Why Can't Democrats Communicate?

Republicans are really good at selling their message. Since they have no principles, they can change their agenda instantly with no shame, and they all will repeat the same talking points in unison, making it seem as though there must be some validity to their lies.

Democrats, on the other hand, barely even have a message. They've been so beaten down by the Republican media machine that they have no idea how to sell an agenda that benefits ordinary people over the super-wealthy.

America needs a Democratic Barry Goldwater, a man who stands by Democratic principles without shame, and tries to win minds, instead of winning votes. Yes, Goldwater lost, but the Republican party has been controlling the political dialogue ever since that loss, except for maybe a brief period of time following Nixon's resignation. Jimmy Carter was the last president to actually stand behind Democratic values, and he was crucified for it, largely because of economic forces outside of his control.

Obama tries to implement Democratic policies, but he does it the wrong way. He attempts to win over Republican votes in the Congress by weakening his policies. This would be a legitimate agenda, but there's a simple problem: The Republican's entire agenda is to prevent Obama's legislative agenda. It doesn't matter that the Obama health care bill has more ideas from Republicans than Democrats, Republicans would vote against anything with Obama's name on it.

This attempt at bipartisanship was sensible for the first major bill, but after that, it's better to just call out the Republicans as hypocrites and push through aggressive Democratic legislation. They should have forced the Republicans to actually filibuster bills that continue unemployment benefits and a tax cut that doesn't unfairly benefit the wealthiest classes. Instead, Democrats have allowed the Republicans to continue the anonymous silent filibuster, giving a single Senator more Veto power than the President.

It isn't that hard to have talking points for Democratic candidates. I'll make some up off the top of my head:

*Republicans will sacrifice the poor of America to benefit the rich.
*Democrats can regulate the industries that Republicans have allowed to trample average citizens.
*Companies should be forced to pay for the harm they've done, just like you or I have to pay for mistakes we've made.
*The Republican's economic plan will increase unemployment and the deficit.
*Republicans are tools of international cartels who are hostile to American values.

There's a similar problem in the Supreme Court, where Republican Scalia dominates the Judicial media in the same way the Republicans dominate the regular media. Scalia insists that all of his decisions are based on the original will of the Framers of the Constitution. This position is insane, but it sounds very good. Left-wing justices don't have a similar talking point to sell their agenda, probably because they're not as dishonest. After all, pretending that a complicated issue can be addressed in a single sentence is essentially dishonest.

I wish left-wing justices would just say, "Times change. We shouldn't use the 1800 definition of 'cruel and unusual punishment', just because that's when the Framers lived. We should read the Constitution by what it says. If we start trying to interpret it through the wishes of dead men, we descend into madness. If you don't want the Constitution to say something, then you should amend it."