The Liberal Score Card
When it comes to politics, I feel frustrated, drained, lost. The news, liberal or otherwise, jumps from one issue to another. I need a sense of continuity. Don’t just give me the results of opinion polls. I need to know where we stand on each major issue right now, and why, and what to expect next. I need an index of political progress in the US, based on liberal values and goals.
First establish goals for each issue. Assess where we stood on each in 2016, pre-Trump, and where we stand today with respect to those goals. Change the score and publicize it whenever something happens to move us closer or farther away. Assess the trend (with dotted lines) based on legislation and executive action and legal challenges that are likely to come to fruition nationally and at the state level.
Make the status in 2016 equal zero, and the goal equal 100.
Cover such issues as
abortion/women’s rights
climate change
voting rights
gun control
immigration
racial equality
prison reform
fair wages
LGBT rights
Have the assessments done by political scientists and sociologists with established reputations, perhaps under the auspices of a university.
Update the scores at least monthly, more frequently when a given issue is particularly volatile or elections or court decisions are imminent.
Report the scores through a dedicated web site and in emailed newsletters, delivered free to those who want them. A separate newsletter for each issue.
Each issue starts with the score and graphs the changes over time.
The newsletters are meaty, unlike the annoying emails we all receive begging for donations to this campaign or that. The concise explanations of what is happening and why and what is likely to happen next should rivet the attention of their audience. People should be motivated to forward them to friends, rather than delete them unread.
Changes in the score should become news that existing media want to report, like their coverage of established opinion polls. And the news items should serve as leads that reporters will want to follow.
Organizations that raise money for Democratic candidates could and should invest some of that money in this project. The vast majority of us tune out political advertising. Instead show us goals that could make a difference in our lives, that could save democracy and our way of life and the planet itself. Give us scores that we can believe and show us a path forward.
This feels doable, but I don’t have a clue how to get it started. If you know, please pick up the ball and run with it. If you know people who should know or who may know other people who could make a difference, please forward this message.
Instead of venting and hoping for miracles, let’s make this happen.
