Posted on 02/20/2014 9:33:21 AM PST by Kaslin
People interested in liberty – be they conservative, libertarian, Republican, Tea Partiers or whatever – need to pull their heads out of where they currently are and let the sun once again shine on them before it’s too late.
The electorate is ripe for the picking and freedom is on the cusp of a comeback. But it just as easily could be lost for good if its supporters don’t reconcile, wise up and act like adults.
Progressive Democrats have a plan, as they always do. They want to expand government power and dependence. Government never has been bigger nor had so many Americans dependent on it to some degree or other. Liberty is losing, even though it is supported by a majority of Americans, because non-progressives too often act like teenagers throwing a temper tantrum rather than adults with an objective.
Progressives want a complete government takeover of health care. They have fought for it for decades. They had the chance to get it in 2009-10, but passed. They didn’t have a change of heart and suddenly decide not to inflict their failed Utopian Hell on the country. They knew it would be rejected, so, rather than push for a full takeover, they smartly settled for more incrementalism, and Obamacare was born.
Obamacare is a disaster, but it was designed to be. No one who voted for it saw it as the finish line. It’s a rest stop on the way to single-payer. Progressives are willing to accept half-measures that inch them toward their goals, then wait patiently for the next opportunity to push ahead. On the right, there’s none of that.
Impatience is understandable, but it’s also stupid and counterproductive.
The political right excels of late at petty infighting. Depending on who you talk to and what their personal issue is, non-progressives are a jumbled mess of pet issues, personal crusades and unhelpful grandstanding. The only thing missing is the only thing that matters – clearly articulated goals and a plan to achieve them.
There’s a lot of pie-in-the-sky talk about how to score a touchdown, but those plans generally require every play to be a 99-yard pass. That isn’t going to happen. Touchdowns aren’t scored on every play, even by the best teams. Getting to the end zone requires time and a series of plays – some short, some long – that together, over time, gets you to where you want to be.
Rather than work together on issues they agree on, set an agenda, establish common messages and outreach to the majority of Americans who agree but aren’t paying attention, the right’s factions fight over which issue is “most important” and how everyone who doesn’t agree is the problem in Washington. Meanwhile, all of their goals are becoming more difficult, if not impossible, to obtain. But they’re righteous, damn it, and that inflated sense of moral superiority and the money that blindly flows behind it sustains them. It’s a ship of captains arguing over the position of the stars while the boat sinks under their feet.
Progressives, on the other hand, get strategy. They win by playing the long con. They don’t spend time or resources arguing over who or what is “pure” enough. They ask: Does this advance the ball toward the goal line?
When was the last time you heard of a progressive group attacking a progressive politician? Has the Center for American Progress attacked Media Matters for anything? Vice-versa? Has any Senate Democrat attacked Harry Reid for ceding the advice-and-consent role of the Senate to the President? Of course not. Even vulnerable Senate Democrats who are facing near-impossible re-elections because they voted for Obamacare are muted in their criticisms. They’re for a progressive agenda, they see the long game and put their objectives before themselves.
On the other hand, we on the right see only tomorrow, if not just later tonight. They don’t recognize that an all-or-nothing attitude usually gets you nothing.
Why can’t they unify around a few big-picture goals to articulate and educate the public on and leave the disagreements for later? Because there’s no money, no power, no glory in that. The problem with being a movement based on the idea of rugged individualism is it’s made up of a bunch of rugged individuals…and their egos.
Progressives are winning – not because they have better ideas or the majority on their side. They’re winning because they will do anything – even lie, cheat and violate the Constitution – to obtain their goals. They put aside petty differences for the big picture.
Most Americans are uninformed, distracted and disinterested. That makes them prime picking for progressives who never let the facts stand in the way of their agenda, and who co-opt the language of liberty to fool them. Why not use it? No one else is.
