Dear Fellow Democrats, First of all, my thanks to all the candidates who ran for office. Whether you won or lost, thank you for your willingness to serve! You have given so much time and energy campaigning, demonstrating your willingness to be a public servant for the residents of Forsyth County. Second, based on my experience as a poll greeter and the election results in suburban areas, I believe we (the party) have a very serious public relations problem in the suburbs -- just compare the difference in the results of W-S versus suburban precincts. Several candidates who had well run campaigns still lost because they could not overcome the stigma of being a Democrat, e.g. Mary Dickinson for NC House 74 and Kathie Fansler. Im so sorry for the use of the word stigma but I dont know what else to call it, and I firmly believe that we absolutely must address this severe PR problem. If you live in W-S and most of your friends and neighbors are Dems, this probably makes no sense to you, but if you live in the suburbs, like Kernersville or Clemmons, I think it will make more sense. Whether you live in W-S or the burbs, please read just a little more about where Im coming from and why I think we have a PR problem. It seems that there has been a very effective, but subversive effort to demonize democrats in the minds of Republicans and unaffiliated voters. The Republican poll greeters called their voter guide The Conservative Voter Guide and from what I observed, in the minds of most voters in Kernersville (and probably Clemmons, Lewisville, Rural Hall, etc.), this guide was synonymous with godliness and goodness. While volunteering as a poll greeter in Kville, most people were pleasant but distant. Yet, several people snubbed me and my fellow democrat volunteers. A few said demeaning things about Democrats (usually under their breath). However, I was verbally assaulted by one voter (accused of being a baby killer) and by one Republican poll greeter (accused of being an atheist and god-hater) simply because I was a Democrat. Fortunately, these two incidences were the extreme, but I heard that some of my fellow volunteers had similar experiences, also in Kville, and in the western part of the county. The tragedy is that almost all of the Democrats I know are kind, caring, compassionate people who sincerely want to make the world a better place for all people, and who want to CONSERVE our natural resources, and protect our environment. Yet, it seems that were being stigmatized (or demonized) to be godless heathens who kill babies -- and obviously a lot of people are buying into the lie! Okay, Ill get off my soap box...
Posted on: Mon, 10 Nov 2014 15:46:32 +0000
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