Democrats Must Find Their Voice and Challege Republican Lies

As the Party of No moves even farther to the Right it displays an even harder edge to their attacks. Most Democrats have shied away from confrontation and hope that the Republican extreme and patently false statements will not be bought by the electorate. We should know better by now. The reactionary philosophy of the Republican Party is not shared by the majority of Americans so the Republicans don't waste much time on that until they secure an election and are able to have their way to promote or protect their special interests, Their winning formula is to divide or suppress the Democratic vote and manipulate public opinion using wedge issues and massive negative advertizing. The negative advertizing is then repeated ad nauseum as "talking points" by prominent spokesmen and Fox News all the way down to the tea party folk. The most troubling thing is there is no brake on their spin and manipulation, and they are getting better and better at demonizing government in general and the Democratic administration in particular. 

Many in the Republican Party are so convinced of their righteousness and blessed status that they consider themselves chosen and justified in using any means including lies and character assassination to manipulate the electorate to acquire power and control. Others are just true believers that believe their own BS. 

Democrats have to stop being wimps and avoiding confrontation when their candidates or values are being trashed by Republicans. .Democrats must find their voice. Outrageous arguments or accusations should have an immediate and forceful and truthful response. This is especially true for our candidates and the Democratic Party officials who have a public forum. Also, we as individual citizens should respond when warranted in neighborhoods, civic clubs and letters to the editors and to our elected officials. We must shine a light on the deceptive, false, and hypocritical, statements designed to manipulate public opinion and belittle beneficial efforts to solve pressing problems. Our objective is not to persuade the tea party folk and the Republicans. They are too bound by their prejudices and self-righteousness to be convinced by truthful argument. Nevertheless, your Democratic voice can be effective to blunt their deceptive messages and give support and courage to other Democrats and independents to reject the reactionary and hollow Republican ideology that only benefits the wealthier few while disadvantaging the majority of the people. I am tired of trickle down economics, unchecked exploitation of our people and planet by giant corporate interests who buy our politicians to make our country less safe, less educated, less healthy and less prosperous. The list is too long to ignore any further; we need to find our Democratic voice. 

As true Democrats we must work together to do a better job of articulating and advocating our values and policies. We also need to demand more from our leaders and as necessary, to clean our own house of incompetence,  laziness or self-promotion; and yes, we need to excise the kooks that try to highjack the Democratic primaries to promote their distorted Libertarian positions or LaRourche conspiracy theories. We need to unite as a party around major policies and be willing to compromise to achieve passage of legislation beneficial to our county, state and nation. 

We must reach out and expand the Democratic Party by registering voters, recruiting good candidates for office, holding events to rally support and promoting pride in our party and its principles. .We need strong local leadership and participation from all to help Democrats find their voice and bring the change we all want. Our Party and our country is truly fortunate to have Barak Obama as our clear voice at the top, but we need to add our Democratic voice at the local level as well or we will continue to suffer the consequences of apathy and ignorance and manipulation.. 

Our final and most important Democratic voice is our Democratic vote. To be a true Democrat we must vote in all elections, not just the presidential election. If we do otherwise we will continue to forfeit our governance to the Republican Party. It is a fact that there are now more potential Democratic voters than there are Republicans voters; yet they continue to rule in Fort Bend County because of a low Democratic voter turnout. This must change, and we are the change we are looking for. Everyone should be thinking how we can make this change and use our Democratic voice to achieve our goals.

Skip Belt