Tom Healy
09-08-2004, 08:51 PM
You wrote "...The storyline of this campaign is really about heroes and villains." Having nearly completed Thomas Frank's book "What's the Matter with Kansas" I think that the term "Liberal" that the Republican Right tosses around so glibly is a synonym for "Satan." As such, it is probably impossible to argue with them on a political plane, because their commitment to battling this scourge is a religious commitment, not a secular one. So what we need to do is figure out how to give voters a different compelling vision.
An early 19th century preacher, John Murray, had a tag line, "Give them not hell, but hope." (When he landed in New Jersey, he found a farmer who had built a chapel in the expectation that someone would fill the pulpit.) His denomination, the Universalist Convention, a precursor to today's Unitarian Universalist Association, never became a major player, though many 19th and early 20th century reforms like prison reform and women's suffrage came about because of the unceasing work of its members.
I believe that John Kerry has to enunciate a clear message of hope, along with John Edwards' "Hope is on the Way!" It needs to be made with the same fervor that the Republican Right has. That is probably one of the few ways we might have a chance against the din of negativity and lies.
An early 19th century preacher, John Murray, had a tag line, "Give them not hell, but hope." (When he landed in New Jersey, he found a farmer who had built a chapel in the expectation that someone would fill the pulpit.) His denomination, the Universalist Convention, a precursor to today's Unitarian Universalist Association, never became a major player, though many 19th and early 20th century reforms like prison reform and women's suffrage came about because of the unceasing work of its members.
I believe that John Kerry has to enunciate a clear message of hope, along with John Edwards' "Hope is on the Way!" It needs to be made with the same fervor that the Republican Right has. That is probably one of the few ways we might have a chance against the din of negativity and lies.