How Democrats can blow it
The media have been reporting that the Democratic Party is in the midst of an internal battle (debate?) between so-called Democratic Socialists and the rest of the party.
I wonder whether the Democratic Party understands that the label "democratic socialist" is "raw meat
" to President Donald Trump and his Republican sycophants because, for so many voters, it is emotionally charged.I wonder whether there is anyone in the Democratic Party (former President Barack Obama? Corey Booker?) who can teach the Democratic Party a thing or two about how to communicate effectively with voters, something sorely lacking during the Trump years.
Democrats would be well advised to reject the emotionally charged label of democratic socialist and focus on telling
voters, in simple words, what they stand for and what Republicans are hell-bent on destroying: Medicare, Medicaid, Obamacare, Head Start, the environment, free speech, the truth, impartial justice, the media, the middle class, our democratic institutions and, frankly, everything else that makes America great.
The election coming up in November is deadly serious. Words matter.
President Trump's daily spewing of lies is Exhibit 1.
Democrats, no more talk of democratic socialists. Talk to us about how you are going to save America from the Great Destroyer and his breathtaking corruption of our nation. How ironic is it that Trump's failed presidency and broken promises have opened the door for Democrats to adopt a "tried-and-true" slogan: Make America Great Again. Go for it!
William Fullarton, Dublin
Ramaswamy's bribery
Re "My data center plan will kill your electric bill," Aug. 6: Vivek, I read about your data center plan, and it reminds me of your other taxation proposals.
My question is: Why do all your efforts to reach out to the electorate feel like bribery? If bribery is defined as using money to alter how we act, then I think any "tax-free" promise by a politician is suspiciously like a bribe.
I doubt that you can sway the legislature to enact your data center plan, but if they did, what would be the result? A data center is built in the community, it becomes tax-free, and builders buy up all the land and advertise, "Property Tax-Free Housing!" The houses get built, businesses come in, and my community gets overwhelmed.
Like many of your proposals, they sound sweet but will give you a bellyache if you bite on them. It surprises me that you don't have a deeper appreciation of the consequences of what you propose. This is why I can't vote for you.
Amy isn't a big favorite of mine, but when I read her policy proposals, they make sense, which is why she will get my vote.
P.S. I hate your attack ads.
Fred McLeod, Pataskala
Making Trotsky blush
“You ... are a mental case,” Jackie Gleason would shout at Art Carney in the old “Honeymooners” show in the mid-1950s.
Would it be an overstatement to suggest the policies of today’s socialists are so far to the left that they would cause even Leon Trotsky to blush? And what might Gleason have called many of today’s extreme socialists?
Why, “mental cases,” of course! (Trotsky would undoubtedly agree.)
John Wolock, Worthington
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: I fear Dems mucking things up with ‘Democratic Socialists.” It’s red meat | Letters
