There's been a lot of talk in the past week, particularly from the gloating right, that Democrats have no message. That's really a Republican dream. Most Democrats know exactly what they stand for, they're just bad at framing it. There's been a lot of talk about framing from people who've read Lakoff's book, and I should note that I'm not yet one of them. However, "framing" is largely "marketing of ideas." Democrats usually have the winning ideas, the ones most of the country agrees with, but we express them so poorly.

Take voting. The half of the American Left that isn't in a deep depression over the election results is incensed over disenfranchisement and perhaps even outright theft of elections. Yet despite raising this issue for nearly two years, the vast majority of people simply don't care - and it's no wonder, when the message is filled with phrases like "paper trial" and "provisional ballot" and "hanging chad," all screaming "please don't pay attention to me." The GOP's frame - "voter fraud" - is stronger and catchier, and the Democrats haven't quite figured out how to communicate that the GOP's idea of "voter fraud" is "let's keep people from voting just in case they might not be qualified to vote."

A modest proposal:

Verified Voting

We believe that every eligible adult in the United States has the right to vote, the right to have that vote counted, and the right for the vote to count. To that end, every vote in every election must be verifiable by real people.

Every balloting system must record every vote such that any tampering is immediately evident to anyone who examines an individual ballot. Consequently, every balloting system must record every vote on a physical medium - systems that only record votes electronically, or that only store vote totals instead of individual ballots, cannot be verified.

We must invest in the best technology possible to count and verify ballots. This not only protects individual voters, it protects the system from attempts at voter fraud. Every precinct in the country should be connected, by computer, to its county election board. Signing in to vote should be recorded not just in a paper sign-in book, but also by computer, so that every other precinct in the county, if not the state, instantly knows you've voted.

Unregistered voters should be able to register at their precinct on election day, and the same system will prevent them from registering more than once.

This modest investment in PCs and phone lines can all but eliminate voter fraud by the very next election.

Every precinct must have enough ballots in every election to accommodate 110% of the precinct's registered voters, with extra ballots no more than 15 minutes away. No citizen should have to wait in line more than 30 minutes to vote, under any circumstance. It is far better to have to recycle some unused ballots and have empty voting booths than it is for citizens to be stuck waiting in line for hours to exercise their most basic right as Americans.

Any system whose first counting method misreads or miscounts more than 0.1% of ballots is insufficient and must be fixed or replaced before the next biennial general election.

Technology can speed the counting of ballots, but every ballot in every precinct must be verifiable for us to have faith in our elections. "Trust the system" is not an acceptable answer. If you can't see it with your own eyes, it's not verifiable.

Our country cannot afford more debate over who really won an election. Every vote must be verified so that we know. No citizen should ever wonder if his or her ballot will be counted correctly.

It's not about "fraud" or "paper trails." It's about voting and knowing that your vote gets counted correctly. Stop talking wonky and start talking like real people: "Your vote must always be counted correctly. Anything less is unacceptable."