The American Spectator : Of Plans and People

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Of Plans and People

By Ned Ryun from the September 2011 issue

Ideas do have consequences -- but only if they're implemented.

This past spring, the new chairman of the American Conservative Union, Al Cardenas, told the Washington Times, "Truth be told…these tea party newcomers have been able to achieve what the rest of us couldn't." By "us," it's assumed Mr. Cardenas meant the old establishment conservative movement, much of which resides inside the Beltway of Washington, D.C. And the achievement of the Tea Party? One of the more dramatic electoral shifts in American political history last fall.

It does cause one to wonder why the Tea Party movement has been (and will continue to be) successful in American politics when in reality it shouldn't be: it has no real money to speak of and nearly half the local leaders' first real entry into politics was in 2009. Yet it's done more to move the political dial in two years than the rest of the conservative movement managed to over the last few decades.

It's not a question of the D.C. conservative movement having money: between 2007 and the end of 2011, the dozen largest or so of the D.C. conservative think tanks will have raised somewhere in the area of a billion dollars (with the Heritage Foundation and the American Enterprise Institute alone having raised, if their current fundraising trajectory stays the same in 2011, a combined $550 million over that period). With these massive amounts of money being plowed into primarily intellectual capital, there've been enough white papers written to sink a few ocean liners and depopulate a few old-growth forests to boot—and that's just in the last few years.

Yet as we've clearly seen, especially in recent times with the victory of Obama, Democratic majorities in the Congress (until last fall), the passage of Obamacare and SChip, white papers do not win political wars. White papers are road maps to governance. In wars, while some thought is given to governing post-conflict, most of the focus is actually on winning the conflict: if you don't win, governing is a moot point. Yet the D.C.-based conservative movement has been focused on governing without having actually won the war, reducing the movement to frequently fighting nothing more than rearguard actions against statism.

Intellectual ammunition has its place within the conservative movement. At times it's nice to debate the equivalent of how many angels can dance on a pin by wondering if a file-and-approval rating system will effect the property and casualty insurance system. But becoming lost in ideas is much the same as being lost in dreams: nothing ever happens in reality.

Ideas do have consequences, but that's only true of ideas that are implemented. Because many in D.C. have fallen prey to the ease of the self-validating echo chambers ("Your ideas on the flat tax are phenomenal," "Oh, I love your ideas on reforming Medicare," "You're awesome," "No, you're awesome"), the D.C.-based conservative movement has never truly facilitated an implementation method for its ideas. Instead of building a boat to sail home, the conservative movement has settled for slipping yet another white paper message into a bottle and casting it out upon the waters, hoping that somehow they and their good ideas will find a way home simply because of their inherent goodness. Nothing could be further from the truth: people with bad ideas and good organization will always beat people with good ideas and bad organization.

While investing what is likely billions of dollars into intellectual capital over the past 30 years, the conservative movement, unlike the left, has done very little to invest in human infrastructure, which is the launching pad for political change in this country. The left, perhaps because it is bereft of meaningful ideas that lead to freedom and prosperity, has not plowed much money into think tanks until very recent times. Instead it has been focused, with entities like ACORN and the unions, on building human infrastructure, creating permanent and constant capacity for putting pressure on elected officials at a moment's notice and for winning political elections. The results? As William Voegeli points out in Never Enough: America's Limitless Welfare State (Encounter Books), government outlays have doubled every 18 years since 1940. With government growing, not diminishing, it is not hard to see that building human infrastructure over intellectual capital has been a better approach. The reason being that the left has been focused on winning the political conflict, while the D.C.-conservative movement has put the cart before the horse by focusing on the governing white papers.

The tea party movement gives the conservative movement, and in particular its donors, the opportunity to invest in that human infrastructure which leads to success. The Tea Party movement, unlike the D.C.-based groups, is not wrapped up in what are sometimes overly esoteric debates on what good policy is. Rather, it is focused on how to enact the right policies, on how to win the political conflict and wrest political power from the statists (a combination of Democrats, Republicans, and the left).

