High Energy Cost Blues
My friend e-mailed me this article on how Democrats are going to exploit displeasure over high gas prices earlier this morning and made a good point. While the general motivation behind this strategy is decent, there are two ways that Democrats can approach this situation.
First, the Democrats running for Congress and Senate could point out how gas has risen to $4.50 in New York with other major cities soon to follow, how the relationship between George W. Bush and the Saudi royal families is a little too comfortable, or how companies like Exxon (who are reporting record profits today) were given special access to Dick Cheney's energy policy task force. They could point out the hypocrisy and lies and injustices. They could do this for the next six-and-a-half-months until election day and hope that voters make the right decision in the mid-terms. Or...
...second, those candidates could point out the weaknesses of the GOP briefly, and then offer an alternative. It is not enough to just bash the opposition. This has been the criticism of the Democratic party since John Kerry took the reins. We need to offer an alternative to people, to really show them that we are capable of more than just bitching.
Political psychologists often address the issue of negativity. Pointing out your opponents weaknesses and failures is only significant if you provide an alternative plan. If this plan is made available to the voters, then the negativity isn't seen as name-calling and doesn't makes people apathetic.
And this new initiative we propose cannot be flaky and short-sighted. It must look to the long term. It must include efforts not just to lower gas prices, but to move us away from gasoline and towards renewable energy sources. Each year we should be moving much more rapidly towards hybrid cars. Each year we should be investing billions of dollars in figuring out how to make solar energy more efficient. Each year we should begin to erect new wind power mills. There are many more ideas, I'm sure, from people much smarter than I, but it is time for the Democrats to seize this grand opportunity for a comprehensive policy initiative.
An interesting and funny example of what has been going on can be found in these ads. They were part of an interactive Chevy Tahoe internet campaign. People could go online and type in words and add music to the images on the screen to essentially create their own personalized commercials. Well some jokesters got in there, and had a little fun. Check the ads out:
So that's that. Here are what the Minnesota Gubernatorial and Senate candidates have on their web sites on energy policies:
Mike Hatch: Renewable Energy - Breaking the Oil Dependence
Steve Kelley: Renewable Energy for Minnesota
Becky Lourey: Sustainable Energy
Tim Pawlenty: --nothing--
Ford Bell: Energy
Mark Kennedy: Energy
Amy Klobuchar: Securing Our Energy Future: Promoting Homegrown Resources
First, the Democrats running for Congress and Senate could point out how gas has risen to $4.50 in New York with other major cities soon to follow, how the relationship between George W. Bush and the Saudi royal families is a little too comfortable, or how companies like Exxon (who are reporting record profits today) were given special access to Dick Cheney's energy policy task force. They could point out the hypocrisy and lies and injustices. They could do this for the next six-and-a-half-months until election day and hope that voters make the right decision in the mid-terms. Or...
...second, those candidates could point out the weaknesses of the GOP briefly, and then offer an alternative. It is not enough to just bash the opposition. This has been the criticism of the Democratic party since John Kerry took the reins. We need to offer an alternative to people, to really show them that we are capable of more than just bitching.
Political psychologists often address the issue of negativity. Pointing out your opponents weaknesses and failures is only significant if you provide an alternative plan. If this plan is made available to the voters, then the negativity isn't seen as name-calling and doesn't makes people apathetic.
And this new initiative we propose cannot be flaky and short-sighted. It must look to the long term. It must include efforts not just to lower gas prices, but to move us away from gasoline and towards renewable energy sources. Each year we should be moving much more rapidly towards hybrid cars. Each year we should be investing billions of dollars in figuring out how to make solar energy more efficient. Each year we should begin to erect new wind power mills. There are many more ideas, I'm sure, from people much smarter than I, but it is time for the Democrats to seize this grand opportunity for a comprehensive policy initiative.
An interesting and funny example of what has been going on can be found in these ads. They were part of an interactive Chevy Tahoe internet campaign. People could go online and type in words and add music to the images on the screen to essentially create their own personalized commercials. Well some jokesters got in there, and had a little fun. Check the ads out:
So that's that. Here are what the Minnesota Gubernatorial and Senate candidates have on their web sites on energy policies:
Mike Hatch: Renewable Energy - Breaking the Oil Dependence
Steve Kelley: Renewable Energy for Minnesota
Becky Lourey: Sustainable Energy
Tim Pawlenty: --nothing--
Ford Bell: Energy
Mark Kennedy: Energy
Amy Klobuchar: Securing Our Energy Future: Promoting Homegrown Resources
posted by U-DFL @ 4/21/2006 02:21:00 PM
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