Pro-liberty politicians are too interested in preaching to the choir to bother refuting progressives. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., gets this. He has spoken at Howard University, among other places, and he deserves credit. Steve Pearce, the New Mexico congressman, is no softie on immigration. But his majority-Hispanic district loves him because he takes the time to show up and be part of their community. This ought not be newsworthy.
Preaching to the choir drowns out reality. It engenders cheers from the fans and boos from the detractors. But it does not reach the great middle – the voters who decide elections. They encounter these questions only through the media, movies and pop culture. And it’s not the liberty message they hear from those sources. It’s those terms turned on their ear with a “dependence is good” mindset piled on top.
Pro-liberty politicians, pundits and activist groups need to learn to put aside their differences, at least for a while, forego the “Hail Mary” bomb and gain some yards. If they do, America will look a lot different. If they don’t, it’ll look a lot like now. Like it or not, you can’t change reality until you accept what it is.
What have Boner and McConnell done to advance the ball?
Can’t disagree. Even R. Reagan said that if he could get 80% agreement that was plenty enough to work with.
The GOPe manage to get their way by the divide and conquer strategy. It is time we unite with those who will support most of the thinks we support (maybe even only most of what we support).
Every system can be driven to the point where a “chaotic” non-linear response will occur....following what seems to be a very small change in input.
Before this was advanced in technical circles (unknown to liberals), it was known as “revolution”.
Our non-linear point is rapidly approaching, IMHO.
Republicans are dead, dead, dead. No one with room temp IQ or above trusts them. Of course, we’re countered by all those with below room temp IQ, who have voted for the dork and his ill-educated minions far too long.
A non-linear transition looms.
Keep your powder dry.
True be that! Only problem is the ‘progressives’ have several players on the Republican side. It’s not a matter of ‘how pure’ it’s a matter of getting actual conservatives into the government. I do hope and pray that win or lose in the primaries we can join together and support Republicans 100%. We need to win now or never.
we are killing ourselves off....by voting for the third party "constitutional" candidate in a tight race for the Senate in Minn....or by voting for the little con man Perot, or NOT voting for the one viable candidate for prez in the form of Mitt Romney....
we might already be dead as far as elections go because of our collective arrogance, but there is a small window of opportunity in November......
can we pull together?
either we hang together or we'll hang separately..
Yes, they'll do anything.
Including infiltrate republican ranks.
Get rid of the Rinos IF you EVER want the conservative agenda to advance. We already know the Rino Battle Cry: BOHICA!
I read this article twice. I have no idea what his point is other than to say “Rah Rah Rand Paul.”
I suppose surrender is the current strategy .
They view this situation as a game.
It is war.
Now is not the time to call retreat.
I’ve thought for awhile that a simple direct slogan would work.
Show modern Detroit, people waiting in line for food, etc. with commentary concerning the growing welfare state and decreasing individual freedoms. End with a simple short question question.
“Wouldn’t you rather be free?”
End result: the country goes to hell in a hand basket because we are forbidden from using the primary season to rid ourselves of these liberals.
When was the last time you heard of a progressive group attacking a progressive politician?
Excellent point. Now show us where we have been attacking any conservative politicians. (We won't insult out own, or your intellignece by asking you to prove that Graham, Cornyn, McConnell et al are conservative. We know they aren't, you know they aren't, and their voting records prove they aren't)
In fact the only conservtaives being attacked are being attacked by the GOP establishment, as usual. The GOPe won't attack a single liberal but they'll come out guns ablazing for real conservatives.
Best article I’ve read about the problems with us on the right.
It happens on FR too. Since second bush term, FR hasn’t had any effect on an election. That was from the swift boaters, not FR, but FR gave them a good place to voice their concerns and a lot of links on google sent people here and then to their book.
But here on FR, there is a huge swirling vortex like the flush of a toilet of preaching to the choir. And discarding “trolls” instead of gently opening their eyes. Practice on trolls. Most likely, even if they seem progressive, underneath, they truly are uninformed voters.
