Posted on 11/28/2006 2:48:22 PM PST by AndrewWalden
'“This is the same whiney bs we hear every two years.” – Andrew Walden
In a series of articles titled “Failure to Launch” and "Failure to Launch, II" published in Hawaii Reporter, Eric Ryan, who 14 years ago worked to block a rail tax increase, argues that Gov. Linda Lingle is undermining the success of other GOP candidates.
Hawaii small government conservatives should reject this loser mentality and entitlement mentality.
The best evidence against Ryan’s assertions comes from his own writings. In his November 3 article on HawaiiReporter, Ryan argues: “Anyone with a brain knows that Gov. Linda Lingle will handily win reelection on Tuesday, even if she didn’t spend millions of dollars getting reelected….She could have steered that same money from those same contributors toward the dozens of under funded Republican candidates?”
This is contradicted by Ryan writing on August 26, 2005: “Next year, Lingle will run for re-election. And it is no sure thing that she’ll be returned to office given that there’s a highly motivated Democrat Party, which doesn’t like being out of power.”
The question of whether Lingle is a conservative (she’s not) is different from the question of what conservatives must do to win in Hawaii. Conservative leadership must emerge on its own strength, not depending on handouts from Lingle or anybody else. Since Ryan in the Nov. 3 article (wrongly) calls Lingle “the new face of the old machine”, it is a mystery why he would expect help from her or her contributors in the first place. Apparently his intent is to sell Republicans on the idea that Lingle has become what they were fighting against and thereby lead a revolt in the GOP. Nonsense. The only way to gain leadership of a political party is by winning electoral office.
Gov. Lingle raised taxes on several occasions in 2005 and 2006. The response of Hawaii conservatives has been to throw up their hands in disgust and walk away. In 2005 Ryan as even predicted Lingle’s defeat at the polls.
In Virginia, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Montana and Missouri, conservatives stayed home and as a result Democrats were elected to the US Senate on November 7. This was not an organized effort, but a sufficient number of conservative voters simply acted on their own. Likewise in many U.S. House districts, placing Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) third in line to the Presidency and making al-Qaeda so happy they promised to blow up the White House. In Hawaii, if conservatives did indeed stay home on Nov 7, nobody noticed. The absence of conservatives at the polls made no difference. Facing that reality is the key to developing a different strategy for Hawaii conservatives.
On April 13, 2005 just before Lingle agreed to allow counties to raise taxes for transit system construction Ryan predicted Hawaii conservatives might throw the election to the Democrats by staying home. He wrote: “C’mon, Linda, do you really think that enough Democrat voters are going to benefit from rail construction that they'll make up for the Republican and Independent voters that will stay home on re-election day?” Nineteen months later, Lingle won with 61.7% of the vote. Ryan writes Nov. 3, “Anyone with a brain knows that Gov. Linda Lingle will handily win reelection….” Is he just making it up as he goes along?
Unlike the mainland, in Hawaii, conservatives cannot keep the GOP on the straight and narrow by staying home on Election Day. There simply aren’t enough conservatives. Governor Lingle understands this; that is why she was able to walk away from her no new taxes pledge in 2005. Hawaii conservatives must face this truth and learn from it.
Instead of sitting on their hands, the way forward for Hawaii conservatives is to run for county council, state house, and state senate. They can start with the low-hanging fruit—17 house districts which voted 65% for Lingle but are saddled with Democrat legislators. By winning ‘entry-level’ races, a conservative base can be built within the party and within the Hawaii electorate. Whining about lack of support from “the new face of the old machine” will not bring this about—but it does provide a handy excuse for not doing the hard work.
County Council, State House and Senate seats are not determined by huge amounts of money. They are retail politics at its best. Any candidate who presents himself in a reasonably professional manner--and who is willing to do the work of knocking on every door in the district--can win. Add to that the ability to raise about $30-40,000—peanuts to an entrepreneur—and recruit a solid team of volunteers and an experienced campaign manager and one has the recipe for success.
State Rep. Josh Green used that recipe to win twice in HD 6, Kailua-Kona. Green is a pro-socialized-medicine Democrat running in one of the most Republican districts in Hawaii. The Democrats recruited him to run in a district which voted 70% for Lingle in 2002 and he did exactly what Hawaii conservatives should be doing—but aren’t. He knocked on every door in the district at least twice.
Those who blame the decline in legislative Republicans on Lingle fail to consider the increased effort made post-2002 in legislative campaigns by Democrats. Since Dems aren’t winning the top spot, they need to put more effort into Legislative races or dissolve into nothingness.
