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August 2, 2008 at 18:13:20

Why Conservative Policies Dominate

by Dave Johnson Page 1 of 1 page(s)

www.opednews.com

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Why does the public flock to conservative / corporate policies that generally run against their own interests? Take tax cuts for the rich, or the current offshore-drilling campaign as examples.

Here is my opinion of the reason: Conservatives have a huge outside-the-party infrastructure devoted to persuading the public to support their policies and progressives do not.

Conservatives recognize the value of movement-building and work steadily to create popular demand, which then gets their candidates elected. This is why so many terrible Republicans are able to get elected just by pointing their finger at their opponent and shouting, "Liberal, Liberal!"

Progressives instead for decades have believed that a candidate will come along who will be so popular that he or she will lead them out of the wilderness, and convince the public of the rightness of all of their ideas. Therefore almost all of their money and effort goes into short-term election efforts, candidates and the party instead of to ongoing outside-the-party organizations that work over the long term to build lasting demand for their ideas.

Discuss.

http://seeingtheforest.com

Dave Johnson is a Senior Fellow with the Institute for the Renewal of the California Dream working on progressive messaging, and a Fellow at the Commonweal Institute, where he researches and writes about the activities of the conservative movement's network of foundations and think tanks and the extent of their influence on American society. Dave is on the Boards of Directors of Media Transparency and The People Choose, is an advisor to The Philanthropy Network and is a member of the Netroots Advisory Council of the Drum Major Institute. Dave is the lead blogger at Seeing the Forest. He is a featured contributor at Huffington Post and writes at many other sites including MyDD, AlterNet, Common Dreams, DailyKos and Speak Out California. Mr. Johnson has over 20 years of technology industry experience and has previously held positions including CEO, and VP of Sales and Marketing. He specialized in grassroots "viral" marketing, direct mail, and Internet applications. His earlier career included technical positions in the technology industry, notably in video game design at companies including Atari and Imagic, and he was a pioneer in design and development of productivity and educational applications of personal computers. More recently Dave helped co-found Carbon Tracing, Inc., the company developing the desktop systems to validate carbon trading in the US.

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5 comments

I am a disabled man living in northern California who cares more about the future of our country than about party affiliation. I am distressed over the downward spiral in our social and political culture.
JOHN LORENZI am a disabled man living in northern California who cares more about the future of our country than about party affiliation. I am distressed over the downward spiral in our social and political culture.

You wanna know why?

"Conservatives have a huge outside-the-party infrastructure devoted to persuading the public to support their policies and progressives do not." That is true. Do you know what that 'outside infrastructure is called? It is called the Mainstream media. The media work full time since GW Bush co-opted the FCC and sold off the airwaves to the big corporations and trashed the fairness doctrine...the media work full time expounding the right-wing view point with a small veneer of 'evenhandedness" so they don't look too blatant. The Republicans, when the Gingrich Revolution took over in 1994, vowed that Washington would be a Republican town from then on. And they used all the levers of power to make it all an insider game: from having the Supreme Court put in GW Bush to buying off the media to tell the RNC's talking points. They did it at TAXPAYER'S expense too. It is not because they are more organized than the Democrats. They have MORE MONEY AND MORE INFLUENCE due to power grabs and rigging of the political process and most importantly coopting the press to work for them.

by JOHN LORENZ (17 articles, 89 quicklinks, 63 diaries, 211 comments) on Sunday, August 3, 2008 at 11:41:23 AM

Hater of Nazis above all. Hobbies include activism, military model building, military history, exciting and vital conversation with retired crooks. Retired
John HanksHater of Nazis above all. Hobbies include activism, military model building, military history, exciting and vital conversation with retired crooks. Retired

Crookism is always popular.

When every American is told that it is virtuous to seek his own advantage at the expense of everyone else, the appeal is enormous. Of course it is a major case of the clap, but no one thinks of that. Democracy, equality, honesty, and hatred are the only cure.

by John Hanks (1 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 1376 comments) on Sunday, August 3, 2008 at 1:47:10 PM

Bill Willers is emeritus professor of biology, University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh now living in Middleton, WI. He is founder of Superior Wilderness Action Network (SWAN) and editor of Learning to Listen to the Land and Unmanaged Landscapes, both from Island Press.
Bill WillersBill Willers is emeritus professor of biology, University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh now living in Middleton, WI. He is founder of Superior Wilderness Action Network (SWAN) and editor of Learning to Listen to the Land and Unmanaged Landscapes, both from Island Press.

