But why are we going down this path? We really don't know how passionately people feel about the potential "economic" issues (vs. the "values" issues) because the economic issues have not really been put to them (at least in a sustained way that most of them would see as credible). That is really the point of these election returns.
Only a tiny subset of "economic" issues were put on the table (in only vague ways and by people who have a track record of acting against the majority's interests in the far larger economic issues). Some people responded to even this weak stimulus; others fell back to the "values" -- in the absence of something more moving. It could well be the values issues could be swamped by a serious effort to offer a bigger vision.
Paul
Jon wrote:
>It seems clear that the Left (both inside and outside the DP) will be out
>of commission for quite a few years until it can figure out how to
>neutralize the "values" issues (conservative religion, homophobia (reduced
>but still active), "pro-life," etc.).
Doug replied:
>Yup. It's not just a delusion or a con job - it's the deeply ingrained
>common sense of a very large part of the U.S. population. Nonhispanic
>white men - 36% of the electorate - went for Bush by 18 points.
>Nonhispanic white women - 41% of the electorate - went for Bush by 4. Some
>of this is class interest - a third of the electorate had incomes above
>$75,000. But below that, as they say, it's gods, guns, and gays - issues
>felt on a deeply passionate level, organized around fear. Karl Rove didn't
>put that fear there. He took advantage of it, but the causes are a lot
>more complicated.