Mark Green is a fearless political leader who has strong progressive values and plenty of smarts. He was Punlic Advocate in NYC. worked with Ralph Nader, ran for Mayor Against Bloomberg, and is currently organizing against Trump. He created a Twitter group called the Shadow Cabinet, which tweets at @ShadowingTrump. I am the Shadow Secretary of Education.
Trump rules the airwaves with unabashed lies and demonizing.
“Yet Democrats have some clear advantages too. On most major issues — guns, choice, Dreamers, immigration, the tax code, climate, “privatization” of Social Security — polling indicates that the party in exile does represent a progressive majority, indeed at times a super-majority, which is why Trump is at a record low in modern polling for a President at this point — with his approval rating underwater by 20 points, according to Quinnipiac.
“Still, are Democrats properly exploiting his weaknesses and their advantages? Not nearly enough. Where, for example, are those voices that understand the power of metaphor and narrative to keep Trump in the hole he dug for himself?
“Words, images and concepts are what shape and win political debates: like William Jennings Bryan saying “Americans won’t be crucified on a cross of gold” (well, he lost on that one), Teddy Roosevelt’s “malefactors of great wealth,” Barack Obama’s “Yes we can,” Ronald Reagan’s (albeit composite) “welfare queen”; Occupy’s “We are the 99%.”
“The Democratic Party, however, continues to fight the war with deeply outmoded rhetorical weaponry.
“Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi, for example, are obviously skillful legislators. But their slogan “A Better Way” was a well-researched dud that no one remembers. Their new version for the fall — “For the People” — is better, yet still so vague as to be largely meh.
“And it’s undermined by their apologies after Rep. Maxine Waters suggested confronting 45’s cabinet members in public spaces about the administration’s family separation policy. In this skins-shirts moment, it’s pathetic to spend any time on defense, certainly not when the issue is incivility versus inhumanity.
“The proper way to respond to GOP scandals, failures and “twistifications” (Jefferson’s coinage) is not with boring, overthought Beltway taglines, or mealymouthed words like “concerning,” “problematic” and “inappropriate.”
“Major Democrats and progressive advocates must re-educate themselves in order to vividly, unapologetically expose the most reactionary, dishonest, incompetent, erratic, corrupt, nasty narcissist ever to be President. And then, they must champion policies, aligned with their rhetoric, that relentlessly remind voters what Democrats stand for.
“After public revulsion over the kidnapping of 3,000 children and the betrayal in Helsinki — plus a Supreme Court nominee who would likely be the vote overturning Roe v. Wade and the Affordable Care Act — can Democrats finally rhetorically rise to this historic challenge?”
Diane Ravitch's blog 
The Dems have got to get their act together and stop splitting straws. A new leader needs to emerge (and with all due respect, it isn’t Hillary), and the time is now!
It is going to be a very difficult fight because the news media, and thus, the people, can’t agree on the facts. It’s tough to progress to discussions about ideology and policy if there is no agreement about any of the facts. (Which is probably what T wants.).
I worry that the Dems will field so many candidates in the primaries, and will spend so much time arguing and spending money fighting each other that there won’t be much left to take on T. (I’m sure that’s what the Republicans want as well.).
The issue that I really have, though, is with the rest of the Republicans: T is not really epousing what I believe are the traditional values of the Republican Party (though, full disclosure, I’m not a Republican); he’s not really advocating for less government, though he has advocated for lower taxes. Rather, I see T’s platform as primarily divisive, racist, xenophobic, and unconstitutional, not to mention downright dangerous! I do know many Republicans who do not support T, but they are not elected officials. I really have to wonder why the party leadership has continued to support T? Or, (shudder), is T just saying out loud the real values the elected Republicans have silently held all along?
Aren’t establishment Dems forced into being meek, when they are selling a Republican product tailored for the rich- privatization of public education?
Aren’t establishment Dems forced into being meek when they can’t be counted on to say, “no cuts to Social Security”?
It’s tough to bellow with passion, policy positions that are unpopular with the voters in your own party. Maybe a politician can get away with a couple of unpopular schemes but, not a whole raft of them, that aid men like John Arnold, Pete Peterson and other hedge funders.
And, doesn’t that explain why a cadre of Democratic political operatives funded by corporations are reduced to slogans that offend no one? It certainly explains why Republican and Democratic politicians alike have latched onto personalized heroin death stories for their promotional ads on T.V.
Steve Chabot and Rob Portman made a cottage industry out of it.
Exactly. They can not bite the hand that feeds them. Or as Sanders put it “content to go down with the ship in a first-class cabin.”
