Today I was checking in with the Sierra Club "Activist Network" (it's sort of like a Facebook application for the Sierra Club's 500,000+ members.) Though the AN is not used very much, sometimes you do find really interesting and useful posts because of the specific environmental activist angle of all the participants.
One such A.N. post was from last November, which is by now 4 months out of date. However, I have decided to write about it because the post follows nicely on my last post about money in politics. My point in my last post, in case you don't want to read it, was that unlimited spending and money is the root problem of America's political system. Bob's basic point, which sort of refutes what I was saying, is that money did NOT win last year's election for the GOP. Bob feels that the GOP message resonated better with voters and so the GOP won.
I would disagree generally but not universally with Bob. Where Bob reasons that the biggest failing of environmental activists like me is an inability to communicate with our neighbors and friends, I would speculate that the elections are becoming more and more a "sounding board" of sorts for people from all walks of life, who vote for the party OUT of power if they are unhappy, and vote for the party IN power, if they are happy. Since the economic crisis that started under W. Bush was so severe, and is still in strong effect, I would say that the last election was more a response by people frustrated with the economy, than people who were identifying with a specific idealogy (Democratic or Republican.)
I do like and respect Bob's thoughts on how to try to "talk to voters on their own terms," however. Too often I am caught up in this trap myself, where I feel I have the moral high ground on an issue and approach it with a "how could you not agree with me?" type of attitude. This is doubtless an unhelpful approach.
Anyways, for those of you who care to read it, here is Bob's post:
http://connect.sierraclub.org/post/ActivistNetworkBlog/enough_excuses.html