Spending the last two years meeting with every active small government conservative—and in fact every active Republican--on the Big Island, Republicans were unable to recruit a candidate to run in heavily Republican HD 6 and were successful in recruiting only four candidates out of seventeen needed (four others decided to run on their own).
Not a single small government conservative stepped forward intending to run to win. If conservatives will not “wear out three pairs of shoes” trying to win --even in heavily Republican districts-- then they forfeit their moral authority to demand support from Lingle or the state party. Ideas are worse than meaningless if no work is put behind them. Without work, ideas become transformed into losers’ excuses. To expect others to work harder than you do for what you believe is an entitlement mentality.
On April 13, 2005 Ryan wrote about the rail tax: “The only way to motivate voters and taxpayers to unite in this big a fight is to piss them off with the truth. And nobody likes to get scammed out of their own money to enrich some lying scumbags; be they politicians, bureaucrats, contractors, or union fatcats . . . which is exactly what’s on the verge of happening.”
For a moment there, he almost sounds like a leader, but the negativity shines through as he continues: “the pro-rail, pro-tax bunch are so likely to win this time around, 13 years later. For those of us who were a part of this fight in 1992, it is depressing to think that we’re being outmaneuvered politically in this political game of chess by mindless hacks with the I.Q.’s and vocations of puppets who probably aren’t even smart enough to realize that they and their friends are on the take….”
This is an entitlement mentality suited to the Kennedys and Kerrys of the world. Conservatives have no “right” to political office; we must earn it every time—especially in Hawaii. The “hacks” are not mindless. They are working their game and conservatives must recognize that the “mindless hacks” are profiting themselves—they are very good at being corrupt.
Appearing to be stupid is an art form which is integral to corrupt operations. Rep. Jerry Chang (D-Hilo), deemed ‘stupid’ by many, has in two decades progressed from owning only a wrecked motor scooter to being a major landlord in East Hawaii. He is such a genius that some still believe he is stupid. In the last session Chang was caught self-dealing on a $50 million legislative package for an ATV park. His district voted 57% for Lingle in 2006. Who will step forward to give his district a choice in 2008?
Union voters are not mindless—they (wrongly) believe the union is their best hope and they vote accordingly. Conservatives must expose how rank and file union members are being shortchanged by the cozy relations between their union tops and management—Democrat politicians. If enough union members get the message, it will chip into the Democrat base.
Those who ascribe weakness or stupidity to their opponents doom themselves to defeat. It is an act of intellectual laziness which rids one of the burden of overcoming obstacles while at the same time providing a comforting excuse for failure.
But Ryan continues explaining his attitude towards the electorate: Voters are “making more money, they don’t think a penny tax makes much difference, they’re too busy working to pay mortgages and entertaining themselves (with quadruple the number of cable channels and multiplexes, not to mention an internet which didn’t exist the last time rail was debated) to even think about the issues of rail and taxes on an intellectual level….”
Conservatives who believe the voters are stupid should have the decency to retire from politics. Only liberals win elections by arguing the people are stupid. For conservatives it is a sure sign of a defeated mentality—it undermines everything conservatives believe about individual liberty.
This year, top-level political trainers twice came from Washington DC to Oahu in order to teach modern political techniques to Hawaii conservatives. Last Spring, a former GOP Congressman flew 6,000 miles out to Hawaii and spent two days teaching campaign techniques to the only eight people who could be bothered to come 6000 yards to meet him on Oahu. He then came to Hilo and met 30 people, launching the East Hawaii GOP to success.
One week ago, Newt Gingrich’s former campaign manager spoke to about 40 people in Honolulu. If small-government conservatives want to actually achieve leadership of the GOP, they will have to start showing up at these training sessions --which have never before been offered in Hawaii--to learn something they don’t know, how to win elections.
Entrepreneurs know that success brings success and excuses are for losers. There is no substitute for learning the methods of politics and working hard. It is long past time for Hawaii conservatives—allegedly the advocates of entrepreneurship--to apply entrepreneurial wisdom to their political efforts, stop whining, and pull themselves up by their bootstraps.
Andrew Walden is the publisher and editor of Hawaii Free Press, a Big Island-based newspaper. He can be reached via email at mailto:andrewwalden@email.com
In Hawai'i????
Do you think there are enough people in HI who would prefer small government if they are "informed"? I think HI is somewhat conservative when it comes to social issues (the 1998 referendum on marriage shows that), but it will be difficult convincing them to abandon big government ideas.
They're going to build a rail train in Oahu.
Amazing. The Dems want to tax something before it has even been built. Just dang.
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