Wait 'til next year

November 4, 2004

On Tuesday morning, I enthusiastically went to my polling place and waiting in line for over an hour in order to cast my vote. Using New York's antiquated mechanical lever voting machines, I found it especially satisfying to cast my vote with a solid "thunk." That felt good.

Unfortunately, the day went downhill from there. When did being a liberal become as frustrating as being a Mets fan?

For more than twenty million Bush voters, the most important issue facing the US is not the economy, not security, but "values." According to CNN's exit poll, 22% of voters cited "values" as the most important issue in this election. 80% of the of those voters voted for Bush. In particular, the main "value" issue at stake in this election was gay marriage. While the Presidential election itself may not have been a referendum on that issue, voters in 11 states overwhelmingly approved state constitutional amendments to ban gay marriage.

These voters are more concerned with denying others of rights than with their own self-interest. In fact, many of these voters are hurt by Bush economic policy and would have been significantly better off with Kerry policy. These voters care more about the personal conduct of other citizens than issues that affect their own economic self-interest or personal security.

Nearly 20 million Americans are more concerned with preventing the state from recognizing monogamous relationships between same-sex couples than burdening their children with a broken economy and debt crisis. Nearly 20 million Americans are more concerned with preventing the state from recognizing monogamous relationships between same-sex couples than ensuring everyone has access to affordable health care and insurance. Nearly 20 million Americans are more concerned with preventing the state from recognizing monogamous relationships between same-sex couples than educating their children. Do these voters fear that recognizing same-sex unions will force them to have a homosexual relationship?

So we clearly lost this election. The obvious question is: what next? Should Democrats reach out to the social reactionaries by embracing their "traditional values"? No. John Kerry wisely avoided compromising on principles by pandering on those issues. We are better on the issues than BushCo. Where we lose is in framing the issues.

Over the last 30+ years, conservatives have created and institutionalized a movement, with groups like the Federalist Society, Heritage Foundation, the Washington Times and Fox News Channel providing talking heads to spin political discussion. Most importantly, they have effectively controlled the language of political discussion. We need to frame the issues using our language and not merely try to respond using the same language. We need to clearly frame our core principles and values. The problem is not our position on the issues, but merely how we discuss those issues.

It is vitally important that we continue to develop progressive institutions to counteract the reactionary institutions which have enabled conservatives to effectively control political discourse and created the environment which helped to elect Bush. MoveOn.org, the Center for American Progress, the American Constitution Society, Media Matters, Democracy for America, Americans Coming Together, Air America and the progressive blog community are a start. We need to get our vision out in the public discourse using our rhetoric.

Here in New York City, it seems like the Bush voter is a mythical creature who doesn't exist. This is not merely perception. Here in Brooklyn, Kerry earned 74.14% of votes and Bush 24.79%. In Manhattan, 81.66% of voters chose Kerry and 16.61% picked Bush. In the Bronx, 82.35% of voters supported Kerry.

Perhaps it is time to get out into Red America and find out who these people are. Or, maybe we should simply secede, and join Canada.

Posted by Andrew Raff at November 4, 2004 10:42 PM