U.S. Supreme Court
Last Wednesday’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling in McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission left many Democrats and progressives dejected. The ruling from the Republican-dominated Supreme Court essentially removed any limits on aggregate political contributions by individuals, meaning that Republican billionaires like the Koch Brothers and Sheldon Adelson now can buy even more members of Congress and more elections by pumping more money into false TV attack ads against Democrats. So it’s the end of the world for Democrats, right? We say “wrong!” While Democrats of course should work to reverse McCutcheon and its predecessor Citizens United, here’s how Democrats can win elections in the meantime despite the Republicans’ dark money advantages:
Republican “Demographic Death Spiral”
Those were the words Republican U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina used last June to describe the danger to the Republican Party in alienating all those Latino voters. Ditto for Asians, Blacks, women, gay Americans and pretty much every kind of American other than old white men. And lots of young Americans are looking pretty progressive lately too, so you have to figure that many of them are not likely to turn conservative as they get older. Republicans must know this, which is why they are desperate to suppress likely Democratic votes and to flood the airwaves with phony attack ads paid for by billionaire money.
As the 2012 elections proved, the Democrats can beat the Republicans at the voting booth when they successfully Get Out the Vote. That also applies to the elections coming this November and the 2016 Presidential election. McCutcheon and other horrendous decisions from this Republican Supreme Court demonstrate that elections have consequences, and that Democratic Presidents pick much better, less activist Supreme Court justices than do Republican Presidents. Democrats are very good at the election ground game, using scientific methods such as microtargeting, online fundraising and other tools. One of the greatest such tools is…
Social Media Advantage
Social Media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, etc.) and email are FREE. Please read that again to let it sink in. For every person reached by a phony GOP TV commercial paid for by billionaires, Democrats can communicate via these Internet methods, which have a big advantage over traditional TV and radio in that they are interactive. Young and not-so-young voters increasingly access these social platforms on their mobile devices. Moreover, Republicans have been painfully slow to adapt to these technologies, but not the Democrats. At every level, whether it’s the national Democratic Party, local organizations, websites like the Daily Kos, or just bloggers in their basements, the Democrats can hit those networks, trade information and build grassroots (“netroots”) support for their causes and candidates through Get Out the Vote efforts.
We Have Your Back
No call for getting out the vote can be fully effective without giving voters a reason to vote, especially in an off-year (non-Presidential) election. That’s why last February we called on Democratic leaders to come up with an election theme for 2014, and suggested one: “We Have Your Back.” Just weeks later, Senate Democrats did come up with their own theme along these lines: “A Fair Shot for Everyone.” While that’s a bit long and stilted, it’s the same idea. Use social media, email or just the water cooler or coffee shop to remind your friends and loved ones that, as McCutcheon proves, Republicans care primarily about their billionaire corporate overlords, whereas, if you want protection and security, Democrats Have Your Back. The Affordable Care Act is an obvious example of how Democrats have your back, especially in contrast with Republicans who still want to repeal the ACA, and there are many more such examples.
So as soon as you’re done grieving over McCutcheon and complaining about those Republican judicial activist Supreme Court justices who legislate from the bench, get up and dust yourself off. We have work to do.
Photo by cometstarmoon, used under Creative Commons license. http://is.gd/5Nm62c
With all due respect,
If it was not the GOP buying Congress it [is] the Democrats. Get a clue, a politicion is a politicion no matter which side of the isle he is sitting on!
Be open minded as you Liberals “claim” you are and take a step back and look at the Democrats with the same scrutiny as you do the GOP. Then you’ll understand what is really going on in Congress! They are all millionaires and they all are corrupt!
Thanks Darryl. It’s true that both parties spend a lot of time raising money, there are millionaires in both parties in Congress, and corporate interests try hard to influence both parties toward their profit agenda. But the similarities end there.
Average donation to parties? Small for Democrats, huge for GOP. Citizens United & McCutcheon decisions opening campaign money floodgates? Rulings by GOP majority Supreme Court, cases pushed by GOP interests.
Then look at the policies each side fights for. Democrats — Social Security, Medicare, Affordable Care Act, equal pay, unemployment insurance extension, women’s health, marriage equality, curbing climate change. Republicans oppose all those. What do they push? Tax cuts for the wealthy. Tax cuts for the wealthy. Loosen financial & environmental regulations on big corporations. Iraq War folly. More tax cuts for the wealthy.
As for campaign finance limits, Democrats are for it, Republicans other than John McCain are against it, and I think even McCain has since flip-flopped. Obviously, Democrats cannot then unilaterally disarm once the limits are then removed by the GOP Supreme Court at the behest of GOP interests, but Dems are still eager to put those limits back on so that we get our democracy back from the Koch Brothers.
You’re excused for playing the false equivalence “both sides do it game,” because that narrative is pushed by the corporate media. But it’s patently false.