Post Election Thoughts, AND, How to Get A Democrat Elected as President (Really!)
I
have some thoughts on the recent presidential election. I studied
political science in college, and other than creating balloon animals
at parties, commenting on elections is all this degree qualifies me
for.
Needless to say, I voted for John Kerry, not necessarily
because I am pro-Kerry; actually, I am just pro-smart-person, and
religious morality in a candidate doesn’t mean that much to me.
Incidentally, I live in California.
What I have taken away from
the election is that residents of the coasts of this country are more
interested in smart people than religious “good-ol’-boys” who can cast
things as morality plays. And the South and Midwest portions of the
country prefer this in a candidate instead. I can say this now because
the obvious mis-steps in Iraq and elsewhere, and the clear, rational
arguments John Kerry made, simply didn’t have an impact on voters in
the Midwest and South.
To me, this means (and I am simplifying
this in a major way, so don’t start arguing with me about the nuances
of this belief) that the to the Midwest and South, the voters will vote
for Character and Religious Morality, and the Coast will vote for Clear
Thinking. Issues and policies don’t mean as much otherwise – Iraq
proves this, because Iraq is not a nonsense issue like school uniforms,
and Character and Religious Morality beat out the Iraq debacle in the
Midwest and Southern states. And besides, the vast majority of voters
are squarely in the center of the political spectrum, and a candidate
that gets themselves close to center will have voters who actually
consider policies anyway.
I’ve decided that this is OK. This is
the American political system. This is democracy (Actually, it is a
Republic, but never mind.) If a majority of voters feel that a
religious good-ol-boy is more representative of their beliefs, well,
that’s a majority, and that’s why we vote. The country got what it
wanted, and I’m all for that.
But I’m also slightly
Democrat-leaning for national issues (not much, but slightly left of
center), so I’d like to see my guys get to be President next time
around. Here’s my advice to the Democratic Party about how to get
someone elected:
Follow these tips, and you’ll get the Midwest and South:
- You need an experienced candidate who is religious and from the South
or Midwest. He needs to put issues is a Moral perspective. He needs to
be something of a Good-Ol-Boy. - He needs to talk simply, and
have a speaking style that appeals to Southern and Midwestern
residents. I’m not trying to be insulting here to anyone, but a lot of
people from the area didn’t take kindly to Kerry’s tortured sentence
structure and vocabulary. New Yorkers didn’t seem to mind/.
Follow these tips, and you’ll get the Coasts:
- He needs to be smart, and also actually be perceived as smart.
- He needs to speak English correctly. Don’t massacre the English language, either by being too complicated or too simple.
- He needs a track record and a lot of experience. I think that most Bush
supporters respected Kerry’s experience in the military and in the
Senate (even if they didn’t necessarily agree with him) more than John Edwards’
paltry one term.
Get the Coasts and the Midwest and the South, and you’ve got a Presidency!
Notice
how I didn’t mention issues or policies at all here! All I said was to
stay within striking distance of the Center. Don’t be egregiously far
away from the political leanings of most voters, and most voters simply
wont care. Stray too far from what they like and relate to, and voters
can’t get past it, and will vote for the other guy.
So, that’s my theory and beliefs. The best
way to test these is to try to apply them to past elections and see if
they hold true; that’s for a future post (really!). I also hope to
apply these ideas to future Democratic candidates (already Ms. Clinton
and John Edwards are positioning themselves) and decide if they should
pursue things.
Thanks for reading!
