The Way Forward

Last edited Fri Jan 24, 2025, 08:13 PM - Edit history (1)

150 million eligible voters NEVER vote. Why not?

It isn't because Kamala was black or a woman. These people didn't vote when Gore was running, Kerry, Hillary, and not even Obama for the most part.

Some are just dumb asses that care more about football or soccer than their kids' health, education or their own retirement security. We can't do too much about that.

But there are 50 million out there who don't vote because they simply don't believe it will make a difference. Democrats have the "college debate team" disease with a few exceptions (Warren, AOC, and , well Katie is out of Congress, so that's about the complete list.) There are plenty of great Dems who have the best of intentions, but they can't get through a 30-second elevator pitch in 90 minutes.

And if they ever get to the point, they can't seem to put in terms that most Americans can understand.

Example: Putin has invaded Ukraine. OK, so what? How does that affect me personally? Why should I care?

If you can't answer that question in 25 words or fewer, you have lost the audience. Some won't vote at all. Others will vote for Trump when he says, "I'm going to deport all the brown people and that will keep you safe from murderers and rapists." That took 19 words and 6 seconds. OK it had some lies. We can use the other 9 seconds to tell the truth. But if you can't get attention in 15 seconds, you lose.

For decades, Dems have groused about how the media gave more airtime to crazy Republicans. But they kept the audiences awake. The networks just couldn't package a Democrat basically reading a white paper in monotone, and their audiences didn't respond to that.

This part of the DU is called "The Way Forward". Let me plant an idea you can stick a pin in, so to speak. If we keep trotting out Beltway creatures to run for high office, we will lose. A name to watch is Mark Cuban. I am not necessarily a fan, but I believe he is seriously thinking of getting onto the political stage to try to fill the void left by generations of Dems who spend 10% of their time saying nothing and the other 90% apologizing for being too forceful. I'm not saying a Cuban candidacy would be a good or a bad thing, but it would certainly cause some people to pay attention, for a change.

There is no natural law that says leaders have to be lawyers and must be steeped and aged for many years in the "Beltway way of doing things." In the first half of this country's history, it was common for Presidents to never have attended law school. Now it seems almost mandatory for a Presidential candidate to be a lawyer. And I'd argue that is a big part of why we can't communicate with average people and why Trump can. I would also point out that Ronald Reagan and Volodymyr Zelenskyy came from an entertainment background. So, think about Cuban. It is not as far-fetched as it may sound.