It's ironic that many in the Tea Party movement did not run to read D.C.-based groups' white papers. They instead sought out America's founding documents and the Founders' philosophy of governing, and they settled on a strategy of personnel change to bring about real change; not constitutional amendments or interstate compacts, but finding and helping men and women with the right governing philosophy to win elected office. Good policy is enacted by personnel, so at the end of the day, politics is policy.

With a focus on action, and on their local communities (federalism in deed, not word), the Tea Party movement can be, and hopefully will be, the catalyst for a reformation within the conservative movement. It can be the spark that ignites and leads the conservative movement onto a path of victory by moving it from a D.C.-centric movement to one more locally based, one that is focused on building and activating human infrastructure instead of building, ad nauseam, intellectual capital. The Tea Party movement provides hope for the future of the movement if the movement will leave behind its past. After all, the definition of insanity is to do the same thing over and over again and expect different results.

About the Author

Ned Ryun is the founder and president of American Majority, a political training institution.

Letter to the Editor View all comments (31) | Leave a comment

DaveS| 9.16.11 @ 6:53AM

Ah, the difference between governance-focused effort and power-focused effort. Harry Reid probably believes a think tank has oblong dimensions and has water in it. But Harry - he do believe, like almost all elected Democrats, in power (first, and whatever gets you there [ I submit to you Florida 2000 and Mn 2008]) and then governance. The Tea Party got traction because the Dems have iced the roads and it brought the salt. The Dems have made it EASY for the Tea Party to form and assert. when the Dems admit this, they might be able to fight back - but I doubt it.

Teaghan| 9.16.11 @ 10:54AM

Great analogy Dave. It makes perfect sense but the Dems will never admit defeat. They won't ever admit that the majority of Americans don't want their socialistic ideals. They will do that insanity thing again, doing the same thing over and over and over again. What idiocy.

Alan Brooks| 9.16.11 @ 6:20PM

"Ideas do have consequences -- but only if they're implemented"

DUH!
What sort of 'tards need to be told this?

Clint| 9.16.11 @ 7:10AM

We Tea Party Patriots are The Great Unwashed Rising Up.

We neither need nor have designated leaders. We lead ourselves & candidates are our hired help.

The Tea Party Rebellion Is Here.

Rise Up.

Alan Brooks| 9.16.11 @ 7:58PM

"We Tea Party Patriots are The Great Unwashed."

I'll give you a bar of soap: Irish Spring.
She (in a Gaelic accent): "And I like it too!"

Clint| 9.16.11 @ 9:12PM

I'll give you a bar of soap: Arab Spring.

Muslim Virgin (in a Farsi accent): " And I like falafels too!"

Occam's Tool| 9.17.11 @ 12:51PM

Yes, Clint, and you think that it's gonna be SECULAR! I may have been wrong about Pawlenty, but you engaged in canine intercourse.

Clint| 9.18.11 @ 10:06AM

Uh Oh !

The Goat Whisperer,Tool Job is in the building.

You & your boyfriend, Billy The Goat can now get married in New York.

Kenny| 9.16.11 @ 7:11AM

Excellent analysis.

Ned Ryun is a great addition to TAS print edition.

irish19| 9.18.11 @ 11:21PM

Agreed!

Moe Blotz| 9.16.11 @ 7:40AM

White paper manufacturing has little impact on old growth forests. Any paper manufacturer operating today receives its pulp wood from acres of trees planted for the purpose of harvesting for processing into paper. Forest management,what?

Kevin Dunn| 9.16.11 @ 7:56AM

The Republicans since Ronald Reagan have had two overarching problems: fear of losing respectability, and lack of inspiring leadership. They are, I think, overcoming the first. The second remains.

Simon Templar| 9.16.11 @ 9:19AM

Yes, and let me add the inability to communicate effectively their ideas and solutions and their inability to control the narratives.

