It's self-defeating for leftists of any variety to dismiss "the American people" wholesale. Even a simple economistic look at the voting pattern is superior to such a hasty generalization that insults all Americans indiscriminately.
VOTE BY INCOME
BUSH KERRY Less Than $50,000 (48%) 42% 58% $50,000 or More (52%) 58% 42%
<http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2004/pages/results/states/OH/P/00/epolls.0.html>
Ohioans whose annual income is less than $50,000 voted against Bush by a margin of 16% (Ohioans whose annual income is $50,000 or more voted for Bush by exactly the same margin), but they constituted only 48% of the Ohioans who voted. The difference is clear, stark, and easy to grasp.
Promise working-class voters a pro-working-class program featuring public works jobs, universal health care, and an end to the Iraq War, use exciting ballot initiatives to raise the turnout of less-than-$50,000-a-year voters by 3-4.5% (according to Caroline J. Tolbert, John A. Grummel, and Daniel A. Smith's research, "the presence and usage of the initiative process is associated with higher voter turnout in both presidential and midterm elections. The disparity in turnout rates between initiative and noninitiative states has been increasing over time, estimated at 7% to 9% higher in midterm and 3% to 4.5% higher in presidential elections in the 1990s" ["The Effects of Ballot Initiatives on Voter Turnout in the American States," American Politics Research 29.6, November 2001, <http://montages.blogspot.com/2004/07/its-hollow-party.html>]), and you are on your way to a victory. -- Yoshie
* Critical Montages: <http://montages.blogspot.com/> * Greens for Nader: <http://greensfornader.net/> * Bring Them Home Now! <http://www.bringthemhomenow.org/> * OSU-GESO: <http://www.osu-geso.org/> * Calendars of Events in Columbus: <http://sif.org.ohio-state.edu/calendar.html>, <http://www.freepress.org/calendar.php>, & <http://www.cpanews.org/> * Student International Forum: <http://sif.org.ohio-state.edu/> * Committee for Justice in Palestine: <http://www.osudivest.org/> * Al-Awda-Ohio: <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Al-Awda-Ohio> * Solidarity: <http://www.solidarity-us.org/>