DEM VOTER DEMO
Something conservatives need to be careful of is confusing rank-and-file Dem voters (though rank-and-file seems an odd term for such a psychologically unkempt bunch) with the clown-suited activists who dominate the Democratic Party’s media presentation and elected offices. They really are quite different beasts. For some reason, the patent ridiculousness of Democratic platforms doesn’t come across to their voters; probably because their superficial, bumperstickerphilia and inability to really pay attention is what makes them D registrations to begin with. Combine that with the fellow-traveler media’s bent for presenting the most disturbing parts of their agenda in an innocuous light. The easy conclusion is that very many Dem voters would not be Dem voters if they really understood what that party’s agenda was about and what the intentions of its inner leadership really were. Like Irish Travelers, the DP pros make a living by lying about who they are. And another many would not be Dem voters if they understood how much of anything works, beyond the complexity of a bong or a lotto number. But anyway, let’s look beyond the schizophrenic activists, poverty pimps, and academic time-warp dwellers, to some of these “regular” folks who make electoral disasters possible. Presented below, with some dicta, are the musings of an ordinary Donkey from the comments pages of the Daily Kos that lend some valuable insight into how the minds of the privates in the People’s Army really work. We’ll call him Terry, because it is genderless, colorless, and was not the name of any Founding Father, early president, or pioneer (unless it was short for Teremiah— which isn’t really a name) so he/she won’t besmirch the image of any heroes.

TERRY: People keep talking about the [Democratic] base being demoralized. Well here's a newsflash: Maybe we're not like YOU. Maybe we don't think like YOU. But we're Democrats. We donate to Democrats, work for Democrats, and root for Democrats. We've been feeling ok about the Democrats all year. We haven't given up.
But I'll tell you one thing: if the House doesn't pass the Senate bill (with future revisions promised), we will be PISSED. We will be demoralized. And we will probably start tuning all of this out...Maybe we're just simple people. We're not as liberal or as pure as others. We don't fixate on small provisions and throw shit storms every week about various legislative compromises. We're also not interested in triangulating, posturing, or compromise. We're looking at the big picture. Here's what we're fixated on:RESULTS. INSURING THE UNINSURED.PASS A BILL. Give us results. Give us something to hang our hats on, then go on the road defending the bill. There will be tough parts to defend. And there will be AMAZING parts that blow people away. Go do it.

WRIGHTIST: Yes, that’s the key; Pass Anything. In fact, pass any something, then go out and convince the public that’s what they wanted. That is how democracy works in the Progressive mind, right? The Enlightened need to lead the ovine masses to want what they are supposed to want. And something as important as government-provided health care can’t be left to democractic processes anyway. Some parts will be tough to defend, but who cares? It’s only the majority of the public that might disapprove. There may be AMAZING parts, too, if by blowing people away you mean causing their deaths, more or less proactively. What is amazing is that this base-person really thinks this issue is about insuring those who have no insurance, and who lack it because of some dearth of legislation from Washington, DC. If this really had anything to do with “insuring the uninsured”, nothing close to the monstrosity of Obamacare would be needed. For comparison, passing any bill regarding health care barely ranks in the Top 10 concerns of regular voters who are not part of the Dem base. This may have something to do with why things aren’t working out exactly to the liking of Terry and his fellow public agenda pirates.Terry does have his Dem leaders to thank for the fact that his primary concern of insuring the supposed masses of uninsured has been totally ruined by their overreach in trying to destroy the entire health care industry (mainly because industry is bad) and remake it as the biggest public works program attempted since 1949 (that’s when Mao and his comrades won in China). The modest goal of providing insurance to some more folks probably could have been achieved without much of a donnybrook, and the majority of the public may have actually wanted that.

TERRY: We're not fools. [sic] We know there have been about 1,000 small accomplishments during Obama's first year. We're not going to whine and demand a pony.

WRIGHTIST: Death by a thousand cuts may be what you’re referring to. I don’t know why you wouldn’t demand a pony. To do so is the epitome of childishness, after all, and with an abundance of asses you’re already within cross-breeding distance. This pony issue also illustrates the point that what the Dem base tends to be about is demanding things. In this case, they are presenting themselves as reasonable compromisers because they are not demanding the ultimate, impractical and ridiculous gift. Republican base voters tend to be defined by what they don’t want from the government..For example, a free pony giveaway, followed by heavily subsidized pony care providers, and pony social workers who can verify that the ponies are taken care of according to government regulatory standards, and pony advocates who will see to it that pony contributions to history (like the Pony Express) are honored, and ways they were exploited in history (like the Pony Express) are condemned, and that white ponies are not treated better than brown or black ones, and pied ones get recognized as their own category by the census.

