Republicans politicians may be despicable, but one thing they do well is messaging. Democrats have policies that are popular with most Americans, but those same people who prefer Democratic policies don’t recognize that they are Democratic policies.
We need to focus more on how our message is perceived by average people. Don’t talk about gun control, talk about gun safety.
Control = bad
Safety = good
On health care, we need to stop talking about single payer. What does that even mean? You can have single payer for bad healthcare as well as good. Single payer does not mean there will be protections for those with preexisting condition or guaranteed maternity coverage.
Single payer = nothing
Universal healthcare = good
Republicans have successfully painted Democrats as baby killers because they have distilled our policy of full coverage for women’s healthcare into a love of abortion.
Abortion = bad
Women’s healthcare = good
Republicans have successfully painted Democrats as the party that gives white people’s tax dollars to lazy people of color.
Welfare = bad
Safety net for all = good
I’m sure there are experts in messaging that can do better than I can – but we need to take another lesson from the GOP and their talking points. Once that message is proven effective, we need to all get on the same page.
Too many pundits complain that they don’t know what Democrats stand for, which mainly means they are too lazy to pay attention. But it is also an indictment of our messaging. We need clear, plain, simple, sound bite, bumper sticker messages.