Learning To Market the Democratic Party

by: Elaine in Roanoke

Fri Feb 05, 2010 at 10:33:47 AM EST

We Democrats in Virginia have a product to "sell," as well. I'm assuming that the product we are trying to sell is government that works for the average American, not just for the wealthy elite; government that protects ordinary citizens from the tyranny of the powerful; government that puts the environment and real people above court-mandated corporate "persons."

If we Democrats are going to market our party to voters, we should be able to tell people, concisely and clearly, exactly what we believe in and what we want government to do.

Recent history certainly has shown that the Democratic Party of Virginia needs to learn to market itself to the Commonwealth's citizens. It must communicate in clear, unequivocal language. It's time to stop talking vague policy and arcane procedure to the voters and start talking principle. Then, those principles must be translated into a legislative and executive agenda that can be presented to voters.

How else do we think we will ever get those first-time and presidential-election-only voters to realize that they are vital to bringing progressive change to Virginia and that we need then for every election. They need to be sold on the idea that their self-interest is at stake in local and statewide elections, not just national ones.

Generalities and platitudes are piled one on the other in the document. The wordiness of the whole thing also make it clear that it isn't something we can easily translate into an action plan or a handout to explain ourselves to voters.

Let me show you a couple of examples. Here is what the party platform says under the heading, "Restoring Economic Security for Virginia's Families."

"We believe the most effective way to restore economic security for our families is to deliver high quality, good paying jobs and protect home ownership. We support the continued creation of a business climate characterized by a skilled, well-educated workforce, equitable tax policies, access to affordable, reliable, environmentally sustainable energy, and well-planned transportation and infrastructure. We support targeted investment efforts to promote economic development projects in Virginia's inner cities and its rural areas.  We commend Governor Kaine for his ongoing efforts to strengthen Virginia's economy by advancing early education, investing in K-12 and higher education, and improving our infrastructure to attract new business to the Commonwealth. We support job creation through promoting tourism to Virginia's natural attractions, historic sites, museums and cultural attractions."

Hasn't anyone in party communications ever heard of "bullet points"? That paragraph is loaded with generalities piled on generalities that can't be translated into legislative priorities. Then, it proceeds to intermingle those generalities with lavish praise for former Gov. Kaine.

Perhaps someone can explain to me exactly how the party thinks it can "protect home ownership" or "create a business climate characterized by a skilled, well-educated workforce." Is the platform saying that the DPV has some proposal to forestall foreclosures and to offer Virginia students more loans and scholarships for college?

Then, there's that phrase that says we support "well-planned transportation and infrastructure." Exactly how do we support those vital government services? Does that mean that the party has a "well-planned transportation" plan?

Another example is from the section titled, "Protecting Homeowners." Here's the statement from that section:

"We support public policy that cracks down on fraudulent mortgage brokers and lenders, and provides full and accurate loan disclosure to homebuyers. We support higher standards of accountability for the subprime mortgage industry to protect consumers from abusive lending practices. We encourage public education that provides homebuyers with an accurate lending standard with which to make well-informed mortgage choices. We support efforts to protect homeowners currently struggling under the threat of foreclosure due to unscrupulous lending practices."

All the information in the paragraph above is fine. The goals contained in the statement are good, but exactly what could the DPV do to further those goals? Do we support legislation on the state level that requires mortgage lenders to explain their products better? Are we saying that we support federal regulation to rein in subprime mortgage lenders? What action plan can be developed from the statements? Beats me.

I don't have the answer to finding a clear statement of principles and an action plan for my party. I realize the difficulty of getting diverse party members from all over the state to agree on a plan for governing and then communicating it to voters.  It will be extremely difficult for the DPV to create a document that explains what Virginia Democrats hold as principles and then try to come up with an action plan.

So, am I asking too much to expect my political party to be able to communicate clearly what its goals are? Is it that difficult to commit to things we want to see legislated?  It would make our job of convincing voters much easier if we had a clear understanding ourselves of what the state party believes.

At the very least, someone in Richmond should have enough expertise in communications to translate the platform into something readable.

When I checked out the platform of our opposition, I found many of the positions there reprehensible to me. However, the document was easily read and was specific in its call to action. We could take those lessons from our adversary and apply them to our platform.