No issue is easier to demagogue than a totally legitimate one, and that's what we've been handed by the Roberts KKKourt's ruling obliterating core enforcement mechanisms of the Voting Rights Act. So I would like to offer a simple proposal: That Democratic candidates demagogue the evervolving shit out of this lawless atrocity until even white people in places where the ruling is totally irrelevant think there are Republican Commissars waiting around every corner to take away their vote - which, frankly, isn't that far from the truth. I call this approach the Northern Strategy, in...erm..."honor" of Lee Atwater's infamous Southern Strategy. It isn't really geographically targeted, but rather targeted toward cosmopolitan sensibilities that have now spread to most of the country by population.
Picture this ad: A black man who looks a lot like Will Smith is carrying his young daughter on his shoulders, and is explaining to her about democracy and freedom. It's your usual sappy, patriotic hokum, but it's sweet because the daughter's asking all sorts of cute, naive questions and smiling and laughing a lot. We learn as they talk that they're going to a polling place so that he can vote, and the daughter's all excited about it because of the way he's explaining it to her. The background imagery is cheery and idyllic as they walk, and the colors are bold and bright, very evocative of red, white, and blue.
But as they approach a polling station, we see a sneering old white guy in a business suit with a GOP lapel pin who looks a lot like Dick Cheney, and his face hardens and his lip curls in contempt as he sees the dad and daughter approaching. Next to him is an equally sinister-looking cop with a hard face. The colors drain away and the light becomes sinister, shadowy. We see the cheery smile on the daughter's face fall away, and the expression on the dad's face becomes stoic. We see the dad hold his daughter more protectively as they see the Hate Man, and they approach the station warily. Hate Man speaks with the ugliest and most sinister possible Southern drawl:
Hate Man: What do y'all think you're doing?
Dad: I'm here to vote.
Hate Man: That right? Well, well. How about you show me your ID?
While this exchange is going on, other old white people in business suits with GOP lapel pins are walking right past without being challenged, and putting not just one, but multiple votes into the ballot box per person with sneers on their faces like those of Hate Man's. He nods to them as they pass. Dad looks dismayed by this hypocrisy, but decides to comply and hands Hate Man his ID, who makes a theatrical show of examining it, taking his sweet time.
Hate Man: I need two forms of ID. Got anything else?
The daughter is looking up at this exchange in puzzlement. It bears no resemblance to the glowing, patriotic version of voting Dad had been telling her about just moments ago. Dad is clearly humiliated, but doesn't lose his cool. He takes out his wallet again and sifts through it, looking for an old pay stub or something else he can use. He finds something and hands it to Hate Man, who then goes through the same slow, leisurely process of examining the document and comparing it to the ID. Hate Man seems disappointed, but then smirks as he says...
Hate Man: These are fine, but I forgot to tell you - I actually need three forms of ID.
Now Dad really does start to show anger.
Dad: Excuse me, but that's not true. I know the law. And frankly, I'm the only person you're asking for ID.
Hate Man: Are we...gonna have a problem here? (smirk)
Dad: There's no problem if you let me vote.
Hate Man: Unless you can show me another form of ID, I'm afraid you're just gonna have to go on home.
Dad: No, I don't have to show another form of ID. I didn't even have to show you the first two. Now let me vote.
At this point the hard-faced cop advances menacingly, and the little girl clings to her father in fear.
Cop: You're gonna have to leave now, or I'll arrest you for disturbing the peace.
The little girl looks up at her father in fear, and says "Daddy?"
He looks down at her in sorrow, then back up at the cop. Takes a deep breath, picks her up, and carries her away from the polling station. She looks over his shoulder at Hate Man and the evil cop, both with sneers on their faces, and tears come to her eyes.
Narrator: "On June 25, 2013, the Republican majority of the Supreme Court struck down key provisions of the Voting Rights Act so that Republicans could win elections by taking away the rights of minority voters. Don't let them turn America into the scene you just saw."
Without presuming there's any merit to the idea, I release it into the public domain, so if anyone thinks it's worthwhile there's no need to contact me for permission, pay me, or even give me credit. Just make it and/or others like it and beat the Republican Party over the head with it. You can also iterate the ad for every racial demographic in America, with different interpretations to reflect the particular challenges of each. It can even done for white people, although it would have to be more creative.
When we're done showing what these bastards have done with the VRA ruling, if America doesn't see the GOP as a Party of virulently racist, undemocratic thugs trying to steal their rights - which they are - then we've been asleep at the switch. This ruling should be the death knell of Republican relevance outside of Dixie and the Empty States, and even inside those places in their large cities. They've given us all we need. All we have to do is run with it, and have the balls to tell the truth unfairly.
1:15 PM PT: I figure the version of the ad targeted at Latinos should have Hate Man look like Joe Arpaio, and tailor his insulting queries to immigration status.
1:57 PM PT: In every version of the ad, Hate Man should be played by the same actor so that his snarling, lip-curled face becomes the face of the GOP in the public imagination.