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Streetcar Line
New Conservative Strategy, Part Two
Take small victories; engage the grassroots; go viral before the State of the Union.
As outlined in a column earlier this week, Republicans/conservatives should try to outmaneuver Barack Obama and his leftist allies via a new strategy consisting of guerrilla tactics, constantly keeping Obama on the defensive, combined with a re-crafting of how conservatives communicate our principles.
Conservatives have proved inept at managing crisis-atmosphere brinksmanship, but we can consistently win smaller skirmishes and ward off societal disaster long enough to outlast the Democrats’ current hold on the Senate and the White House. It’s not that budget-cutters in Congress are wrong, for instance, to try to use the debt ceiling and other legislative deadlines to extract new savings from a spendthrift president; it’s just that they talk tougher than they can possibly deliver, when they should be willing to take small gains, build credibility, and then keep coming back for more.
But while it’s time to play, and win, some short-term “small ball” legislatively, it’s simultaneously time to begin a bolder, more aggressive long-term plan to limit government, promote economic growth, and (via mostly non-governmental means) salvage American culture from its present decline.
That effort should begin (as indicated but not fleshed out in the previous column) with a slightly modified resort to Ronald Reagan’s old playbook. Reagan the candidate made great use, repeatedly, of half-hour TV buys, where he would explain at length, but simply, what his proposals were, why he believed in them, and how they would affect individuals and families at a personal level. This once was a familiar political approach – but because it has been so long since anybody has tried it at a national level, it would be enough of a novelty that, if announced with enough fanfare, it surely would attract a lot of attention. The target date would be the night before the president’s State of the Union address – beating Obama to the punch, as it were, but while leaving only one day for his team to incorporate any responses into an address for which weeks of preparation usually are required.
Either the Republican National Committee or the National Republican Congressional Committee, or even a leadership PAC of some sort, should purchase the time on a major news network – and follow up with re-runs purchased on “cable networks” frequented by lower-information voters, such as Lifetime, the Food Network, FX, or wherever research indicates might provide the best “target audiences” for the price. After the first buy, meanwhile, the whole video should be posted on the Internet and spread “virally” by all the latest marketing techniques.
If done well, conservatives can only benefit from this sort of attempt to engage the public, without establishment-media filters, in a way assuming that even low-info Americans still possess a decent degree of native intelligence and common sense.
Unlike some of Reagan’s performances, however, the video should be taped, not live – and it should involve more than just a politician talking directly to the camera or pointing to some charts. While much of it can and should be in the Reagan direct-to-camera mode, it should be introduced by, and interspersed with, other, simple images and illustrations. These should not look like slickly produced Hollywood fare, but more like news reports or collages therefrom. The style should be direct, uncomplicated, and understated; the content should emphasize real people, home economics rather than macro-generalities, and as much focus on “why” as on “what.” This last criterion was a Reagan specialty, by the way: He took the time to connect the dots between his principles and everyday practices, to show how and why the former (principles) would improve results in the latter (everyday life).
No amount of “voiceover” and video, however, can fully substitute for an actual person doing the Reagan thing of talking directly to the viewers, putting a personal, individual touch on the message. The key question, then, becomes which conservative official or officials should be featured. There is no one right answer to this question, but logic suggests that the appropriate committee leaders would make sense in presenting the conservative case. One might envision a small role for Ways and Means Chairman Dave Camp, with the primary job falling to Budget Chairman Paul Ryan – who has proved his skill at explaining such subjects – and perhaps five minutes for a micro-level, family-level riff by Conference Chairman Cathy McMorris Rodgers.
As a nice twist, I’d end with a few minutes placing the battles over principle into a constitutional framework, with the incomparable new Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas explaining why these budget fights are really part of the larger effort to preserve freedom and the rule of law.
Actually, this last bit is crucial for the overall, bolder, long-term strategy. The sad truth is that conservatives have lost the storyline, the ability to tell the American narrative – both past and desired future – with the majesty of great myths but the easily recognizable truths of human experience. Most citizens, hurrying through their everyday lives, hear nothing from the political right except a cacophony of voices against raising taxes on the rich, in favor of budget cuts come hell or more hell, and obsessed with stopping sex while promoting guns. It’s not at all a fair impression, of course, but it is an all-too-common one. And it’s an impression that can only be countered – and which must be countered – through concerted effort and creativity.
