A lot of political-party emails I see ask people to care about the party instead of conveying that the party cares about people. It’s revealing.

Hey do you have $5, please chip in, do us a favor, do you have five minutes, we need you, help us before this deadline, take this survey, sign this birthday card for us.

There is outreach that is about the person you’re reaching out to, and there is outreach that’s about you.

The stuff is so important, and given the power of the oligarchy in this country, and the threat of fascism, you can’t leave anything on the table. Every element needs to be perfect. And a lot of it is not even a C-.

People are feeling so many things right now in this strangest of times, and as I look through these emails in my inbox, I can’t say that a single one connects with the emotions of this time. Who is writing this stuff? Whom are they neglecting to hire?

Democratic Party emails are perhaps a small issue in the grand scheme of things. But to me they represent a failure of imagination, a failure of knowing where people are and meeting them there, a failure of playing into political emotions.

They need to be transformed.

One of the present tragedies of American politics is that only the bad guys are masters of playing to political emotion. But there is nothing necessarily low about playing to political emotion. You can use your skills for good, if you have them!

More than half the country wants to get rid of this fascist. How could it be impossible to hire people away from some of the newsletters I get every day that instantly make me want to click and make me feel completely seen, respected, and understood?

Is any of you moved by any of this?

Stir people, rock their world, invite them to be part of something larger, link them to others of like mind in their area, galvanize them, paint the promised land in their minds, give them goosebumps. We cannot let the forces of darkness have a monopoly on psychological insight.

I can’t tell you how many elected Democrats and campaign staff I talk to who agree that this is a huge problem. They don’t know what to do. It is a giant competency missing from the anti-fascist popular front — a lacuna we simply cannot afford.

I’m talking here not just about email, but about speeches, about ads, about all forms of communication. Why are Republican operatives making the best ads against Trump and for Joe Biden? Virtually everyone in Hollywood is a Democrat. So why?

Why aren’t you giving over the emailing duties to some of the best comedians in this country? Why weren’t the best writers and poets in the country called upon to help Biden with his speech this week? Clearly, they weren’t. Step it up.

These rosy polls are not to be trusted. This is going to be a nailbiter. It may be stolen. If you want to beat fascism, you need to marshal the full power of language and psychological insight to connect with people as never before. And you’re lying if you think it’s happening.

I can hear those of you who are going to tell me to be quiet, fall in line, save this for January, or whatever else you often say. But I won’t, because I care about this country, and I’m afraid we have a party that, rhetorically speaking, is bringing a Diet Coke to a gunfight.

I’m interviewing George Lakoff for http://The.Ink  next week to get into this.

Let me know other people you think I should talk with.