Ah, elections. Of course the mainstream media presumes that the House takeover is evidence of a sea change. I disagree. Things really haven't changed as much as everyone would like to think. The Democratic majority wasn't accomplishing much; a Republican House isn't going to cause anything much different. If progressives don't want President Boehner and Vice-President Palin in 2012, we are going to have to do something very different. Preaching to the choir isn't helping -- we get it. What really needs altering is that Progressives have got to reach the other side's voters.
The voters on the other side are angry and want someone to blame. They have lost their jobs. They have had their unemployment benefits cut and their homes foreclosed upon. They have seen costs skyrocket. The right fans the flames by focusing the blame on liberals, immigrants, and gays. Yet Progressives either ignore these voters, or keep trying to reach them in the wrong way by telling people how stupid they are for believing these lies, and shoving reason-based evidence in their face to prove it.
This does not work.
The voters who elected Tea Party and Republican candidates listen to the drumbeat of FOX News and the mainstream media because no one else is giving them answers that make sense. Trying to reach them from a reason- and evidence-based place while simultaneously telling them how stupid they are is not going to work. The right has capitalized on their fear and lack of knowledge. If we want these voters, we have got to help them understand just how much worse the right will be (and has been) for them.
Such education may take going to go door to door, informing people without arguing, asking them questions like, "What does small government mean to you and why do you think it will help?" I suspect the answer would be that these people do not want to pay as many taxes because they are already broke and can't make ends meet, not that they want their unemployment benefits cut or their home to foreclose because the banking industry has no regulations. If we get them to understand the progressive side is theirs too, rather than telling them how stupid they are and why they should listen to us, the results might be different in 2012.
Right now, these voters aren't getting answers from us and the media will not help. We have to reach them some other way because they distrust knowledge and reason. This education has to come from an emotional place, from compassion rather than pity or self-righteousness. We have to get them to trust the progressive movement, and see that the Republicans vote against their economic interests every time. If we can show them that Republican decisions that allow corporations to put the dollar above them are what cause their problems, and that unfettered capitalism will only make their lives worse, perhaps we can turn things around.
If not, the president elected in 2012 will be someone worse than George W. Bush. I guarantee it.