To regain the Reaganesque sense of a noble and blessed America, the RNC should launch a “Recapturing the Dream” initiative, inviting public officials and private citizens alike to submit videos of say, between three and five minutes each, about the virtues, benefits and, yes, majesty of our heritage of limited government and natural rights. Assign staff to filter the submissions; then send the most promising ones through a series of focus groups; and, eventually, pick ten for national recognition, promotion, and perhaps even cash prizes.
This, or some other such effort to re-engage the grassroots, not only would energize activists and perhaps inspire other entrepreneurial souls to become activists for the first time, but it also would open up the party and the movement to ideas and talent from outside the DC bubble of elected officials and stale consultants. Indeed, that latter goal is really the point of this exercise: Clearly, the insiders have failed to carry a persuasive message to the broader public, so we need new talent to shake things up.
In truth, the video idea isn’t sacrosanct. It’s not the means of reaching out, but the very fact of reaching out in a dramatic and creative way, that is important. What matters is that somehow, some way, the elected officials in Washington and the Republican party organization must find and integrate new people and ideas into the mutual enterprise of defeating the hard-left interlopers who are dangerously occupying the White House, the executive agencies, and the Senate leadership.
Thank goodness for the Tea Parties, from whose ranks much of the new talent will come. But too many Tea Partiers treat too many congressmen as adversaries rather than as allies who merely are insufficiently skilled or equipped for the new demands of 21st century politics. Some sort of serious, creative outreach program, like the video idea, can unite those elected officials who really are sincere conservatives with the most ingenious conservative “outsiders” who could make a big difference if only given the requisite access.
Conservatives right now just do not control enough levers of power, and we do not hold the most optimal terrain. We’re like Great Britain in 1940, battling long odds, unable to win a frontal offensive and indeed working hard just to survive, but entirely unbowed and uncowed by the opposition – all while working, cajoling, persuading our natural allies to fully join our fight for Western civilization. Churchill was wise enough to know he needed outside help from the United States; our Washington insiders must be wise enough to know they need the outside help of untapped talent from the grassroots – and our activists across the country should not demand a frontal assault until the outside talent has indeed been more effectively tapped.
So, to recap this two-part strategy column, we can win by A) attacking Obamacare, by repealing it piecemeal; B) by attacking Obama’s corrupt corporate cronyism; C) by banking a series of small victories while avoiding brinksmanship; D) by citing real people and telling their stories; E) by producing a superb, half-hour exposition of conservative principles and policy proposals; and F) by finding some way, whether via a video contest or some other means, of energizing conservatives and recruiting new talent for the cause.
To use one more war analogy, the western Allies fought in North Africa and Sicily for more than two years before trying to re-take the coast of Normandy. Those two years of battles wore down the Nazi war machine while the Allies built ours to champion size and skill. Likewise, conservatives today must be willing to fight and win smaller, somewhat satellite battles for the next two years, while enlisting available tools and talent into what will eventually be a mighty assault force for freedom.
About the Author
Quin Hillyer is a senior editor of The American Spectator and a senior fellow at the Center for Individual Freedom. Follow him on Twitter @QuinHillyer.
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toyman316| 1.18.13 @ 7:56AM
Has this idea been brought before the powers to be in the Republican party? I some times believe that they are in their own world and do not even consider thoughts from anyone else outside of the circle.
AlanKneeJerkLiberalBrooks | 1.18.13 @ 10:42AM
Don't know about the Midterms, but I think the GOP will win in '16; yet the winner will be a Bush, or a Dole, or a McCain, or a Romney.
AlanKneeJerkLiberalBrooks | 1.18.13 @ 11:37AM
the new GOP slogan:
"Turkey In 2016"
Aristocat| 1.19.13 @ 4:37AM
From Rush Limbaugh: "There certainly isn't a lot of unity in the Republican Party right now. There are elements of the Republican establishment who are just as eager to discredit conservatives as the Democrat Party is...
Krauthammer column basically says the best thing the Republicans can do right now is sort of just wave the white flag and move on. I just get the sense that that's gonna happen."
So it seems like the first priority is for conservatives to unite and organize....There are no conservatives in D.C. with any clout...We have to look to the states to take the lead...
AlanKneeJerkLiberalBrooks | 1.19.13 @ 5:00PM
And Krauthammer, as Murphy was, is an optimist.