Culture is downstream from politics and shapes it.
Few republicans or conservatives understand this. It is changing slowly.

An understanding of this is critical and will ultimately determine if you win not only the white paper argument or the election but the hearts and minds of the nation. This will be the deciding factor.

Al Adab| 9.16.11 @ 11:40AM

All too often the Republicans have focused on "moderation" rather than on principle. Their tepid approach, without fervor, leaves many unconvinced. It has only been when the Conservatives preponderate in the GOP that the voters have followed. The Rockefeller/Romney wing has failed us time and again. The Tea Party demonstrates the strength of the voters aside from party organization. It is time to heed their voice and look for candidates who put principle over pragmatism. Those who do not stand for something, stand for nothing.

Simon Templar| 9.16.11 @ 9:12AM

Excellent article! The kind of analysis I have been waiting to see here at TAS a long time.

Petronius| 9.16.11 @ 11:27AM

Will wonders never cease? The Demoncrats and Republisnobs have both run out more people than they believe exist. And a pox on both their houses, each well deserved for their treachery against the productive citizens of this country. Even the hierarchies of both parties ganging up on us won't save any of them now. It's them or us to the finish. So mote it be!

CalMark| 9.16.11 @ 12:10PM

The old guard are not interested in fighting. They want to sit around in their think tanks, write (as the author says) white papers, and give interviews.

The Heritage Foundation once called my parents' house for money. Asked my father: You guys produce good stuff--why don't you go on the attack? The Heritage wonk was actually offended, delivering the message that they are a Think Tank and don't soil their hands with real politics.

And so conservatism has stopped dead since Gingrich (love him or hate him, he was the last big-time conservative active in D.C.) resigned. Thankfully, Tea Partiers don't consider politics beneath them.

PattyMor| 9.16.11 @ 2:30PM

Both sides want good press from the Main Street Media (I call the the Marxist Media), to get on the Sunday talk shows, and be invited to the DC cocktail parties. During the elections, the RepuRats give great speeches on how conservative they are, then proceed to crumble when the least bit of heat comes their way.
Witness the budget battle and the debt celing increase. No spine, they folded. Would Miss Nancy fold that easy? Never!

The Tea Party, for the most part, does not have a central structure and a central fund raising mechanism. Instead, we prefer to bypass letting other people spend our money on people we don't want to get elected. So we have money, but we generally just send it directly to the candidates. Joe Walsh is the perfect example. The Tea Party elected him and he's stayed true to his stated mission. Except for S. Carolina, delagation, most of the others simply crumbled under assault from the Rat Leadership.

So, RINO Rats, you'd better be prepared as we've coming for you. Next up to be defeated, Lugar and Snowe, along with every Dem that voted in Obamacare (which is most of them).

WM| 9.16.11 @ 8:51PM

It is logical to first focus on putting in office the people who agree with your principles. However, that will not be enough over the long term. Somebody from the Tea Party, either activist or politician, is going to have to come up with specific plans on how to roll back the state. The think tanks will not do that because they accept statist premises. The individual mandate was the Heritage Foundation's idea. We shouldn't expect anything from the professional intellectuals. It is solely up to us.

nokeag| 9.17.11 @ 8:15AM

I'glad to read your site,thank you

Occam's Tool| 9.17.11 @ 12:52PM

Very solid analysis. This is why we need a Bachmann, not a Romney.

keyboard jockey| 9.17.11 @ 6:52PM

I hope the plans included not letting the media pick our next President. Michelle Bachmann claims to be the TEA party candidate I didn't vote for her.

Why is the media raising Rep Michelle Bachmann's profile but not Rep Thaddeus McCotter? They are both running for President of the United States. Is the media trying to pick our next President for us like they picked our last?

Thaddeus McCotter The Media & Reindeer Games.

