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.
That you, Pepe? I thought there was a Vichyness there...
You are part of the problem, with your steep requirements.
There is an old joke describing perfectionists like you.
A religious man, who trusted Gd implicitly, lived in a town that was hit by a storm like never before. Soon the streets were flooded yet the storm raged on. A man in a boat rowed by and exhorted the neighbors to all climb in and be rowed to safety. This one man turned him down, saying, “The good Lrd will protect me! I trust in Him!” But the rain kept pouring down.
The first floor of his home was soon under water. From the top floor window he saw a large boat coming by, searching for survivors. They waved him to jump into the ship, but he refused. “The good Lrd will keep me safe! I trust in Him!” The ship moved on.
Soon the man was forced to climb to his roof and cling with all his might to his chimney top. He heard a whirring overhead, and saw a helicopter trying to drop him a ladder. He waved them on, shouting into the wind that he was sure to be protected by Gd, and trusted only in Him. The water kept rising, and soon it was higher than his chimney. He couldn’t get his head out of water enough to keep breathing, and he passed away. A moment later he was in Heaven with his chance to be face to face with his Creator.
“My Lrd! Why did you leave me? All my life I trusted in You and You let me die in that storm!!”
The Creator of the Universe responded, “what do you want? I sent you two boats and a helicopter!”
Sticking to your list of perfection, you are soon to be clinging to your chimney top. And if your next comment is to be, “so I have to agree with everything McConnell and boner say?!” Just save it. That is not what this article or this thread is about. It’s not about getting along with political enemies. It’s about putting our main goal in concrete, tattooing it in our minds, and working toward it in 500 small ways, from all directions, strategizing and winning.
Aww... Aren’t you cute. You and Karl Rove can bot hgo sit in the corner while the Adults take over and clean up your mess.
Karl Rove? Good lord, You're rather ignorant of political discourse, aren't you? Don't shoot from the hip, you'll hurt yourself. And is "sitting in the corner" your only quip? Getting rather stale, Pepe.
The last election, if we had had a serious ultimate goal, and were still in the end stuck with the election of either Obama or Romney, we should have debated here on FR seriously with pros and cons of which election would bring us closer in the end to our goal. Under which president could we move more slowly toward the doom of our nation, under which president would we move closer toward achieving a constitutional government. And when we chose, we should have gone on to attempt to inform the uninformed voters how long term, our choice was going to give them more freedom. That is a goal that FR could do. We could have had a thread of success, where people had influence and how each one of us could go out and try to influence and inform people which candidate will bring us closer to freedom.
I don’t know how it would have turned out but no one was arguing about end goals and strategic battles here then - it was “I’ll never support Romney no matter what.” That isn’t strategic. Maybe we still would have thrown in behind Obama like we did, or maybe we wouldn’t have. But it was a debate re our end goals that was not even entered into here.
Well, please post how people outside of KY can help. Money? Writing influential essays? Social media? Ever one of us wants to get rid of McConnell. Keep freepers informed of how we can try to help.
Compromising yet again with people who have conclusively shown they stand for nothing does not advance the conservative agenda we simply must have if we are to save the country.
One of the best sentences on this thread.
I don’t know where you get this suspicious idea. We as conservatives need to use every constitutional implement we can to win, because we don’t want to cheat and lie like the other side. And yes, some of the “other side” has R by their name.
We need the primaries. We need to strategize first, but we need to fight hard in the primaries, yea, before the primaries, to actually have better candidates who share our goals!
So exactly what will the GOP do with this leverage. They certainly are not using the control of the House to best advantage. Boehner appears weak and afraid of confrontation.
Great post! I’ve thought much the same thing, the message should be a simple and direct appeal to freedom and liberty. That’s ultimately the goal isn’t it?
Perfectionist?
Here's my list of requirements for federal-level government position:
And if your next comment is to be, “so I have to agree with everything McConnell and boner say?!” Just save it. That is not what this article or this thread is about. It’s not about getting along with political enemies.
I'm sorry, but the list of people in the Republican party who aren't my political enemy [off the top of my head] is pretty short:
It’s about putting our main goal in concrete, tattooing it in our minds, and working toward it in 500 small ways, from all directions, strategizing and winning.
And what's wrong with pointing out that the Republican party, as-a-party, is all talk and no action?
They are not for Freedom, they are not for Liberty, they are not for Justice — they are, by their actions and inactions for all power in the hands of the state, to the degree that a baker or photographer can be enslaved to support with their trade things that they find morally and religiously objectionable, they are for the indefinite detainment
of "terrorists", they are for the spying on millions of people who have not even reached a point of reasonable suspicion.
That is the party that you are trying to insinuate is not my political enemy.
Does this author support getting rid of McConnell in the Kentucky primary, as based on this article?
Support Republican South Carolina Representative Trey Gowdy during the coming House Member Rebellion Election to be the new Speaker of the House by April 15, 2014.
To all of you who think the road to Liberty is paved by compromise, let me ask you this.
The author seems to excoriate all of us “purists” because we are not ready to surrender our principles on the altar of expediency like the GOP has been doing since GHWB was elected.
On what principles should we “compromise”?
The Debt?
Guns?
Marriage?
Abortion?
Obamacare?
Liberty?
Where should we erase the line in the sand?
And how do you propose that we capitulate?
And what do you hope to accomplish by engaging in capitulation on core principles?
The author suggests that all of us purists give up our purity but what will we get in exchange?
Good grief, why does he use soooo many words to simply tell Conservatives to shut up and do as their told?
He is ust another Republican lecturing us on how self-righteous we are.
Yawn.
Yes, Ma’am... Sorry about that.
Would you like me to use smaller words?
Perfection?
FR is far from perfect, but we are pro-God, pro-Life, pro-family, pro-constitutionally limited government, pro-defense, pro-America!
And we do not surrender to chicken livered RINOS!!
Never give-in, never give-up, never surrender!!
We don’t retreat, we reload!!
We are the resistance.
The GOPe RINOS can KMA!!
Go, Ted, GO!!
Bunch o’ folk on this thread seem to be just fine with the “winning” strategy of Karl Rove and Willard Romney...
Not what we need.
Buuuuump!
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