Swinging Undecideds

The Blog | Kathleen Reardon: Can Voters Change Like Arnold? | The Huffington Post:

"...To help this along, I have a persuasion tip for the Democrats. You need an Assisted-Voter-On-The-Threshold Program for those considering a change. Many Republicans, Independents and Democrats who believed the lies are now experiencing cognitive dissonance - a discomfort with their previous choices. They're standing on the threshold of change and need a hand across. Help them understand why they voted as they did last time, how many people like them were duped, and what they can say to people who criticize their new way of thinking. Otherwise, they're going to slip back into their comfort zones or not show up at all.

They need to hear from people like themselves who are deciding not to be lemmings. A good start -- people who love their country and would go to war in a heartbeat if the cause was just and the reasons honest, who are religious but don't want their love of God used to feed voracious corporate greed, who are sick of lobbyists silencing their voices to commandeer Senate and Congressional votes, pretense covering perversions in their own Capitol, and deprivation of the majority to feather the nests of the insatiable.

Change is difficult. A clear platform from the Democrats won't provide it. The world is too complex. But a moral political compass will. No more public relations sophistry of the types exposed in detail by Frank Rich in his new book. No more hijacking of our values for self-serving ends. Let's be stirred like we were by JFK, not by promising specific actions on problems we've yet to identify or completely understand, but by promising to represent Americans instead of resenting them.

Help people see that they were far from alone in not knowing they'd been deceived. Introduce us on television and radio to people who changed their minds, voters who are not putting the same people back in power and who are tough enough to take the heat for making a change, for learning, and for following their minds rather than the pack."

Folks, it does not help the cause of progress to call those people who are thinking about switching various kinds of insulting names, which is what some so-called progressive bloggers love to do. Getting caught-up in your own snark, completely immersed in your own breathless prose is one sure way to lose sight of the target: victory. Every person counts in this fight, be they short, bald, fat, veteran or Southerner. Don't push them the other way.