Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour Party made surprising and significant gains against the Tories in the UK. Prime Minister Theresa May of the Tories called the election to solidify and increase the Tory Majority. Instead, they lost the majority and will have to form a coalition government with one or more minor parties.
Why did the Labour Party make such significant gains? They moved away from The Third Way message perpetuated by Tony Blair, and in the United States by the Clinton and other corporate Democrats. They returned their message to the everyday Brit, and communicated it in a basic but effective manner. "For the many, not the few".
Progressives and Democrats should take note of this. We have many policy wonks, myself included, who in their zeal to get things right, design complicated programs that only Rube Goldberg could love, We can't do that anymore. Our programs need to cover as many people as possible, and be communicated as simply as possible.
On campaigning, we should:
Stop funding campaigns from corporate and special interests.
Raise funds from social media and small donors.
Build from the grassroots up.
Learn local issues and get on the people's side of them.
On economic issues, we need simple, succinct promotional points, easy to understand and spread:
On Social Security:
Remove the cap.
On Health Care:
Medicare for All.
On Education:
Free College Tuition for All who work hard and earn it.
Strengthen the community core by strengthening Public Schools.
On tax policy:
Restore a progressive, fair and simple tax system.
These are just a few examples are where I think Progressives should be pushing the Democratic Party. Yes, we need to replace Donald "Con Man" Trump, and Mike "Handmaid's Tale" Pence, and Paul "Ayn Rand" Ryan. But let's do it by offering something new and exciting, not just the stale and incremental ideas of the old.
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