-
The Seventeen Year Itch
May 15, 2013 | 6 comments
-
Questions
May 1, 2013 | 50 comments
-
Stifling Our Children
April 15, 2013 | 39 comments
-
Thoughts on Gay Marriage
March 27, 2013 | 96 comments
-
Baseball Saints and Sinners
March 13, 2013 | 13 comments
A Further Perspective
Handle With Care
Time we should wear our hearts on our sleeves?
A few weeks after the presidential election, I sat down with some folks to talk about the results and got the surprise of my life. Hoping to commiserate with them regarding the defeat of a decent and talented man like Mitt Romney, I was shocked to hear a close relative tell me that she didn’t support him because of his lack of compassion. It seemed that she was willing to overlook certain “social” issues with which she disagreed, except for one thing: he, and by extension, we conservatives, don’t care that there are people out there who need help.
Now, we’d all heard ad nauseam that Romney’s off-the-record “47 percent” remarks would come back to haunt him, but like most of the bilge that comes forth from the liberal media, I basically ignored it. But coming from the mouths of otherwise intelligent and informed Americans, the charge has to be taken seriously.
Since our defeats last November, many have puzzled over how to attract voters who have been seduced and brainwashed by various social structures and machinations of the left; from outreach to Hispanics, to suggestions that we should “soften” our positions on social issues. The former has already been tried, most recently at the Republican Convention, where showcasing our best and brightest minority members was met with the sound of chirping crickets. And we certainly must not attempt the latter, because to alter our values would make us untrue to ourselves and therefore unworthy of national trust.
What we can change is our approach. We all laughed at and derided Bill Clinton’s constant declarations that he “felt our pain,” but no one can deny that it served him and his party well for nearly a decade. For better or for worse, in today’s America, one’s heart is literally worn on one’s sleeve, as evinced by the omnipresent wristbands worn by celebrities, politicians others who really care. Now we don’t have to immerse ourselves in this type of behavior, but we can and must do a better job of demonstrating not just love of country, but love of countrymen.
Ronald Reagan, who once remarked, “I wasn’t a great communicator, but I communicated great things,” nevertheless also stated that much of his success was due to his empathy with the American people. Our problem is not that we’ve gone away from these great things, it’s that we are perceived as wanting them only for the privileged few.
We of course do care about all Americans, but we most often come off as overly stern fathers who would rather scold than help; we think we can reach people by speaking of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence to folks who, probably through no fault of their own, have no idea of the great promises and guarantees therein.
So without changing our values one whit, we should merely emphasize some issues over others, as do the Democrats. Now I’m not suggesting we be deceitful or cloak our agenda, but when is the last time you heard a liberal utter the word “abortion,” “homosexuality,” or “socialism”? Probably never, but that doesn’t hide the fact that these are three of the pillars of their vision for remaking America.
So, what do we care about? Well, we care about everything the Democrats do; maybe even more, because we seek to restore a way of life that has been cherished for more than two centuries yet is being eroded day by day. Specifically we care about venerating our veterans and the elderly, supporting the helpless and infirm, and, most importantly, restoring dignity and autonomy to all Americans.
Our hearts ache when we see the problems that currently afflict our country: the class warfare that foments hatred instead of love; the generations of welfare families who see no hope of escaping their lot; the racial genocide enabled by abortion and gang violence, and the hopelessness of our children who live in a country whose heritage they are taught to revile.
To counter this negativity, let’s use words like “love,” “hope,” and “joy” when talking about America and Americans. Most of us are people of faith, so this should come naturally to us. There was, after all, an unquestionable aura of good-natured cheerfulness around Reagan and, to a lesser extent, George W. Bush. Of course, these two men were vilified for this sunny quality, often being scorned by the media as “incurious,” which was their way of saying they were not too bright. But the voters didn’t seem to mind, as these were the GOP’s last two-term presidents.
In other words, what the Republican Party needs is fewer policy wonks and more “amiable dunces.”
Letter to the Editor View all comments (29) | Leave a comment
More Articles by Lisa Fabrizio
More Articles From A Further Perspective
http://spectator.org/archives/2013/02/07/handle-with-care
Follow us:
ADVERTISEMENT
Current Issue
- The Great Train Robbery
- The Demise of Money and Credit
- Eugenic Abortion 2.0
SPONSORED LINKS
FLASHBACK TO: 1995
-
Pope Culture
A man of faith in a godless age is hitting Americans where it hurts.
-
Why the GOP Does Not, Like, Totally Suck
Mr. and Mrs. American Spectator Reader, let P.J. O’Rourke talk sense to your kids.
-
Dames at Sea
-
In the Absence of Guns
In Britain, defending your property can get you life.
