Beating the bad guys is also fun.

So here's a column by Fredd Hiatt about the Republican political machine, and the stresses that it has put on itself by its greed, arrogance, and incompetence. Basically, the Republicans have used redistricting, influence over lobbyists (isn't that like reverse-lobbying?), and cozy relationships with donors to make sure that the Democrats never win back Congress.

With these machinations, Republicans have given themselves a buffer against the winds of public discontent. Hiatt notes research showing that "a shift in public sentiment comparable to the one that swept Republicans into the House majority in 1994...would be enough to unhorse the Republicans, but barely."

Hiatt's argument is that such a shift is looking increasingly likely, due to Republican mismanagement of the government. While I agree with that, it doesn't give me a lot of hope. If Democrats manage to wrest a slim Congressional majority from the Republican machine through a massive wave of voter discontent, what then? Would the Democrats then redraw all the districts and put all the lobbyists in their own pockets? Is our country doomed to a massive political see-saw, where each party rides a wave of popular disgust for the other party and then immediately becomes disgusting itself?

I see a better way. With the ideologies of the parties frozen in, only see-sawing public opinion can produce electoral shifts. The solution is for parties to "rotate" their ideologies, so that districts that had been redistricted to be solidly Republican now find themselves receptive to the ideas of the Democrats (and vice versa). No matter how gerrymandered and distorted congressional districts become, issues and opinions change faster than district lines.

The Democrats, in other words, instead of trying to use massive anti-Republican disgust to pick off the margins of the current Red Majority, should alter their talking points and their basic platform so that large numbers of the Republicans' core support switches sides. After all, that's what the Republicans did in the 70s, grabbing the South from the Democrats, and it worked wonderfully. Ideological sea changes produce the most lasting and democratic results. As Hiatt says, "the mechanics of elections, including, not least, the counting, can't be controlled by those in power -- which means that [politcians] do need to worry about what voters think."

So the upshot is: strategy over tactics. Long-term over short-term. Say things that will make the Republican "base" (or at least some parts of it) wonder if maybe the Democrats are really the party for them. Reposition liberalism so that it directly appeals to people who discount the idea at present (Isn't this what I'm always saying?).

So here's homework for all you would-be Republican-slayers: What issues can the Democrats focus on that will steal voters from solid Republican districts, and how can these issues fit into the framework of liberalism?