Sander’s appeal as Andrew Sullivan said was that he was a demagogue. I wanted to throw a shoe at the TV when he said it. But he was correct. Sanders framed the debate as an oligarchy vs the people; which in fact it is. I am content with demagoguery when it is directed against the powerful rather than the weak.
This administration and the Republicans have given enough ammunition that Madam Defarge should be jumping off the pages of the Novel.
Instead, I am sure we will hear more shouting of lock her up from the other side.
“Lock him up” ought to be chanted at DeVos’ brother…when’s it going to happen in the US oligarchy?
The Democrats need to present candidates that show some passion and energy for their beliefs. They need to show enthusiasm for programs that will resonate with the working class like support for public schools, unions, climate change and preserving the social safety nets. The Democrats need to support Main St. over Wall St and mean it. “A Better Deal” says nothing to the average person.
It is sad to admit, but I miss the pervy little weasel, Anthony Weiner. He was an effective attack chihuahua. He would not be rattled by a street fight, and, unfortunately, those skills are necessary when confronting bullies like Trump. Democrats could use a couple of instigators like him.
Dems may win in the midterms based on anti-Trump sentiment.
I want Mark Green to explain why the corporate-funded direction of the Dem party, provided courtesy of organizations like the Center for American Progress, would change to deliver great selling messages from firebrands (messages that offend their sponsors). After Hillary’s loss, CAP staff paychecks were still written. And, at least one top manager parlayed the experience into a book to sell.
When Z-berg expressed an interest in politics, he was told, by Sandberg, to talk to the Center for American Progress.
The average American has little in common with the 6th richest man, architect of the amoral Facebook.
Define “meek”. Define “rhetoric”. Define “meh”. There’s lots of language here in this article. “The Language of Police”? Define the language of the politics here. I so appreciate Diane Ravitch and all that she has done for education and the dissemination of information and opinion on this site. Mark Green, define (not rhetorically) the words you use to “persuade”. Please.
When the established Democrat caters to the investment banker or to the tech CEO, he or she is Republican Lite, or Diet Koch; a lose-loser situation in an election. Overcoming such turncoats will take much more than just complaining about Trump and Trumpism. It will take bravery, valor, and willingness to stand up for progressive values, willingness to stand up for social democracy and not back down in the face of moneyed influence, to stand up against the rich. The weath-compromised establishment must go.
EXACTLY! Personally, I think the Dems have a lot they want to keep hidden….hence their silence on the whole Trump matter. We (meaning we the people) can’t get rid of these people even by voting. They seem to multiply like cockroaches.
There’s really no point in talking “republican” or “democrat” anymore. Here in the US of A, there is only one “party”. Let’s go party and be “meek”.
But when Mark Green says “Don’t be meek” (don’t be a “meek” person), what does he really mean? Don’t be “gentle”? Don’t be “submissive”? We can talk about that here, right? Is Diane “meek”? Is she not “gentle”. She’s not “submissive. She started a blog where everyone who wishes can talk about it. So let’s talk. The answer is always “vote”. Look what happened with the “vote”. We got Trump. The president of the United States trumps all. Or does he/she?
I would disagree with the characterization of politics as one party. What we have now is a moderate Democratic Party and a Republican Party that has moved so far toward the right that it would be unrecognizable to an Eisenhower Republican who returned to his old party. What is missing is a left. Even if it is fraught with bad ideas, a left is necessary to counteract the excesses of a right wing that thinks there is no role for any government to play.
You’re still talking politics. Politics is about power. Are we not experiencing that the power is “rigged”? The answer by Mark Green is “Don’t be meek”? How then should we live to regain our power? By voting???????
The era of classical liberalism saw voting as the way legitimate government replaced monarchy. Many in that era justified violence as necessary to remove monarchy. So we got quotes from people like Thomas Jefferson suggesting violence in pursuit of representative government was a good thing, even necessary. Fascism challenged classical liberalism with its message that power in the hands of a few forward looking leaders was necessary for humans to progress to their highest potential. After a war was fought over this, the world settled down to a general movement toward classical liberalism. Communism in its Stalin form went away, but strongman dictators have arisen whose personal approach to government re-packages fascism. Lipstick on a pig, as I see it. Fear, xenophobia, and promise of great wealth for a few true believers has motivated a large part of the world where once classical liberalism seemed permanent.
