then they'll work harder during election season and get out and vote in larger numbers.
I don't think the conservative base is larger or more passionate just more united. The problem with the liberal base is its too fractured and many of the core issues don't necessarily agree with each other for instance environmentalists and big labor. The conservative base has been able to hold together economic and social conservatives when these aren't necessarily natural allies.
