Friday, September 13, 2013

Next steps to rebuild the TNDP

Good to see that Clay Crownover took my response in the right spirit and asked for my thoughts as where we should go next.

First, I do NOT believe that we should be an urban-only party.  Rural parts of this state are hurting and hurting badly, especially West Tennessee, which has been hemorrhaging jobs.  We as a party have to show that we can create the infrastructure that creates jobs and brings companies to this state.

We need more small business to start and grow, as they provide more jobs in the long run.  We need to stop paying big companies to move here and subsidize the jobs they provide.  They are supposed to be paying for their share, not vice versa.

As a party, we have to develop from the ground up, in EVERY county.  We have to make people realize that politics is personal, and crucial, and is NOT a bad word, except when megabusiness owns the process.  We need YOUNG people involved, and not just to be gofers in campaigns, but to be involved at EVERY level and not just to be blown off when we are done with them.

With regards to the word conservative, that term has been so bastardized that no one really knows WHAT it means any more.  People are scared, and rightly so, but we have to help them understand that by voting Republican, they are hurting themselves more than they are hurting anyone else.

Unfortunately, our media is so dominated by the corporate right-wing, all you can see and hear are right-wing memes on Fox News and Rush Limbaugh and his ilk.  When that's all you ever hear, you expect people to starting believing the lies they put out.

This is going to be a long process for the state and local Democratic Parties.  We cannot operate as we have in the past.  We need organization, organization, organization because we cannot ever win a money war with the Republicans.  We need to GROW Democrats, and that doesn't happen overnight.

Your thoughts?

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