I do not believe blacks vote overwhelmingly Democratic because they are a purely homogenous group of liberal-leaning people. Rather, Democrats have poisoned their minds about Republicans, convincing them we are racists or at the very least don't have their best interests at heart. It's an "us" against "them" thing, and it wouldn't matter if blacks agreed with Republicans on most policy issues; they would still vote against Republicans as long as they believe we are against or don't care about them.
Limbaugh is a fool. It has nothing to do with the failure to communicate our message properly. It has to do with the fact that they don't agree with what we are selling. The Dems are far more relevant to their world view and personal needs. They want Big Government and all that it offers.
“Limbaugh is a fool. It has nothing to do with the failure to communicate our message properly. It has to do with the fact that they don’t agree with what we are selling. The Dems are far more relevant to their world view and personal needs. They want Big Government and all that it offers.”
Good post and the best response to Limbaugh’s piece.
I was never “in sales”, but it would seem to me that before you attempt to sell a product, that you ascertain who your potential market is.
In the wake of this defeat, I see many (too many) conservatives and Republicans looking towards “the new immigrants” and muttering to themselves, “what do we have to do to sell our product to these people?”
They will never understand because they believe (in a “Pollyannish” manor, the same term that Limbaugh used in the piece above) that “everyone can be like just like we are”, and they believe that all the new immigrants are at their core no different than they, and that their product will sell if they just re-package it with the right glimmers and sparkles.
Ain’t gonna happen.
Paging Willie Loman...
However, there IS a group out there that is conservatism’s “market territory”, and it is to them we should tailor our message.
They are the Euro-Americans.
McCain got about 55% of the “Euro vote” in 2008 (he lost).
Romney got about 59% in 2012 (he still lost).
If Romney had been able to garner a slightly higher share of Euros — say, 63% — he would have won.
There are going to be those who reply to this by saying, “each year the Euro-Americans comprise a smaller percentage of the overall population.”
That may be true, but right now American is still 70-71% Euro-American. That’s approaching three out of four. The largest majorities of non-Euros (such as Hispanics and Asians) are concentrated in “blue states” anyway, that for all practical purposes will remain lost to the Republicans now and forever.
We need to tailor our message to states like Iowa, Wisconsin, etc., which have few “new immigrants”, but are decisive in national political elections. Pandering to Hispanics and Asians will do NOTHING for us in those states where it is really going to count.
I expect replies arguing for conservatives to embrace “group politics” goes against the grain of conservatism. Hogwash. Until William F. Buckley purged the “paleoconservatives” and ushered in what would is now called neo-conservatism, the base of ideological conservatism was about protecting the status quo from the onslaught of liberalism. And it was the national policy of The United States until the early 1960’s to exclude many on the basis of national origin and ethnicity, and by doing so protect the status quo cultural/ethnic makeup of the country.
Once that was abandoned, we opened the gates to a whole new cohort of people, who are so culturally different from our old norms, that our “old ideas” (the traditional American them of “Scots-Irish” self-reliance and distrust of government) are foreign to them, as well.
We can fantasize all we want, but these newcomers ain’t gonna be buyin’ what Republicans have to sell.
If we want to keep our brand from going out of business due to lack of sales, we had best learn where our market is...