You're right--platitudes about "smaller government" are a much better way to change minds... I *suggested* 6 months--that is hardly what will work, nor is it what is proposed. It is an "example"...
Nonsense, nonsense, platitude... What I am saying is that for 60 years people have been told they can't do it without the gov't, and it is, therefore, our task to play within those limits. You can spout as many mantras about socialism and limited gov't, but the fact remains that people need tangible, noticeable effects. So, how do you accomplish that? Yank the rug from under them in the name of "states rights"? No, you work within the constraints we have in order to accomplish the larger good--"you gotta give a little...take a little..."
We didn't set the rules, so we must abide by them, but we also have the opportunity to rewrite them.
You fail to get that we must work within the framework to change the framework. You have to change hearts and minds more than policy--change the hearts and minds and the policy will follow. But empty platitudes do more harm than good, as people instintively associates (remember, they are within the framework, and have been for 60 years) that "smaller government" means "you don't get any help from the government whatsoever--you are on your own." Whether that is the truth or not is irrelevant--that is what they hear. So, we must work within the framework..
Call it "viral." This idea is a virus to socialism, and, as you know, viruses work from within to destroy--they don't sit outside the body and harp about how the body should get sick...
You fail to get that we must work within the framework to change the framework.
There isn't any evidence that this approach has worked, is working or will work in the future. As long as we assume we have to continue governing like socialists because that's what the people want, we will never see any change for the better.
You have to change hearts and minds more than policy--change the hearts and minds and the policy will follow.
I agree 100%. But saying that "we must work within the framework to change the framework" suggests just the opposite--that a change in policy is the only way to change people's hearts and minds.
