Reply #78: Its the economy stupid...

[heinz]

Interesting discussion taking place here, not the usual "hate the rich" type of economic discussion that I hear so much from the Democrats of the past. I think this recent victory for us taught us a good lesson about what people want out of government in the U.S. and we should keep our ears to the ground and be careful not to squander this victory. Let me first say that we need to have a new definition of what we consider the poor. This is our issue that has helped define our party and is what uniquely sets us apart from the Republicans. Its not going to be enough to say we're for the very poor or the working class. Although there are plenty of very poor people in the U.S. they only make up a small proportion of people who I actually consider poor, whom I call the "working poor". In other words, I have friends who live a typical middle class suburban life , not much different from my own, but thanks to predatory lending by big multinationals such as Bank of America are up to their eyeballs in debt, and if anything was to happen to the bread winner, well they would be out on their ass, and just as worse off as the very poor in our society, if not even worse because they still have all that debt. If you really think about it, these people are slaves, slaves to corporations and high interest rates that they just never seem to be able to pay off and are in some kind of debt slavery for the rest of their life. Lets make one thing clear though, the Republicans pursue these people vigorously by painting a very rosy picture of their situation as if this is what the "American Dream" is all about. We need to tell these people that this isn't the "American Dream", this is the "American Nightmare" and in no uncertain terms they are slaves, slaves to greed and chained to their small parcel of property. Its these people I believe we need to win over to our side, and we have to make it clear that they are noble people for working hard for what they have but to truly live the "American Dream" they must be free of debt, like the very rich. My point is, we have been saying this all along but we have been saying it wrong. Its not enough to just get up and say look at the rich, look at all the stuff they have and how they stole if from you, its too negative in my opinion and it turns people off. Most Americans I believe like a hopeful message and they get that more from the Republicans lately than from us and this is what has turned them into Republicans. This is why it is very important that Reid succeeds in what he's saying. Its important that we give the "working poor" the tools to get out of debt and start living the real "American Dream". We did this in the early part of last century and we can do it now. If we give people the tools to become wealthy themselves we will have turned them into Democrats for life. This should be our top priority because if we get up their and start the same ol' shit we did in the early 90's, come next election cycle we are doomed!