>At 05:41 PM 11/4/2004, John Thornton wrote:
>
>>I don't know how giant it is but don't you think that many more people
>>would have come and voted for Kerry if he had promised a CWA and CCC type
>>job program to fix failing infrastructure and put people to work? That
>>along with true universal health care would have brought out many more
>>people to vote who just stayed home and ignored all this shit as being
>>irrelevant in their lives. Programs like these would make it relevant to
>>them and they would vote in greater numbers. Provided the Dems made their
>>plans clear enough so people could understand them of course.
>
>Nope, I don't think this at all. In the first place, any of the
>libertarians or former Bush voters that chose to vote for Kerry would have
>never done so with that program. Second, a good share of people would have
>come out to vote against Kerry. The Busheviks would have cremated KE'04
>with talk of commies. Come on, read what that asschomp, NOrquist wrote.
>Better yet, read what a former client wrote me last night. He's a former
>cop, went into the infosec business after retirement, worked for a fortune
>50 with a rep for began politically liberal, but is a big 2a fan. I think
>he's a lot more like typical people--who actually think Hitlery is
>LIBERAL! I about busted a gut -- it wasn't the first time I'd heard this.
>Bill and Hitlery were liberals!
>
>I'm not saying we can't ever do what you say, but our first task it
>changing the tenor of public discourse in the first place. That's a long,
>hard struggle but it's doable. We just need to be able to sit down and
>make a flippin' plan!
>
>This mess needs some project management, damn it. Who do I send my resume
>to? :)
>
>kelley
This seems to support the idea that things have to get worse before they can get better. This is an idea I try to reject out of fear of what level of suffering it means for so many people and how easy it is to espouse this idea from the comfort of my present location. History shows us that the quickest way to change the tenor of public discourse is to have a crisis that makes that unavoidable. It hasn't given us much guidance in another route. Until the last few months I had been privately advocating such a position and believing a Bush victory might work towards that end. I debated it publicly but never explicitly stated it as a belief. It isn't an idea I'm strongly wedded and I continue to search for and hope for another more viable option but to date remain unconvinced despite my work with others who do not hold that view.
John Thornton