So it doesn't have to be repeated, this is what I wrote at the 'Scary Scary Guns' piece:
"Allright, alright. This will be my last comment at AS, not because of anything being written here, but because it is becoming more apparent by the month that you will run another empty-suit in 2016-- so this entire decade can be written off as a loss."
Rhoetus| 1.20.13 @ 4:08PM
http://www.cato.org/cult-of-the-presidency
Beware the Cult of the Presidency!
CrackerHound| 1.18.13 @ 8:35AM
Reaching the low information voters with a message of responsibility and commitment to the future will be no small task. Fully half of all voters fall in to the low information category. To top it off, the brainwashing by the "establishment" is complete and total. Anyone espousing a conservative view starts off with a wiff of evil or stupid in the eyes of the brainwashed masses.
A conservative cannot be a principled person who cares about the country and takes a sensible approach to the gigantic problems we face. We are ALWAYS the racist, sexist, white male boogeyman who will do anything to tear down progress. While it is the left who are taking money, jobs, and freedom from the middle class, it is the Republicans who are blamed for taking more than their fair share and trying to hold back minorities, women,etc.
Until we rip the schools and media from the hands of the marxist left, this cultural revolution (fundamental transformation?) of the country will not be reversed....at least "calmly"
c. j. acworth| 1.18.13 @ 8:45AM
"...too many Tea Partiers treat too many congressmen as adversaries..."
Excuse me, Mr. Hillyer. It wasn't the Tea Party-backed congressmen who booted the Old Guard off of commitees, it was the other way around. The Old Guard had better start treating the Tea Party movement with a little more respect and pay attention to the ideas they bring.
Quin Hillyer| 1.18.13 @ 8:58AM
c.j., good point. It is the very point, of course, behind the entire thrust of my recommendation for an initiative (video or otherwise) to reach out to the grassroots: because the old guard needs to incorporate outside ideas. But you are right that I didn't make clear in that sentence, which carried direct criticism rather than just implied criticism, that the fault lies both ways. Thanks for making me clarify. You are correct, sir.
Simon Templar| 1.18.13 @ 10:49AM
Quin, the old guard needs to go.
As difficult as this may be for some, there comes a time when one has to honestly and redemptively face the reality and truth. DC stinks of corruption on both sides and is controlled largely by an elitist political class. As inclusive as one might think they are and wish to be, there is no place for an old guard that actively and purposively undermines and sabotages its conservative base and its own political movements such as the Tea party and its elected candidates. Either lead, follow, or get out of the way. The current crop of fools are motivated largely by fear and resist ideas as yours because they do not understand them nor do they see them as viable ways to conduct politics. Deep down you know this is true.
Simon Templar| 1.18.13 @ 10:57AM
As conservatives we need to stop looking to leaders, politicians, and elected officials to further our visions, goals, ideas, solutions, and values. This republic was designed for bottom up, not top down. This is a truth that the left understands all too well and has exploited for over a century.
Where are our "community organizers?"
If the RNC refuses these ideas, then we need to develop and implement them. If these politicians refuse, then we actively remove them, this is frankly the only solution.
Von Mises Jr| 1.18.13 @ 11:50AM
The community organizers are joining the NRA and buying more guns and ammo.
Quin's acknowledgement of c.j. and your points are all correct. We have one Party in DC and it is the Socialist Party. There is a left wing that loves totalitarianism and a right-wing that loves statism. Other than that, I see no redeeming value in the Beltway.
Al Adab| 1.18.13 @ 11:59AM
I like the idea of a "Restoring the Dream" convention. Policy recommendations might follow along the lines of the Sharon Statement or of the Declaration itself. A restatement of the theory that government exists to protect the rights of citizens not to grant them would be most welcome. What groups might be invited and what organization might sponsor such a conference? Heritage Foundation? Cato Institute? AmSpec?
We need to re-evaluate the basis of the Conservative Movement. "Return to proven ways, not because they are old, but because they are true." A reiteration of thew basic principles of the Movement is well warranted.
Von Mises Jr| 1.18.13 @ 1:13PM
Hillsdale courses are fabulous and I get Mises and Heritage emails daily. Heritage might be more interactive with DeMint hopefully. Anyone missing the Heritage courses is nuts.
Rhoetus| 1.18.13 @ 10:09PM
Cut the phone lines out/into Washington, DC & station the National Guard to keep 'em there.
