Talking Liberal

There is a very useful discussion going on right now about what the Democrats' "elevlator pitch" should be. Kos kicked if off by saying that Democrats are for people who "work for a living." Which prompted a pile-on by Ezra Klein, Matt Yglesias, Kevin Drum, and Digby. The basic argument by Kos's (friendly) critics is that we need not just a slogan, but a statement of specific policy positions that a) unify us, b) divide them, c) are easily understood, and d) are thematic.

I don't have anything concrete to throw out yet, but let's point to things that Democrats and moderates are for and Republicans (at least right-wing Republicans) are against. A good example is what Orcinus notes is the overt aim of the right wing: abolishing the separation of church and state and the right to privacy. Hell, if we want to get wacky we could always propose a constitutional amendment to make the right to privacy explicit. We'd have to be careful not to make it sound like the consititution doesn't already protect those rights, but you get the idea.

Another major theme we need to hit is the economic one. We need to come up with a statement about our commitment to economic opportunity that excludes the Republican positions. The words "security," "obligation," and "responsibility" should probably be in there somewhere. Finally, we need to reinforce our commitment to oppressed minority groups - some language about equal respect might be useful.

I'm still ironing out the details, but you see where I'm headed. If you have any proposals, let me know.