TERRY: But we want health care reform.

WRIGHTIST: So do “we”. We just know that some bloated government draw on an already gangrenous public financial account isn’t going to do anything to achieve it. Except maybe make us all wish we were dead, thereby obviating the problem. What we cannot fathom, no matter how bad the medical situation is, is how anyone over seven can think more government would fix it. Where do these people live? Are the lines not long enough, the care not substandard and disinterested enough, the bureaucratic crap not Escheresque enough in their neighborhoods? Do they have too damn many doctors, are the premiums they are already paying if they are insured just not high enough? I will concede that government action will surely address any of these problems.

TERRY: We want insurance subsidies for the uninsured. We want a good old fashioned WELFARE PROGRAM FOR THE POOR, because this is a moral imperative.

WRIGHTIST: Hmm…. I guess we in this case is The Democratic Base But Not The Ones in Massachusetts. Because they don’t seem to want those things so awfully bad. Calling for an, “Old-fashioned WELFARE PROGRAM FOR THE POOR” is just plain odd. Nobody, not even Democrats, talk about that any more. So unless you’ve been on a space voyage since 1967 and didn’t get the word about the Soviet model of everything, including Unions, disintegrating, I think this is a mistake. Does the Democratic base hate poor people enough to put them back into the old welfare system, like Iron Curtain-type inner city barracks where they get paid per illegitimate child, starting at age 14? And how they can evoke a “moral imperative” is plain mystifying, what with morals being relative, subjective, and downright oppressive most of the time.

TERRY: We don't care about all of these academic theories about creating more competition, incentives, disincentives, etc. WE JUST WANT YOU TO PROVIDE INSURANCE TO THE UNINSURED.

WRIGHTIST: Oh but I beg to differ most intensely. It is precisely the academic theorizing of liberals that got us into this government-driven debacle to begin with. None of the socialist fix-its to health care have made any sense and no conservatives thought up Medicaid, Medicare, or employer-based health insurance. The Right never said, “Screw the market, with its stupid competition and silly incentives. Let’s let Congress decide how medical services get delivered. It does such a bang-up job with everything else it delicately finesses.”

TERRY: We want congress to step in and say, "No more" to insurance abuses.

WRIGHTIST: But instead, the people step in and say, “No more” to congressional abuses.” That concern seems to trump what Democratic base wants Congress to say .People vs. Congress, People vs. Administration. For that Dem base, these are apparently pesky problems. Unless they figure “The people” are just a bunch of stupid voters with false class consciousness, who just need things “explained” to them so they can them be AMAZED.

TERRY: If you don't do that, then I will be demoralized. So will my friends and so will my family. We've stuck with you through the last year, because we understand the legislative process always involves dozens of compromises. We're not in league with those whiny people crying for their pony.
All we want is this small thing. Either PASS THE BILL and MOVE ON or go fuck yourselves.

WRIGHTIST: I have a preference with this choice, but I guess s/he’s not asking me. Bottom line is, Dem basers get demoralized according to what the government does and does not do. I don’t think the difference Terry is trying to draw between whiny people crying for a pony and his gang is becoming clear, after all.

TERRY: PS: There are millions of Democrats out there who BARELY FOLLOW POLITICS. They didn't follow all of the stupid back and forth on the internet or in DC. Many of them don't have insurance. Many do, but they know people who don't. All they want is for you to do something about it. If you fail, then you can pretty much write off the entire party.

WRIGHTIST: Saying lots of Dems don’t follow politics is like saying lots of auto-theft victims had cars. If they were not in one category, they would not be in the other. That said, the “stupid back and forth” has a lot to do with what you don’t get about politics. Other people want other things. They want their things more than they want your thing. So back and forth. I wonder how many of them don’t have insurance because they really can’t get it, and how much that really matters to them if they need medical attention. If only insured people went to ERs and urgent cares, I don’t think their would be a 13 hour wait to get seen.