-
The Metaphysical Martini
-
Counting the Costs of Clintonism
The debacle of this president’s administration is both a cause and a symptom of the decline of American values. Unless Congress impeaches him, that decline will go on unchecked. An eminent jurist surveys the damage and assesses the chances for the recovery of our culture.
-
Chuck McHagel
It won’t take long for conservatives to scratch this presidential wannabe off their 2008 scorecard.
-
The Legacy of Old John and Mother Fresh-Roasted
-
It’s the Best Time of the Year
The American Christmas, like the songs that celebrate it, makes room for everybody under the rainbow. Is that why so many people seem to be hostile to it?
-
The Bush Crack-Up
Was the President done in by the economy, or by the politics of the economy?
Clip of the Day
H/T to National Review Online
ADVERTISEMENT
Jack London| 2.7.13 @ 6:45AM
"We of course do care about all Americans"
Ha ha ha ... thank you Ms Fabrizio for starting my day with such a good laugh.
JD| 2.7.13 @ 11:47AM
The despicable dishonesty of the Left on display once more. The truth is Jack's enemy.
C. Vernon Crisler | 2.7.13 @ 4:17PM
Lisa's friends are part of the 47 percent who do not think but feel their way through life. That there are so many like them shows just how successful the left has been in demagoguing political life since William Jennings Bryan and TR started doing it at the start of the Progressive Era.
RCV| 2.8.13 @ 1:14PM
I'm sorry, Lisa, but you are living in a fantasy world if you think the GOP's problems are that it hasn't used the right words to convey its positions. It's the substance of its platform, not the package that it's wrapped up in, that the American people reject.
Appleby| 2.7.13 @ 7:07AM
The mantra of the Democrats is GIMMEE. And they drill this day after day after day --- they tell The Folks that demanding a share of other peoples' property is not greed; Greed is wanting to keep your own property and use it as you wish. Maybe it's time for a refresher course in the Seven Deadly Sins. There's a reason why these are the Top Seven. Oh, and how about that Tenth Commandment? Why is it that God, with only 10 commandments to propound, found it really important to tell us, "Go get your own" instead of demanding that others hand over their goods simply because we want them? This doesn't need to be a government program. Parents can teach these maxims, churches can go back to teaching them (instead of "social justice" which is another name for covetousness and greed), schools can teach them. Once you've got a core group who actually knows and understands these principles, you can work your way up the ladder so we have candidates who know and can explain these things -- but most of all who believe them. Reagan was successful because he believed these things.
PolishKnight| 2.7.13 @ 1:30PM
Appleby, check out a book on amazon called "Why mommy is a democrat". It really was written by a Democrat who wanted to make a children's book to illustrate his beliefs.
I find it interesting because in the book, you can actually see in the author's method of explaining things useful lessons for children about conservatism. For example, "Mommy helps people just like Democrats do!" and there's a mommy squirrel feeding various animals while a homeless man sits in the background, starving, with two well dressed (presumably republicans) snubbing him and walking by. It begs the question: If Democrats are feeding people, why is the homeless man starving? In another image, a mommy squirrel is having a fun party with the children where they "share" the toys. Ask any child if they want to "share" their toys with other children AND the children take the toys home with them. See what they say!
JimH| 2.7.13 @ 8:19AM
“Sincerity - if you can fake that, you've got it made.” ― George Burns
I've seen this attibuted to others as well. Slick Willie was the master, but there are others as well.
TLP| 2.7.13 @ 1:12PM
So, your close relative feels that Running the Country in to the Ground with Social Giveaways, is more Copassionate than getting them a Job?
Does this person think that Closing Coal Mines, Coal Fired Electric Generating Plants, and the Thousands of Jobs that go along with them, is more Compassionate than keeping them Open, so people can Earn a Living?
Does she believe that Forcing Companies to find Greener Pastures, where their Businesses will be appreciated, and not Demonized on a Daily Basis, and Taxed and Regulated out of Profitability, is more Compassionate than making it Easier for these Companies to do Business, and Create Jobs?
You may not be able to Pick your Relatives, but maybe you should choose better, when deciding which ones of these people you wanna converse with
Mike G| 2.7.13 @ 8:25AM
The Republican Party seems to have more than its share of dunces. Finding an amiable one seems to be the biggest obstacle.
Al Adab| 2.7.13 @ 8:36AM
As Conservatives we need to make it plain that caring means more than simply"feelings". It means creating a society in which the least have a great opportunity to rise and succeed. It is one thing to see government as a giant social service agency (which BTW frees us of personal responsibility for caring about the poor) providing subsistence and quite another to care that people can fulfill their potential in all areas of life. Yes, there are those who, through no fault of their own, simply cannot compete however strong family and necessary social services do make a difference therein. It is only the opposition, who we too often allow to define us, who claim we want others to starve and die. That side only wishes them never born. We value them all as members of society and citizens, not as subjects of the welfare state.
