Posted on 11/15/2012 3:44:00 AM PST by Kaslin
Any change requires pain. Whatever we are doing now is easy (we think) compared to change, whatever it may be. Changing is hard. It requires us to think anew, to change our habits, our processes, our language. It's venturing out into the unknown. Without a compelling reason, people will stay the same and not change.
People begin to change only when the pain of what they are doing becomes more painful than the pain of change.
Republicans -- it is time for change.
The election last week was painful -- at least for me, a lifetime conservative.
It was an election that, based on history (bad economy and an incumbent president), conservatives could have won -- should have won.
But conservatives didn't.
How incredibly painful.
It's time to change.
It's time to renovate the Republican Party.
If you have ever gone through a home renovation, you know how dusty, dirty, slow and frustrating it can be. The process is long, arduous and exhausting.
The beginning is envisioning what the remodeled area should look and feel like. To do this properly, one must think about who is going to live in the space and how they are going to use it. A kitchen designed for a retired couple whose children no longer live with them would be different than a kitchen for a young family with three toddlers, or for a bachelor. Is this a kitchen for a cook, or a kitchen for someone who prefers takeout?
We have lived in our home for more than a decade and began thinking about renovating the kitchen even before we moved in. Just this year we began the process in earnest.
During months of clipping photos, visiting showrooms and searching online, our vision for what we wanted in our kitchen became more and more clear.
We wanted to create a family-friendly place for our two children, with plenty of storage for drinks and snacks for them and their friends. We envisioned a space that would include a raised bar for breakfast, a table for family dinners and bright colors for cheer.
We had drawings made, we moved the layout around on paper, and we picked out appliances, cabinets and flooring materials.
Often, we began going down one route (bar the same height as the countertop), only to change later (raised bar).
The process has not been easy (dust everywhere, eating out of a temporary kitchen in the basement), and it's not over, but we have no doubt that, in the end, it will be worth the time, money and effort.
The same is true of the renovation of the Republican Party.
What might a newly renovated Republican Party look like? A group that opens its arms to all Americans and is represented throughout all 50 states by a variety of people. A party that focuses on inclusion rather than outreach, a party that creates a welcoming space.
A party that communicates with feeling as well as facts.
A party that cares about people first and politics second.
We have to spend some time envisioning what should be, what could be.
To become the majority party that it could be, the Republican Party must go through renovation.
The hard part about politics is that it includes people. The best part about politics is that it includes people. It's tempting to focus on the theoretical, policy and intellectual sides of politics, but the integration of ideas and interaction between people is where the real work gets done.
In the end, it's not about political theory; it's about whom we can work with to implement political reality to make our country better.
It's no longer enough to be the party that Americans should agree with. Republicans could be the party Americans want to belong to, to be a part of.
This is going to require major renovation.
The renovation process can be tough. It's dusty, dirty, long and sometimes incredibly frustrating.
But it has to be done.
A good article. A good analogy.
Unfortunately, sometimes renovation is not the answer. Sometimes the foundations are so decayed and crumbling and there is so little worth preserving that it is necessary to tear down and start from scratch. Starting from scratch can be faster, cheaper, easier. Starting from scratch can give you what you really want without being hamstrung by problems that exist in the current structure.
It is possible to build a brand new building that has all the features that the old one used to have, the features you used to cherish, but which have crumbled or decayed. But the new building will be shiny and new.
I often forego clicking on links to townhall.com, the spammiest, most cluttered, pop-uppiest website in the world. I clicked on this one, and after I closed several pop-ups, an image of a reclining person emerged from the bottom of the page, and the page froze. No scrolling up or down allowed. Then more pop-ups.
It’s an article that says nothing. “Inclusion not outreach” meaning how, amnesty?
Oh, and I agree—time for a new party from the foundation up.
The Bush’s renovated the GOP and we’ve been losing with Compassionate Liberalism. Reagan won without being mush, not ignoring Conservatives/Libertarians and not blithering about compromise to appeal to mushy moderates.
The first change that has to be made is to stop New Hampshire and Iowa from getting first shot at any candidates.
I agree. Some other state party should get some practice at cheating the way Iowa did at the caucus this year. One of their insiders admitted on tape that there were plans to rig the vote outcome if the wrong candidate was going to win in an honest vote. I say we give West Virgina a chance to show that they are just as crooked. They need some claim to fame with Bird being dead and all.
Speaking of change...
...It is impossible to introduce into society a greater change and a greater evil than this: the conversion of the law into an instrument of plunder.
Socialism Is Legal Plunder
Man can live and satisfy his wants only by ceaseless labor; by the ceaseless application of his faculties to natural resources. This process is the origin of property.
But it is also true that a man may live and satisfy his wants by seizing and consuming the products of the labor of others. This process is the origin of plunder.
Now since man is naturally inclined to avoid pain — and since labor is pain in itself — it follows that men will resort to plunder whenever plunder is easier than work. History shows this quite clearly. And under these conditions, neither religion nor morality can stop it.
When, then, does plunder stop? It stops when it becomes more painful and more dangerous than labor.
It is evident, then, that the proper purpose of law is to use the power of its collective force to stop this fatal tendency to plunder instead of to work. All the measures of the law should protect property and punish plunder.
But, generally, the law is made by one man or one class of men. And since law cannot operate without the sanction and support of a dominating force, this force must be entrusted to those who make the laws.
This fact, combined with the fatal tendency that exists in the heart of man to satisfy his wants with the least possible effort, explains the almost universal perversion of the law. Thus it is easy to understand how law, instead of checking injustice, becomes the invincible weapon of injustice. It is easy to understand why the law is used by the legislator to destroy in varying degrees among the rest of the people, their personal independence by slavery, their liberty by oppression, and their property by plunder. This is done for the benefit of the person who makes the law, and in proportion to the power that he holds.
Bastiat - "The Law"
DEFUND the plunderers. DEPOPULATE the plunderers.
RINOS and ‘Rats shouldn’t be in a house, senate or white house. They tear things up and bring in diseases.
Getting enough people to care that even Democrat poll packing (if not more sinister things) isn’t enough to win, certainly is part of it.
Mitt, the one chosen to be the high profile standard bearer this year, got a late start and sometimes came across as lukewarm. There was nothing fundamentally impossible about a stronger campaign; the people simply did not DO it.
Clicking carelessly in a page on Townhall (an act that is far more forgiving in FR) can get you ad’ed to death. Watch carefully where you click and you should have few problems.
“The first change that has to be made is to stop New Hampshire and Iowa from getting first shot at any candidates.”
AMEN! They screw things up for the rest of the primary. So infuriating.
The GOP is are already screwing up. Legal action against polls with massive voter fraud should be job one. The GOP will spend millions on ads but not that? The next step is to occupy these polls during future elections with lawyers and ex-military poll watchers, while targeting out own strong counties with massive (and legal) get out the vote efforts.
I agree. The GOP should have Alabama and Idaho hold the first primaries. I’m so sick and tired of hearing Iowegians and New Hampshireians saying stuff like, “I want to hear more about what he thinks about Healthcare for children.”
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