“Standing on your core values and convictions and having no quarter for compromise can not be viewed as being weak to win a war.”
This is fun, and too easy. Read my posts. I’m not arguing for moving left, as one poster just accused me of saying, or of compromising any core values or convictions.
I am simply saying that the most effective tack is to engage RINOs in the marketplace of ideas.
I advocate Reaganesque optimism, City on a Hill, and all that.
With all due respect, Jim Robinson is making a mistake here. There are soooo many people lurking on this site who are not conservatives. They are RINOs, they are newbies, they are even Democrats who are curious.
Blasting every contrarian poster is counterproductive. Posting emails that say that anyone who fails one conservative litmus test or another can go to hell hurts the cause. This is all a mistake.
The right email would have evangelized. It would have said ... There are many millions of people who we could bring to this site and educate and who are desparate and hungry for a different vision. These are people who may not be fully on board right now. We must be patient. We must be warm and welcoming. We must patiently rebut wrongheaded ideas. We must leverage this site to its greatest effect.
We must abide their ignorance and welcome even the most foolish and uninformed views, because that is how we turn the tide.
If I were Jim Robinson, that’s the email I would have written.
This is a great site. It is way, way, way too insular and cold to outsiders. And I write this as a conservative, as a long time FR member and poster, and in the best spirit of getting results.