So, do we shout, organize, write letters to the editor, and vote? Do we resign ourselves to a different kind of war, a strife within many nations setting opposites against each other in a fight for the hearts and minds of the people who are ruled? Classical liberalism, which birthed our democratic experiment, dreamed of a form of government that would replace European wars with American peace. So far such peace has been elusive, especially where Africans and the original inhabitants of this continent had to watch as the rest of the people took home all the loot of an unspoiled continent. Peace without justice is fleeting at best, tyranny at worst.
So where will this all end? I do not know, but as a peaceable person, I hope that the ballot box revolution envisioned by our forefathers pushes aside the violence that threatens to rend our world.
Given the fact that financial inequality is now at the point where historically, it has caused power upheavals, the vandalism of one of the luxury boats in the DeVos fleet, foreshadows.
The DeVos family is spending big to defeat Cordray in Ohio, where her yacht was moored. Ohio taxpayers lost $1 bil. to charter school scams- a system promoted by DeVos.
“We the people” is a “meh”. So what’s a “meh”? Simpson’s talk? Rhetoric talk or writing is for persuasion. https://www.google.com/search?q=rhetoric+definition&oq=rhetoric&aqs=chrome.4.69i59j0l5.128 Are we being persuaded to be “meek” by this article? Let’s just blog!
I like Ike.
The Cambridge Dictionary defined a meh as a “sound of indifference” used to express the feeling that something does not have much emotional effect.
I had to look it up. I think there is an emogee that is supposed to express this. We live in an age when our language is returning to heiroglyphics, from whence it came.
There is a big chasm between the 2 parties, they are not the same, NOT EVEN CLOSE! Not that the Democrats are where they should be but that the GOP is off the cliff, off the rails, off the walls into regressivism, libertarianism and right wing nutism gone berserkus. Voting might not solve all our problems but it is a step in the right direction. We do have this 2 party system which is not changing in the foreseeable future. For people to think that Hillary and Trump are the same is just ridiculous. Trump is a certifiable con man and demagogue, amongst many other negative attributes too numerous to mention. Bernie Sanders a demagogue? Bernie is not a serial liar, he’s a truth teller which disqualifies him from being a demagogue.
Bernie is a demagogue in a good sense, as Joel says. “Demagogue” here means a politician who uses emotionally charged and simplified speech to penetrate the skulls of the less educated. Democrats will never win if they keep talking like valedictorian Hillary. As my favorite liberal radio host Norman Goldman says, Trump doles out emotional gratification, not real stuff –except to the extent that emotions are real. Democrats need to get in on this game. Bland slogans and wonky details are useless.
Amen, Mark Green. Why are Democrats so bad at making rhetoric that electrifies the masses? I think it’s because they were the ones in the honors classes and they have no idea how to talk to the less educated.
The Dems are the kinder, gentler, wiser party, and the Reps are the simplistic, visceral, draconian party. The Reps are better qualified for tribalist bombast, while the Dems tend to recreate PC PSA slogans, even when angry, even when it’s a matter of life and death. It is what it is. It’s pretty crucial whether and to what extent people can trust the media. We in education have experienced the effects of influence, ideology, editorial control from high above and superficiality in the media, but much more often (like 24/7) in the clearly biased avenues.
Mark Green overlooked former President Reagan’s phrase that captured the hearts and minds of our country, a phrase he delivered derisively, and a phrase that resonates with politicians in both parties: “I’m from the government and I’m here to help you”. THAT phrase, more than any other, captures the disdain voters have for taxes, the disdain for those of us who worked in the public sector, and the disdain for those of us who got an education with the hopes we could help others less fortunate. The neo-liberals who wanted to “Reinvent Government” believed that by introducing the profit motive of the marketplace into operating government agencies they could have it both ways: they could assume control the government without espousing the value of government employees and the value of the government itself.
As it stands now, neither party is trying to convince voters that those who work for the government ARE here to help them, that their taxes are not confiscatory, that their best interests are served when they help the less fortunate, that there are thousands of individuals who want to help make our country better and do not aspire to make a million dollars and– therefore– are not motivated by “merit pay”, and that government regulations are not “red tape” but ultimately serve their interest.
Since neither party is promoting the value of government or the idealism that lured millions to work to improve the lives of children and citizens through government service, it is not surprising that our voting rates are embarrassingly low and our sense of democracy is wavering.
It is clear that the GOP has embraced the social Darwinism of its libertarian wing. It is unclear what the DNC intends to offer as an antidote. Mr. Green IS right, though, that the pablum offered by the DNC is not going to motivate anyone to vote FOR them. Democrats will not “rhetorically rise to (the) historic challenge” posed by Mr. Trump until they offer a full-throated rebuttal to the notion that government is the problem.
