Republicans are so saddled with the heavy weight of corruption and sleaze that Democrats have seemingly become the default option for many voters - irregardless of each party's agenda or candidates.
The Republicans are trying to change that.
Tim Daly from Clarendon got a call saying that if he votes Tuesday, he will be arrested. A recording of his voic email can be found online here. The transcript from his voice mail reads:
"This message is for Timothy Daly. This is the Virginia Elections Commission. We've determined you are registered in New York to vote. Therefore, you will not be allowed to cast your vote on Tuesday. If you do show up, you will be charged criminally."
Daly has been registered to vote in Virginia since 1998, and he has voted for the last several cycles with no problem. He has filed a criminal complaint with the Commonwealth's attorney in Arlington.
That's one example. Here's an illustration of how this is going all over the country:
Your phone rings, there's a brief recorded intro that makes it appear the call is from a Democratic campaign or related group, and then a pause, and then a recorded message. If you hang up it calls you back six or seven times or more.
The goal is to make people think they are being harassed by the Democrats, and piss them off enough to change their votes. It works well enough to potentially flip some close races.
This is clearly illegal under some statutes & regulations, arguably illegal under others. It appears to be going on across the US, using the same format and methods.
More on fighting back against these illegal calls
is available here.
Republicans will do anything to maintain power. Anything. If they're willing to attempt to illegally prevent voters from exercising their civic duty, they're undoubtedly also willing to tamper with electronic voting machines and vote-counting equipment to prevent Democrats from winning.
Yes, it's cheating. Yes, it's illegal. Yes, it's immoral. But Republicans don't care. They talk a good game about values and responsibility, but peel back the layers of rhetoric and you can plainly see that Republicans are desperate. Incredibly desperate to hang onto power at any cost.
Laws don't matter. Integrity doesn't matter. The Constitution doesn't matter.
Only winning does.
And ironically, Republicans are in the position they're in right now because they and their agenda have been a failure. They're not interested in governing, so we've witnessed poor decision making and terrible mismanagement of our nation's treasury, resources, and public lands.
Republicans have a huge infrastructure to back up their frame, their world view, and it's working in overdrive right now. As Lakoff has noted, a significant number of Americans actually believe in this strict father frame.
Others buy into what the Republicans are selling out of greed and self interest (like Frank Blethen). They have a short list of what they want, and if they can get it from the GOP, they'll shelve their other concerns.
Look at George W. Bush. He is flatly telling voters not to elect Democrats, because if they do, the terrorists will win and taxes will go up. It is laughably absurd! It doesn't even make sense! But you can see what the intent is: scare the electorate into voting Republican.
A great number of Democrats do not even know how to counter this nonsense. Many decide they can't win by fighting the "X Candidate will raise taxes" meme, so instead of fighting back against it, they try to turn the tables by pledging to fight or vote for lower taxes.
But it's a trap. No matter what Democrats say, Republicans will keep saying our party just wants to raise taxes. Democrats are not reframing. Even some of the most progressive campaigns in the country have completely failed to counter the narrative.
Some candidates have tried to respond with a basic counterattack, setting up a "Truth Watch" or something similarly named. So the response is essentially "That's not true!" That's not a good response. That's not reframing.
On a federal level, it is hard to fight back against the anti-tax frame because the federal government is so remote and far away. Revenues and budgets are huge. So to many Americans, the federal government seems pretty vast and flush with wealth.
Given how many citizens are facing economic hardship, the promise of lower taxes sounds good. What's sad, of course, is that the gap between the "haves" and the "have nots" is only going to get bigger and bigger if Republicans stay in power.
Republicans are putting the American dream out of reach for most American families. And we can't stop their agenda unless we take back Congress. And to take back Congress we need to campaign hard and campaign effectively.
Democrats need to reframe to respond to Republican attacks effectively. But what does that mean? Here's what Democrats need to do instead of reinforcing the Republican message about tax cuts and keeping taxes low:
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Change the way voters think about taxes. Example: "Taxation is paying your dues, paying your membership fee in America. Our infrastructure, like the interstate highway system or the Internet, cost money to build and it costs money to maintain. Taxes should be invested as wisely as possible to benefit the greater public good. I'll fight for wise investment of your money if elected to Congress."
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Turn the tables on "lower taxes". Example: "Republicans are plundering our treasury and rewarding their wealthy friends with refunds so that the rest of us will be stuck with the bill for the war in Iraq and the bill for maintaining programs like Social Security. That's not fair. If elected to Congress, I will fight for fairer taxes so families struggling to get by don't have to pay more than their fair share."
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Turn the tables on "smaller government". Example: "Republicans don't really want smaller government. If they did, why are they supporting record deficit spending on a military invasion of Iraq? Republicans don't want to get rid of the FBI, or the military, or the court system that supports corporate law. It is the big government that they like. 'Smaller or bigger' is irrelevant. If elected to Congress I'll fight for a government that is more effective and accountable to you."
Coupling this with a promise to fight for fiscal responsibility would be an effective response to the conservative frame on taxes. Unfortunately, not enough Democratic candidates are reframing and responding correctly.
It may not matter this election cycle. Republican control of the federal government has been such a disaster that the party's tactics may not work, or they may actually backfire. But in future election cycles, Democrats cannot expect to enjoy the kind of advantage we have enjoyed this year.
Republicans have been self-destructing and Democrats are doing a better job of competing (though not reframing) but that still doesn't mean we'll get either house of Congress. Republicans are obviously worried sick about such a prospect. Now their desperation needs to be exposed and countered so their dirty schemes are neutralized. Republicans will stop cheating and playing dirty only when they realize they gain no advantage from doing so.