REINDEER GAMES:

"Refers to any fun activities which are enjoyed only by members of a clique, the fact of which is often purposefully made obvious to anyone existing outside of said clique in order to make them feel inadequate and left-out. Refers to "Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer".

http://youhavetobethistalltogo.....games.html

POST American| 9.18.11 @ 4:42AM

---------------------BOTTOM LINE----------------------

Tavistock and Rockefellow front media
Tea-Square SAP OP ---ALERT!---

MEANWHILE, as the greatest world nuclear
disaster of ALL time goes into its 7th month
of TOTAL media cover up (--FUKISHIMA--)
----elswhere we find capstone degradation
and infitration at work in televangelist operator,
and 33rd degree Freemason, Pat Robertson's
OK for spouses to dump their Alzheimer's
afflicted spouses and 'move on'.

----TOLD YA' its about degradation, selective breeding
and DEPOP.

--------------------TOLD YA'!

DeclareTruth| 9.21.11 @ 1:48PM

Pat Robertson is a 33rd degree Freemason? I never heard that before - can you please give me a source because otherwise it's just slander. I don't want to believe it's true, but it would explain some things.

Clint| 9.18.11 @ 12:04PM

"(CNN) -- Texas Rep. Ron Paul won a California straw poll, the state Republican Party announced in a statement Saturday night.

A total of 833 ballots were cast during the straw poll, the statement said.

Paul won with 44.9% of the votes, Texas Gov. Rick Perry came in second with 29.3% of the votes, and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney came in third with 8.8% of the votes."

The Tea Party Rebellion Is Here.

John II| 9.18.11 @ 6:01PM

A few demurrals:

1. "The reason being that the left has been focused on winning the political conflict, while the D.C.-conservative movement has put the cart before the horse by focusing on the governing white papers."

Er, don't you mean, rather, detaching the horse from the cart?

2. "Ideas do have consequences, but that's only true of ideas that are implemented."

Counterpoint: Yesterday, when I was out buying Chinese food with which to watch a Miss Marple episode, I noticed a Prius (what else?) in the parking lot with two bumper stickers, one of which was an apparently new Obama-Biden sticker; the other bannered the following idea: "The earth does not belong to us; we belong to the earth."

I submit that it is not possible to "implement" such a vacuous idea, yet I am certain that the idea perfectly encapsulates the mentality of the lefty Democrat. People who subscribe to such harebrained ideas ("Better Red than Dead" was an equivalent two generations ago; "Medical care should be free" is another, more recent example) are motivated by those ideas to support politicians such as Professor Obama and retinue, and that support has consequences for the rest of us.

And now back to Miss Marple, as interpreted by the late Joan Hickson.

Denise| 9.19.11 @ 10:18AM

Denise| 9.19.11 @ 10:35AM

Jeannia J. Bressler| 9.21.11 @ 11:41AM

There is a point in this for those of us who are small business owners. We get so bogged down with gook from the government - is easy to turn into our own little think tank. (what is the difference between functional limitation vs specific behavioral criteria?) that we cease to function. Do nothing but flop our ideas around. I am working hard to get us out of that mode - and am back to the building of human infrastructure. Am I meeting resistance - of course. It's hard work - but I know it is wort it.

DeclareTruth| 9.21.11 @ 1:44PM

The problem with the "old establishment conservative movement" is that it is mythical. There is an old establishment Republican movement, which is now trying to SAY it is conservative and thereby trying to steal the "conservative" term away from those of us who are true constitutional patriots, Tea Partiers, if you will. We need to keep making this distinction, or they will succeed. The LAST thing we need is "business as usual" on the Beltway. It's time for the second Revolution or this republic will go down in Marxist flames.

Kalev| 9.28.11 @ 4:48PM

And the current crop of GOP candidates is the "old establishment Republican movement", all except Herman Cain. A businessman, not a politician as are all the others. Bachmann may be the only exception but she seems to have weakened in her fervor lately, not good.