Pretty much!
But on second thought Government workers do not necessarily enter Government service out of a sense of duty. Thus we have the specter of civil servants voting for anti-government anti-tax anti-union candidates.
Not limited to Police, Fire and Sanitation workers on Staten Island or the other burbs of NYC. The sight of Red for Ed protestors in Oklahoma or West Virginia…. touting their Republican credentials, a political philosophy of tax cutting, shrinking Government to the size of a pinhead, punishing the poor and people of color and keeping Government out of peoples lives except for a woman’s belly; speaks to a biblical human flaw of not doing on to others as we would have others do to ourselves.
Joel: you and I (and all of us who care about OUR country) need to go directly to our fellow citizens and teach them. This is called grassroots activism. If we have success the DNC may take notice and change its ways. It is wrong and unseemly to sit back and criticize.
Ponderosa
Every day I confront my fellow citizens. In person and online. Agreed and starting in September I will be canvassing in the District next to mine for a progressive Candidate. My Neo liberal Congressman should not need the help.
I’m canvassing also. I must say I’m dissatisfied with the scripts I’m given. They don’t TEACH well. I believe in the power of lucid direct instruction AIDED BY GRAPHICS. One picture can do a lot of explanatory heavy lifting –and heavy lifting is often required with our knowledge-deficient electorate. We need flip books with clever graphics if we want to be maximally effective. Political operatives are not necessarily good teachers (alas, many teaching “experts” don’t believe in direct instruction so their counsel wouldn’t help much). I’m making my own flip books and will be trying to convince the organizers of their efficacy to get wider adoption.
Age of lies, example- Trump’s claims about GDP growth – the reality is that a substantial number of product sales (e.g. soybeans) happened this quarter because buyers and sellers anticipated tariffs and their predictable consequences. The result- transactions that would have occurred next quarter, were sped up.
And do not forget that tax cuts are a stimulus. Not necessarily the most efficient but a stimulus just the same. The problem is who the credit bill gets mailed to.
Not a stimulus if the cuts go to people who have more money than they can spend. Trump’s tax cut was not followed by additional disposable income for people who are not at the top of the wealth/income heap.
Linda
If 15-20% of taxpayers receive a cut that is still stimulus. Arguably going to a group who can make more discretionary spending. Yet unlike the poor many could sock it away.
My problem is not with tax cuts. It is as with everything else how we pay for the cuts that trouble’s me. So a worker making 85K a year gets a 3% tax cut or even a 1.8% tax cut. But it is followed up by raising his retirement age for Social Security and Medicare and cutting those benefits. That a lot of winning. Or states strapped for cash use Public-Private Partnerships to do infrastructure nonunion and not at the prevailing wage. Those Trump loving Union construction workers sure are winning, as well as the citizens whose user fees far outpace the cost for public works and their tax savings.
As cash-strapped states find federal support cut what happens to contributions to public education. To contributions to Public Higher Education. Who then pays for the cuts. ……………
The Center for American Progress’ plan to increase revenue for education is to sell advertising on buses.
Adding to your list of expenditures for the middle class and working poor- increases in healthcare insurance costs and pharmaceutical product costs, which more than eats up a tax cut.
See all members of Shadow Cabinet here.
The shadow cabinet is not like the deep state as constructed by Fox news, which includes every government employee and Republican who is not 100% loyal to Trump as Trump.
This is chilling and detailed look at what is happening to federal employees who are targeted by Trump and his supporters who distain expertise and wisdom gained from experience. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/05/21/trump-vs-the-deep-state
This country is at a crossroads. Will this country stand for the PEOPLE or the OLIGARCHY?
One rhetorical pivot that I think the USA is ready for: making full throated defense of activist government. Show the power of the 1% and show how the people’s government (cleansed of undue billionaire influence) is a needed counterbalance. Show how activist government in Canada, Denmark, etc. make life better for the 99%.
Explicitly reference Ronald Reagan’s slur against government, its trickling down into conventional wisdom over the past 40 years, and rebut it with lucid graphics showing concrete examples of how the free market can fail and how government needs to compensate for its failures –e.g. in health care and housing.
On ABC’s The View, Meagan McCain frequently makes slurs against the government. Her co-hosts don’t call her on it. It’s fun to watch Meagan foam at the mouth when she thinks her inherited millions may be cut to fund the common good.
Remember when low knowledge Republican voters were saying “keep your government hands off of my Social Security”. “Keep your government hands off of my medicare”.
A right wing propaganda effort got them to believe this lie.