Rhoetus| 1.20.13 @ 4:08PM
http://www.cato.org/cult-of-the-presidency
capatolistmom| 1.18.13 @ 2:16PM
You could not be more correct. Look at the faces and the voices the young potential new conservatives see as representative of the party. Boehner, McConnell, McCain, Graham etc... and I am sure he is a nice guy but Rance Prebuss at the RNC???? Do we really think people will listen to him??? We have allowed the opposition to deamonize Sarah Palin and Michele Bachman. We had better start to place people out front who can articulate our vision and don't look like and act like the old Washington establishment. These "old farts" need to start to embrace and position the new conservatives or there WILL BE A THIRD party!!! We need to start to fight STRATEGICALLY for our ideals - not roll over!!! Start placing bill after bill in front of the Senate, balanced budgets, defense spending, healthcare funding etc... You have the votes simplify the bills, cut out the pork and lay them at the feet of the Senate, the President and the American people. Wake UP!!!!
CrackerHound| 1.18.13 @ 9:01AM
...or what about my idea....we LEAVE the republican party and start anew. The freedom that would give us would cut the time required to create a conservative party (Republicans are not conservative anymore) in half. Hell, the T.P. has this grassroots thing down.
Republicans have become back bench liberals. How is THAT going to beat the first string liberal party and the entrenched establishment?
Russel| 1.18.13 @ 9:02AM
I didn't bother reading this , just skipped . But that line caught my attention too . Thanks for all your work on this Quinn, but w/ due respect , you're pissing up a rope . We've just got a lousy team , that simple . You can strategize like any coach , but if they're worthless, then ....They're liberal lite , DC elitist and I expect them to die out and be replaced with the common folk , us , the Tea Party . The likes of Cruz and Rubio are rising , and go retire , McConnell and Boner .
WRTolkas| 1.18.13 @ 10:55AM
Dear Russel, excellent remarks. First, the main-stream-media will always hate us. That is a fact and Republicans need to get over it. Second, stop trying to make nice to get interviews and invitations to evening social events. You make nice to a liberal and when your back is turned out come the knives. Third, McConnell and "Boner" have got to go.
Lastly, have you asked yourself why Dingy Harry can be an obstructionist and get away with it? See the first and second above.
Everyone have a safe weekend.
GobBluthe| 1.18.13 @ 9:02AM
The GOP is certainly the Stupid Party, but Conservatism in the 2000s has been the Stupid Movement. With the exception of Breitbart and a few others conservatives are constantly out foxed by the left. One question I've had is why given conservative's obsession with Alinsky, does the right not employ his tactics on the left??? When done so by the likes of James O'Keef , the results have been effective. Yet with little exception conservatives sit around and bemoan the left without so much as using the left's tactics to fight back. One reason I think is to do so might hurt traditional institutions. For instance the right should engage in more vote fraud, yes more vote fraud. The right should hound leftists at work and at their homes they way Breitbart did and O'Keef does. Use kids the way the left does at press conferences. The entire left is standing on a pillar of sand. Personally attack leftists at msnbc. Yet conservatism seems unwilling to knock it down.
CrackerHound| 1.18.13 @ 9:52AM
Alinsky tactics only work if you own the means of disseminating the information...i.e., the media.
It's kinda hard to do this when the left controls what gets said:
"Rule 11: Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, polarize it. Don’t try to attack abstract corporations or bureaucracies. Identify a responsible individual. Ignore attempts to shift or spread the blame.
"According to Alinsky, the main job of the organizer is to bait an opponent into reacting. “The enemy properly goaded and guided in his reaction will be your major strength.”
Russel| 1.18.13 @ 10:22AM
Right . If you hope to use the media , you have to use them . Tho Rush may ridicule and get them to jump at his will , they still spin his words to fit their agenda . Hmm , this could be an entire career - how to sucker the pro's in media . The GOPhers are woefully inept and unwilling , of course .
CrackerHound| 1.18.13 @ 10:59AM
I might add Russell...the movers and shakers of the left are completely committed to their cause and stick to their principles (principled evil in IMHO) while the GOP are career minded weasels who hope to gain favor with those same movers and shakers of the left (I wonder what Ann Coulter thinks of Chris Christie now).