Pecos Pete| 2.7.13 @ 9:02AM
Al: Excellent!
Al Adab| 2.7.13 @ 11:10AM
Gracias Senor.
PolishKnight| 2.7.13 @ 12:08PM
Romney had the opportunity to go hardball and say that caring about the means making them the into the middle class rather than subservient, permanent underclass voters chained to a welfare check. He should have also clarified the 47% remark: People such as vets who vote Republican do so because they earned that military pension check as compared to those who use special interest lobbying to demand entitlements at taxpayer expense. Let the voter/taxpayer figure out then what he means by the remainder of the 47%.
The left, to their credit, fight hardball and don't flinch to either milk their ideology's claims while attacking their opponents. Republican elite candidates can barely be bothered to speak up.
Jacob McCandles| 2.7.13 @ 9:04AM
If an "otherwise intelligent and informed" person voted for Hussein, he is neither. The only other possibility is a person who wishes harm on America.
Bob Grant| 2.7.13 @ 9:13AM
The ONE and only smart thing GW Bush uttered during his candidacy and presidency is:
"A Rising Tide Lifts All Boats"...That IS conservatism in a nutshell! Conservatives should "show they care" by educating people on the whys and hows you go about accomplishing this. Nothing more is needed. People will either buy it or will not. You can't change stupid.
It SHOULD NOT be sold as "Compassionate Conservatism", "Thousand Points of Light", "Kinder, Gentler Nation", or other empty, leftwing-sounding platitude.
Al Adab| 2.7.13 @ 11:13AM
The rising tide was the term JFK used when he proposed his tax cuts. He was of course correct yet Conservatives rightly opposed those tax cuts because they feared that spending would not decrease congruently. They were correct also.
WSJ today has great editorial about the sequestration percentages. Judging by that it might be a good idea to let it happen. House should adopt a balanced budget and send it up to the useless Senate and watch them squirm.
TLP| 2.7.13 @ 1:26PM
Don't you mean: Watch Harry Reid throw it in the Garbage?
I called every Republican I could get my hands on, last August. I told them: "Let him have what he wants. Let him Raise the Rich's Taxes. Do it in the name of Saving the Military, and Funding Medicare. The Rich are Rich, cause they know how to work around this Sh*t."
They didn't listen. What do I know? I cut lawns for a living. I don't own a Suit. I don't go to a Hair Stylist, or get my Nails Done on a regular basis.
They took the easy way out. They made a Partial Deal, which got them NOTHING, and later on, Obama got his Taxes, anyway. The Republicans got NOTHING. And the Sequestration is still on the Table.
Hello?
PolishKnight| 2.7.13 @ 12:05PM
Sadly, the dupe (which is what the "otherwise intelligent person" is, has a point. If someone were to ask me, a pretty well informed person as compared to the normal electorate, what Romney was "about", I would say he wanted to get us better energy independence via drilling for national gas and oil, cut spending (a bit but probably not by too much), and put more money into the military.
And that's about it. That's about all I can say for the guy. And I voted for him.
Obama though is all candy and ice cream and saying he'll help "people". He pumped out laughable commercials with him sitting at dinner tables with "ordinary folk" (noticeably white and probably government union workers) pretending to care about them. And attacks on Bain also hit a chord and again, had a point. If the right outsources jobs left and right and brings in H1B's with fake diplomas, it's hard to say they "care" about us.
Heck, forget about "caring" about "people" but even about wanting to win. There was a claim by a relative of Romney's he didn't really "want" to run and I get the feeling he wasn't crushed about it. Just go to the Mormon country club and hang out and have fun. They don't have the same skin in the game us normal folks do.
Abortion and even gay marriage are nice and all, but won't win. Want white people to vote Republican? Start addressing the left bashing whites. That might help wake the dupes up. In the meantime, it's hard to argue with them. It really is.
Michele San Pietro| 2.7.13 @ 12:06PM
Only goofs can still believe that conservatives don't care about helping people.
PolishKnight| 2.7.13 @ 12:13PM
The left got serious traction with the fools in PA and OH via the Bain capital outsourcing attack ads. They ran them relentlessly. And they have a point: Republicans, and Romney, are soft on illegal and semi-legal labor because it makes good (short) term business sense. H1B's come in with fake degrees, put out lousy products (Windows Vista was designed by H1bs...) and then take the money and run. They want to pay sub-human wages in the hotel, restaurant and construction industries for work that had been previously done by "Hank Hill" type Republican voters. But hey, shoddy construction with Chinese sulfuric acid drywall makes you cry during the summer with the acid in the air. But small business lobbyists for Republicans got them to look the other way.
