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.
An excellent article.
If conservatives would only read it and heed it.
If they can't support us on the core issues of budget/debt and the invasion of the US, what do we gain?
romney THREW the election in the second debate and his son stating that “he never wanted to win” proves it!
I must not have made myself understood. The article doesn’t mean we need to hang with total wimpy losers who clearly don’t care about reaching a Constitutional government like the founders planned. Gosh. I never read that we must support statists because they happen to hold office with Rs by their names!
We need our own goals. Losing the GOPe is definitely one of our goals.
Here is how FR, our little gathering place, deals with the GOPe. “Whine whine whine, sarcasm, disapproval.” Nothing effective. What we need to do is to figure out a way to move TOWARD people in office having the goals of returning to a Free Republic, as we do. Small, workable goals. I don’t know exactly what, but one could be primarying specific office holders, or writing clear essays about specific people and why their constituents of all stripes should replace them, and specific things in their districts that would be improved for the constituents if specific person B were elected instead. Written for low info voters with respect.
Low info voters are often wonderful people. Great Americans. We scoff about them but do you know who they are? Low info voters I know: older black waiters who make everyone in the restaurant feel well liked and happy; sweet women who give hours of delicious meals, care, and fun activities to a couple with alzheimers; a mom with three kids under five; a contractor who is so kind and decent that his team has been with him for 10 years, who works all day long, even injured; a special Ed teacher who is too tired at the end of caring for kids with disabilities to keep up with politics; a jack of all trades man who had a stroke after spending the 80s on cocaine but still works hard today. They are busy people who don’t understand that Brian Williams doesn’t have a clue. Respect them and find ways to quickly inform them.
This article is about strategy. We don’t use that at FR. Last election, we were wowed with people we knew couldn’t. Be trusted, like Gingrich. Then we were going to starve to death rather than eating our yucky dinner. Even bush or Romney would be better than Obama. Purism doesn’t get us even incrementally closer to our goals. It is footstomping only.
Were it only so that one could even dare to compare our slate of politicians today with those men back then.
The truth is, they can't be compared because our bright stars of today are ruled by polls, government power and all the perks and trappings that goes with. There are damned few men like that there today, willing to sacrifice all to establish a just and lasting government that serves rather than rules.
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.
These are the kind of decisions we should be making here and sticking to them unless something changes. Good on you.
Hiroshima and Nagasaki might say otherwise. Sometimes a nuke ends a war without all the BS of small battles.
If you have a great foolproof way for a 99 yard touchdown that will give us leadership we need, speak up, and get a security team. Lol.
The progressives are winning because they control both parties. The GOPe are just a slower left wing party. No amount of compromise with them leads to a smaller government or fewer regulations. If compromise for the sake of the party is so important then let’s see a little movement to the right. The right has been compromising for the last 25 years.
What hard work? Destroying the country? You Vichy Republicans are doing a bang-up job of that.
” Purism doesn’t get us even incrementally closer to our goals”
Not only that, but actually it gets us further away, in fact so far away that we’ll never see victory again, by nominating candidates who consistently lose to the Dems, until Congress will be overwhelmingly controlled by the Dems.
People forget that they controlled the House for some 40 years, until Newt Gingrich came and united the GOP behind an agenda.
If we keep focusing on defeating GOP candidates, instead of the Dems, we’ll achieve the Dem’s goal of full control of Congress and the presidency for the next 100 years, by which time there won’t be anything left of the once great country.
Why should I support either wing of the uniparty?
Haven't they proved that they are nothing but talk and riding on "reputation"/"brand recognition"?
oppositionhas been nonexistant on:
representativesthe incurance of such crushing debt is voluntary and the 13th Amendment therefore does not apply.)
no exceptionsto that party-plank.
the case of rape, incest, or the mother's health*.
at will, both politically and legally.)
victory condition, no way to say "we won".)
IN THE GRIM DARKNESS OF THE FAR FUTURE THERE IS ONLY GOVERNMENT.
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| The Tao of Republican Orthodoxy [Direct Link] |
The Modern Democratic Party & You [Direct Link] |
If you violate everything you’re fighting for in order to win,then what have you won?
Maybe the Vichy Republicans get a nice fat check from Mr. Soros.
If we don’t defeat candidates like mccain and graham.... they will continue with their progressive “gang of eight” cabals to thwart any Conservative agenda. They are poison to Freedom and Liberty and I will no longer go along with those that have stabbed me in the back and caused my life to become harder because of their evil corruption.
This is true, but for a different reason than what is implied by this statement.
Far different from the Right where differences of opinion are at least welcomed to be aired and discussed, the Left/Democrat Socialists do not tolerate any "impurity". That is, anyone daring to proffer a differing opinion from their socialist ideology or to even question it is dispatched at once by the party's muscle. This is how socialists/totalitarians behave ... and it's efficient until their ideology is imposed on the citizenry.
Where are the pelts / trophy heads on Issa’s wall?
The progressives are winning because they stick together unlike the republicans, and I am not talking about the House Members and the Senators
But "purism" does seem to work for the Dems. They demand and get ideological purity. They stand for something, which gives them an advantage. They don't attack key parts of their base while the GOPe attacks the Tea Party and plans for its demise.
Exactly, Lakeshark. You get it.
We should crystallize in writing our Big Main Goal. I sure hope it would be something like
ACHIEVING A VOTING POPULACE THAT UNDERSTANDS FREEDOM AND OUR CONSTITUTION
Because elected officials will always change, will always be corruptible. The most important thing is to inform the uninformed about our powers in this country, our ability to have a Free Republic if we can keep it, and right now, with this media and voters who are wholly uneducated in American wisdom and history, we cannot.
Then, we should list our smaller goals to move us toward what we want. We should be more accepting of two steps foreword, one step back IF IT MOVES US TRULY AHEAD. We should argue amongst ourselves which strategies get us farther ahead toward touchdown. We should debate. But we shouldn’t be purists on each play.
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