To your point, here is an example of how inept the GOP are. The Dems made the entire 2012 campaign about social issues because they couldn't run on fiscal issues and the dems/media were able to make it look like the REPUBLICANS were trying to block access to contraception and other trivial issues and despite the unprecedented ammo at their disposal, could NOT beat back the worst performing president and party in history.
Appleby| 1.18.13 @ 11:41AM
I think it's time to Go Galt. Let them try to run the place without any money OR credit.
Doctor Right| 1.18.13 @ 1:15PM
A nice thought, but how do you feed your family when "Galt-ing"?
Al Adab| 1.18.13 @ 3:06PM
With the garden or family farm. Maybe those who live in massive overcrowded cities don't get it, but others who have an acre or so know what can be done. A fireplace provides warmth and cooking; dig a well for water. Is the concept so difficult?
Appleby| 1.18.13 @ 4:54PM
Make enough money to cover your needs, and no more. Millions of people are doing this every day. The apparatchiks don't have to know what you would be capable of earning if you had the will. As far as they know, you're Joe Lunchbox in a flannel shirt and boots, bringing the paycheque home to Mama just like your Daddy did.
Doctor Right| 1.18.13 @ 1:14PM
The perfect time to "out-Alinsky" Obama was during the debates, but Romney did not go through with it.
Obama is a narcissistic psychopath. Before you jump to conclusions, "psychopath" does not mean Hannibal Lecter; it means someone without a genuine conscience. As a narcissist, he is extremely sensitive about criticism because it directly assaults the self-image he works hard to perpetuate. Most narcissists actually have very low self-esteem, so when criticized or confronted they often lash out aggressively.
The GOP debate strategy should have been to use sarcasm in response to the idiotic things Obama said, and attack his record repeatedly, calling him out for lies, inconsistencies, and errors.
If done, well, Obama would have eventually exploded - on TV - and done his campaign serious harm. But the GOP chose to be nice...again...and lost...again.
Westville Mom| 1.20.13 @ 11:03AM
You are, of course, correct that "the left controls what gets said" but there is someone who is already working effectively on changing that -- Glenn Beck and his Blaze channel, to which I subscribe on DISH satellite.
I am completely perplexed as to why more conservatives have not embraced and championed this channel. The "Real News" program is one of the finest TV programs I have seen in many years, if not decades. It is almost at the level of "Firing Line."
In fact, many of the ideas contained in this article have already been espoused by Glenn Beck and his crew in recent years and his media empire is well on its way to accomplishing the very same goals.
Why aren't you all watching and spreading the word? You have the means to accomplish this at your fingertips (for $6 per month on DISH and slightly more, I believe, for Internet subscription.)
All it requires at this point is VOLUME. Massive numbers of viewers/subscribers --- that's all.
Simon Templar| 1.18.13 @ 10:34AM
Quin, excellent ideas and creative thinking.
Holgrave | 1.18.13 @ 10:40AM
Thank you, Quinn for an idea whose time has come! Reaching the "low-information voters" (thank you, James Carville!) on the left and right with a simple, straightforward, and BS-free presentation of political reality is the #1 thing conservatives need to do right now.
Holgrave | 1.18.13 @ 10:44AM
Whoops, I should have checked the Carville reference on Snopes first. Hoax.
Doctor Right| 1.18.13 @ 1:09PM
What makes you think the LIV-ers will actually watch the presentation, instead of switching to Honey Boo-Boo??
Appleby| 1.18.13 @ 4:55PM
Get Honey Boo Boo to make the presentation.
Dai Alanye | 1.18.13 @ 11:37AM
Quite a few experts are commenting here and elsewhere at American Spectator on the need to reform or replace the Republican Party. I can't help but wonder how many have themselves worked directly for candidates, gone door to door or participated in phone campaigns, or even attended and spoken at party meetings.
Without working directly in the trenches, critics have minimal effect. Even in my area, which is nominally Republican with a strong conservative element and a once-active Tea Party, we've sent the same RINO back to Congress decade after decade. He's retiring now, to be replaced by a party-chosen regular, and not a word about conservative opposition to the proposed new man.
What is likely to change when all we do is complain on-line?
Al Adab| 1.18.13 @ 12:03PM
Good comment (as always) Dai. Each of us should evaluate what and where we can contribute. How many can seek local elective office? City Council or school board might be a start. Contribute where it does some good. Put finances to work where that can help not simply through the RNC. Change and a restoration movement can begin town by town and locale by locale if we begin to stand and talk a risk. Too much talk and not enough action.