When Obama won again, I felt deceived here. We don’t do enough. We fight each other too much. We need to be a part of getting back to a constitutional America, but as long as FR considers many of its own not pure enough, we are nothing. We need to pump the public with positive ways to slowly grow more free from government. We need to forget about holding to specific religious tenets and more true freedoms for religious and nonreligious alike, like our founders.
FR pushes for the 99 yard touchdown on every play. Let’s get together and make some smaller plays and get ahead for once.
The author blames Americans and Conservatives for the evil of DC... we arefed up with the most corrupt government America has ever been ruled over by and he wants us to embrace the corrupt criminals in the republican party... just to elect them again and continue with the march to communism that the likes of boehner, mcconnell, mccain and collins want. Well screw that. I will go down fighting and WITH my boots on. Screw the left... IN BOTH PARTIES! I BLAME THEM ALL!
You can ALWAYS be counted on to make excuses for the uselessness of reelecting our problems.
Stopping infighting is simple. Stop supporting the enemy and support people that embrace conservatism.
I had hoped after being backstabbed over immigration (the illegal kind), the wholesale screwing of vets, the budget cavins and the rest, people would smarten up. Yet here is yet another advocate of moderation spreading the Romney wasn’t that bad kool aid.
Do us a favor. Come out and admit it. You are perfectly willing to help keep conservatives hitting the GOP bong.What the entire right needs is less people like you disrupting us.
So, we need to do the same thing? Lie, cheat and violate the Constitution - to obtain our goals?
Face it. For the ptb 'pubs enemy number one is constitutional conservatives. And here the backstabbers go again, telling us we have to vote for the lesser of two evils. They even had to "out" Sowell and Coulter to try to get their message across.
Could not disagree with you more.
Sounds good, and is in principle. The big BUT is that liberal GOPe is always more willing to “compromise” with Dems than with the base of their own party. They actually hate us more than they do Dems.
IMO, were the GOPe to be willing (they are not) to advance some of our agenda and could be trusted (they can’t be) if they said they would, we could go somewhere. Six months before every election they fake a steer to the center right and within days of getting elected they screw the hell out of us.
Compromise requires action on both sides. Compromise with the GOPe is the base bending over and grabbing their ankles. The GOPe is as corrupt and self serving as the Democrats. They will side with the Dems before they make any meaningful compromise with their own base.
Sadly, IMO, blame for the demise of the Republic should be placed squarely on the shoulders of the GOP. Not stopping evil when they have the power to do so. Unwilling to sacrifice *anything* for genuine principles.
I completely disagree. See my post #17 for the reason.
There are some good points in the article but also some missing points.
First, democrats do not attack each other for things like corruption, sex crimes, embezzlement, vote stealing etc. **BUT, they will attack anyone who doesn’t tow the party line. If a democrat disagrees with abortion, they will be drummed out of the party instantly or at least attacked behind the scenes until they wise up.
When we attack people like Boener or John McDouchebag, we are attempting to remove people from our party that do not belong. I actually think they are democrat plants that were put in place to completely neuter the Republican party. So yes, we need to clean house with some of these obvious RINOs.
With that said, we should not attack candidates or pundits because they have a couple beliefs that are not pure conservative. For example, Thomas Sowell should not be ridiculing Cruz. Even if he’s correct (which I don’t believe he is at all) then he’s tearing down one of the only people that has inched the ball in the correct direction!
Same thing goes for all of you Glen Beck haters. Sure he pisses me off sometimes and he has a few beliefs that I’m opposed to, but he has moved the ball in the right direction many times. He has probably done more to expose the left and educate people than any other single person! We need to band together even with people that have a few blemishes, as long as they are helping us go in the right direction.
As for Rubio, he exposed himself as a RINO when he lied to our faces in support of amnesty which will destroy our nation. He is a Rino like Mclame and Boner and should be treated as such. He made a huge transgression with amnesty, not just a difference of opinion.
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