You know, thinking about what I have seen over the past several months leading up to the UK elections, I had to sit back and think, “Jeremy Corbyn. You son of a gun.”
I wonder if this was his plan. Agitate the opposition. Cause a stir and provoke and see if the other side will take the bait. If they do (in other words, call a snap election) then get the people who you have the best access to: the young.
All this time, I thought that Jeremy Corbyn, the august leader of the Labor Party in the United Kingdom, was being daft. I thought he was just mouthing off at Prime Minister Theresa May and just causing a ruckus because, well, why not? What did he have to lose? Now that I look back I think, “You wanker.” with a big smile on my face. “This was your plan all along.”
The late, great, Edward Albee once said about Sam Shepard and Lanford Wilson in their early days as budding playwrights that they liked to “fail interestingly. And sometimes, when you fail interestingly, you succeed interestingly.” Well, it looks like My Corbyn has succeeded interestingly and then some.
After Mr. Corbyn looked like he was in a bit of trouble with his own party by regularly spouting off at the P.M., Theresa May went against a campaign promise and called a snap election. Something tells me that Leader Corbyn was hoping for this. While others in his party were thinking, “Are you bloody insane?! She’ll clobber you and us!”, he kept cajoling her and nipped at her heels. At the debates, he was marvelous. While he was cool, calm under pressure and resolute in what he wanted and offered to his nation, she was the epitome of the clamoring, bumbling establishment politician who had not run a serious race in awhile. Brilliant!
I think the plan is this:
1. Goad, goad, goad. Make them make mistakes.
2. Keep an eye on your opponent on any proposal, find their weak points and mercilessly exploit them. (Look up “dementia tax” and you will see what I mean.)
3. Get on the road and court the youth vote. Implore them to get out there because their future is at stake. Guilt and shame should be allowed. No more begging.
4. Meanwhile, if they make any mistake regarding older voters, pounce hard and often. Don’t let up. (see below)
5. Give hope to the above-mentioned groups. Hope brings people to the polls more than hate or anger.
I think this can be employed here for 2018 for these reasons.
1. Trumpcare — It’s an abomination. Medicaid expansion destroyed over 7 years (if the reports about the Senate version are correct) with no reasonable alternative.
2. Trump — He is an idiot and a buffoon. Impeachment is a long stretch (in my humble opinion), but showing how much of a jackass this man is quite easy.
3. Russia — They are not our friend.
Unfortunately, when I saw Jon Ossoff on television last night (The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell) my heart sank a little bit. He was good, but he was stiff. Too prepared. Too nice. When asked about taxes, he went into politi-speak. “I am not going to raise taxes on anyone." Then he turned around and said that he wanted Georgia to become the southern version of Silicon Valley. (Exactly how do you do that without tax money?)
It sounded a little bit desperate. I was hoping I was wrong, but I was thinking he wouldn’t pull this out.
The reason why is simple: he just didn’t look like he really wanted it. And it doesn’t look like he wanted it for the right reasons.
On top of all of the things I have listed, one other item remains.
DON’T BE NICE.
I am tired of slick. I am tired of nice. We need to come back on the line about taxes with this:
“I am going to tax Donald Trump and those like him. They have been given everything and here we are, many years older and deeper in debt. It is time they put some skin in the game. I am tired of the slot machine mentality the Republicans have kept handing us over the past 3 decades. We keep giving them more and more money like people on those one-armed bandits. They keep pushing coins in hoping for that big payout that never comes. People who vote for them keep forgetting that the House (of Representatives under Republicans) always wins.”
We need to use the classic tactic of one-upmanship. Get the Stephen Potter book on it. You don’t have to swear. You don’t need to yell. You just need to mean it. We need to pass this book out to all Democratic candidates now so they can learn from it before the next election. I’ll write more about this later.
Jeremy Corbyn channeled Stephen Potter. He didn’t mince words and he is stronger than ever.
He didn’t hold back, and neither should we.
p.s. Check him out on Prime Minister's Questions on C-SPAN late Sunday nights. It's not every Sunday night, but keep a watch for it. It's fantastic. You WILL learn something.