PolishKnight| 1.18.13 @ 12:19PM
I rang doorbells and canvassed districts. Didn't do any good sadly (may have even hurt matters by reminding the mostly leftist district I was in to get out and vote.)
Bottom line: The left has a loyal welfare, race and gender entitlements base that gets out 67% of their electorate. The remaining 30 are rubes. The Republicans don't do anything for most of their base.
Dai Alanye | 1.18.13 @ 7:50PM
Last election in our county we received mailers from Repub candidates till our mailboxes were stuffed. One even made robocalls. But neither candidates nor precinct committeemen made any direct contact in my precenct. Not a surprise--it's been that way here for thirty+ years, with rare exceptions.
Several thousand registered Republicans didn't make it to the polls. Had they all voted several local R.candidates would have been elected. As it was, only two made it--those who ran without Dem opposition. This lack of personal contact is where we fail in Ohio, and I'll bet the same is true elsewhere.
PolishKnight| 1.20.13 @ 8:32PM
The Dems recently sent out a page of talking points for targeted Democrat demographic special interest groups. Whites and men were not listed. Everyone else had a list of goodies to get them to the polls.
The Republicans, sadly, are not much better. Yes, it's great that they defend the sanctity of pro-life for rape victim babies and tax breaks for the wealthy but that just wasn't enough to get out their primary demographic. Forget about goodies. How about just protecting our basic civil rights? In the meantime, pandering to Democrat special interest groups to poach a few votes here or there is a losing proposition, literally.
Maybe they'll figure it out in 2 years. Maybe.
Doctor Right| 1.18.13 @ 1:07PM
I'm sorry, but HOW do you "Keep Obama on the defensive"???
The man has bee re-elected; unless he can change to 22nd Amendment before 2016 (and I wouldn't put it past him to try), he has NOTHING to be defensive about.
He will push, push, PUSH his agenda relentlessly, totally immune from any serious criticism in the media and with the implied consent of the moronic 47%-ers.
And the gutless wimps in the GOP will do NOTHING to stop him because they are cowards, pure and simple.
Obama is a pure, driven ideologue. He also understands how to negotiate with strength. In other words, he has it, so he gets what he wants.
No disrespect intended, Mr. Hilyer, but these recommendations are just plain silly. "Half-hour TV buys" to reach the low-information voter crowd?? On the night before the State of the Union???
REALLY???
The Low-information voters can't even sit still for 30 minutes, let alone do it and listen to a racist, sexist, bigoted, homophobic, evil, polluting, mean-spirited white guy (or gal) discuss serious political issues.
And what makes you think that the major networks - the ones that are in-the-tank for Obama - would sell the RNC the time, anyway???
The nation has changed since Reagan, and not for the better. Obama is pushing us towards internal strife and conflict to further his own goals, and we CANNOT rely on the GOP to do anything about it.
Why do so many fail to see what's actually happening???
CrackerHound| 1.18.13 @ 1:44PM
Correct Doctor Right....I think we have hit the end game but I try to be optimistic because that's what a productive person is supposed to do. The people who would actually pay attention to a 30-minute conservative message are already on board or are for the other side trolling for material.
The sides are chosen and now the question is what are we are going to do with what we have. Grassroots is good because it's the only way to reach people outside the leftist matrix of indoctrination.
Conservatives need to huddle and plan. We need to reflect and pray. We also need to strategize on how to beat the oppression of the left and find a home in the political system.
The starting point of a conservative revolution must be the youth. Right now they are lost to a world of electronic isolation as was planned. (so much technolgy innovation devoted to isolating a whole population). Materialism is rampant in todays youth to where ideas such as family, faith and freedom are abstract notions that just get in the way of facebook time or idle text messaging which apparently is as addictive as crack.
Forget reaching minorites and women. Their votes have been bought. We need to reach the young of all stripes. It's their future we're fighting for, not ours.
Doctor Right| 1.18.13 @ 2:28PM
Agree, completely.
NO solution will be found with the GOP. They're an anachronism.
The Left has successfully found a way to buy-off so many special-interest groups that we are running out of voters.
But they control the schools, so reaching the youth will not be easy.