Sorry, but anti-gay marriage, anti-abortion and small tax cuts just isn't going to get out the voters for the right the way that race/gender preferences and welfare get out the vote for the left. Romney may have been a great businessman but his effort in politics was worse than Obama's.
cicero| 2.7.13 @ 1:51PM
So, the Left promises the kiddies candy. Maybe we shouyld promise them ice ceream, or may even more candy? That will get them to sit on our side of the sandbox, for a while. Folks, we are in a war for the soul of this country. When Sir Winston found his country in an existential war, he didn't promise ice cream and candy. I believe the promise went more to blood sweat and tears.
If we are going to step up to the firing line, we better have real bullets, or just stay home. The right has a very good story to tell. It cannot be sugar coated or told as a fairy tail. It has to be, "If you want to eat, you must work." We have to go to the people with a story of reality. This does not mean that Social Security will be cut off. All you have to do is reform the benefits to reflect actuarial reality. You don't have to do away with Medicare. You only need to means test it. Warren Buffet does not need Medicare. You don't have to do away with Medicaide. You only need apply it to the poor, not people making $80k a year.
Common sense should not be a rare commodity.
fmm| 2.7.13 @ 2:14PM
It has always amazed me that the dems have successfully contributed to republicans the most characteristic qualities of the democrats. Learn how they did this and do the same in reverse.
Kingofthenet| 2.7.13 @ 2:59PM
Class Warfare is code for I am going to pay you little and myself a lot, but that's OK I am the Creator(God) and you should not question my judgement...EVER!
Drunken Sailor| 2.7.13 @ 4:10PM
Channeling your inner Obama?
FairPorter| 2.8.13 @ 6:39AM
It's not that I disagree with Fabrio's point here, but let's think about how the media would portray an amiable conservative dunce....
Stop shuddering..... It's not worse than how the media portrays any conservative.
The party that controls the press controls the elections. Until we get fair treatment from the media, we will not win elections.
Occam's Tool| 2.10.13 @ 2:49AM
Actually, we need to portray the Democrats as the loathesome pieces of filth that they are. For example, I would have gone with an ad showing Obama laughing with Bill Ayer as a cop is sadistically killed. Obama was friends with Ayer (more than "a guy in the neighborhood"), Ayers did participate with cop killing.
Or show bombs going off in pizzarias in Israel, and note that Obama was buddies with a guy who planned this stuff for a living. Closeups on eviscerated corpses...
Hillary can be done in this way---show her hugging the PLO leader's wife and counterpoise it with Palestinians dancing while 9/11 victims were dying...
We need to learn from our opponents: stick it in and break it off...smear and slime and kick and scratch and bite---it works. No more Mr. Nice Guy. As soon as Hillary announces her candidacy, she needs to be smeared---aggressively and without mercy.
RCV| 2.10.13 @ 6:18PM
Follow that advice, and the GOP will truly hit rock bottom. The public is already disgusted enough with the partisan gutter sniping in Washington.
There's a reason Hillary is far and away the most admired public figure in the country, and that kind of lowlife performance by your party will only contrast with the esteem in which they hold her.
fwb| 2.11.13 @ 2:27PM
99% of the people are so filled with greed they'd kill their own mother for a nickel.
99% of the people are so easily fooled by liars that they'd buy a bridge from a guy in a clown suit with a big red nose.
And that is exactly why the Framers did their best to keep these ignorant, sheeple out of 2/3s of government by 1) letting the States choose senators and 2) requiring a special set of electors to choose the President.
When these ignorati changed the processes, they doomed the country.
Want to garner the votes of those who supported Ob? Play to their greed and stupidity. Lie to them. But in order to do so, study the democrats because they are the best at doing just that.
Then again maybe it's time to split the country in two and let the progressives have their social welfare system without the benefit of hard-working "conservatives".
fwb| 2.11.13 @ 2:27PM
99% of the people are so filled with greed they'd kill their own mother for a nickel.
99% of the people are so easily fooled by liars that they'd buy a bridge from a guy in a clown suit with a big red nose.
And that is exactly why the Framers did their best to keep these ignorant, sheeple out of 2/3s of government by 1) letting the States choose senators and 2) requiring a special set of electors to choose the President.
When these ignorati changed the processes, they doomed the country.
Want to garner the votes of those who supported Ob? Play to their greed and stupidity. Lie to them. But in order to do so, study the democrats because they are the best at doing just that.
Then again maybe it's time to split the country in two and let the progressives have their social welfare system without the benefit of hard-working "conservatives".