Grover Norquist

Right wing strategist Grover Norquist explained long ago why conservative politics dominate:

"Democrats play for lunch; we play for keeps"

by Bill Willers (11 articles, 0 quicklinks, 3 diaries, 48 comments) on Sunday, August 3, 2008 at 8:12:49 PM

I am a teacher who lives in NYC. I think Hillary is the same as Bush. I am interesting in CIA connections to leftliberal publications like Encounter Magazine as described by the british journalism Frances Stonor Saunders in her book
The Cultural Cold War: The CIA and the world of arts and letters.
Nathaniel HeidenheimerI am a teacher who lives in NYC. I think Hillary is the same as Bush. I am interesting in CIA connections to leftliberal publications like Encounter Magazine as described by the british journalism Frances Stonor Saunders in her book
The Cultural Cold War: The CIA and the world of arts and letters.

Forgotten ingredient!

Dave you are correct but there is one major ingredient that you forgot.

conservaties have one and half parties that will either clearly enunciate their ideology or more subtly agree with its assumptions by equivocating in the guise of "the opposite"

Progressives have nobody enunciating thier ideas to large unified national audience. They keep thinking the internet will save them, when it lacks critical mass, thus they continue to not attack the Corporate Media.

Will they passively allow the corporate media to hand the next war election to them and call it democracy all the while typing furiously to 13 and half people at a time while the republicans and democratic enablers lie to 300 million at a time?

Thinking for a minute about communications just might set us free!

by Nathaniel Heidenheimer (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 45 comments) on Monday, August 4, 2008 at 9:06:08 AM

I find it hard to believe that the public feels led astray by President Bush for leading us into a war blindsided. Where were you when Bush went to the United Nations for help in finding out if Iraq had WMD's. How many chances did we give Saddam to come clean only to hear over and over again "I need more time, No you can't enter Iraq" How many chances did we give him? If it was up to the Democratic party would we still be waiting?
Where were you when President Bush said enough... w...

to see more of bio, click on member name
don bybeeI find it hard to believe that the public feels led astray by President Bush for leading us into a war blindsided. Where were you when Bush went to the United Nations for help in finding out if Iraq had WMD's. How many chances did we give Saddam to come clean only to hear over and over again "I need more time, No you can't enter Iraq" How many chances did we give him? If it was up to the Democratic party would we still be waiting?
Where were you when President Bush said enough... w...

to see more of bio, click on member name

What does the Democratic Party have to offer?

What happens when a Democrat takes office? Last I remember, President Clinton pardoned several known drug dealers his last few months in office, sold out the Lincoln Bedroom, bombed a factory to get Monica off the front page news and with White Water, he kept saying, "I don't remember, I don't recall." Not to forget trashing the Air Force One

If we had a democrat leader in the White House, we'd still be waiting for Saddam to come clean. Americans should be tired of paying high gas prices, not because of Bush oil, but because we aren't allowed to Drill for Oil because the Democrats want alternative fuel. We've done that, now corn is more expensive and ethenol evaporates quicker than regular gas and gas mileage is lower. If we'd cut the crap, drill for oil and find other alternative resources it may not take 10 years, which if we drilled for oil it wouldn't take 10 years to see results. Sounds better than waiting another few months to make up the minds of Congress.

Democrats don't want Bush to suceed, sorry he already has, Iraq now has water, schools, and electricity. Stop listening to the Press... and talk to a soldier.

If Obama is elected President we can all look forward to 2012 when Hillary will make the same promise Democrats always make... "Time For Change" as we loose our religious freedom unless you are a Budist or a Muslem.

Why do the Democrats shun the name of Jesus? But it's o.k. to discuss all other religions? Is someone re-writting history. America was founded on Biblical Principles no matter what the Colleges teach today.

I suggest you read America's God and Country Encyclopedia of Quotations by William J. Federer.

by don bybee (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 206 comments) on Monday, August 4, 2008 at 6:20:45 PM