JimH| 1.18.13 @ 1:58PM
The real questions are these: can Tea Partiers and libertarians put aside their differences for the purpose of achieving decent government? And should they keep trying to wrest control of the GOP from the ‘go along to get along’, country club, corporate welfare crowd in charge now in order to take advantage of the fact that the elections laws are rigged in favor of the nominally two party system. Or, is the party beyond saving and a clean break as new principled party needed?
Who Knows?| 1.18.13 @ 3:10PM
Know your enemy.
I think it’s about time we started realizing the true nature of the Obama Machine. As a true-believer socialist, I believe Obama knows enough history of HOW the Nazis and Communists took power, especially the latter, in Russia, and that, therefore, he would love to mimic their successful takeover of their countries.
Thus, I posit the essence of “Obama” is a “secret society”, so read Hannah Arendt’s take on this (I recommend reading it out loud, and/or several times, to absorb her brilliance.)---my take in parenthesis:
“The chief value, however, of the secret or conspiratorial societies’ organizational structure and moral standards for purposes of mass organization does not lie in the inherent guarantees of unconditional belonging and loyalty, and organizational manifestation of unquestioned hostility to the outside world (Republicans, for Obama, who he wants to destroy), but in their unsurpassed capacity to establish and safeguard the fictitious world through consistent lying (Ring a bell?).
Who Knows?| 1.18.13 @ 3:11PM
The whole hierarchical structure of totalitarian movements, from naïve fellow-travelers to party members, elite formations, the intimate circle around the Leader, and the Leader himself, could be described in terms of a curiously varying mixture of gullibility and cynicism with each member, depending upon his rank and standing in the movement, is expected to react to the changing lying statements of the leaders and the central unchanging ideological fiction of the moment.
Who Knows?| 1.18.13 @ 3:12PM
A mixture of gullibility and cynicism had been an outstanding characteristic of mob mentality before it became an everyday phenomenon of masses. In an ever-changing, incomprehensible world (Doesn’t THAT exactly describe 2013?) the masses had reached the point where they would, at the same time, believe everything and nothing, think that everything was possible and that nothing was true. The mixture in itself was remarkable enough, because it spelled the end of the illusion that gullibility was a weakness of unsuspecting primitive souls and cynicism the vice of superior and refined minds. Mass propaganda discovered that its audience was ready at all time to believe the worst, no matter how absurd, and did not particularly object to being deceived because it held every statement to be a lie anyhow (Isn’t THAT a true statement, NOW, for practically all Americans, especially non voters?). The totalitarian mass leaders based their propaganda on the correct psychological assumption that, under such conditions, one could make people believe the most fantastic statements one day, and trust that if the next day they were given irrefutable proof of their falsehood, they would take refuge in cynicism; instead of deserting the leaders who had lied to them, they would protest that they had known all along that the statement was a lie and would admire the leaders for their superior tactical cleverness (There it is! The perfect description of the MSM, one fool at a time.).”
Who Knows?| 1.18.13 @ 3:13PM
Page 382, “The Origins of Totalitarianism” by Hannah Arendt, 1951 revised 1966.
Rhoetus| 1.18.13 @ 10:10PM
Got the book right here! ;-)
cicero| 1.18.13 @ 4:14PM
Better plan. First, get rid of the rediculous primnaries as a way to pick a candidate. Next, pick a total unknown, have him make a speech in a lead up show to the Super Bowl, or maybe the finals of Dancing With the Stars, or X Factor. Make sure he/she can drink out of a cup with out a sippy top. Then have the candidate spend the next two years promising the undereducated voters free stuff. It is guaranteed to work in '16.
It may help is he/she has an exotic name, like . . . Niko Latte'.
Rhoetus| 1.18.13 @ 10:15PM
Justin Beiber won't be 35 for 17 years & will be communist by then cicero,
Occam's Tool| 1.19.13 @ 10:06PM
Gentlemen: the solution is to NAD punch. In addition to out arguing our scummish opponents, if we find out that he is cheating on his wife by means of a Chicago gay bathhouse, GO WITH IT.
Next time, scorch the earth.
Diefledermaus| 1.20.13 @ 1:54AM
A total waste of time with the cowards in the House leadership. Boehner is as useless as a pile of steaming dog doo.
Rhoetus| 1.20.13 @ 4:09PM
http://www.cato.org/cult-of-the-presidency
hrgfue | 1.20.13 @ 7:37PM
2013 Fashion kickoff for u