I've been thinking
about my conservative friends and loved ones in the wake of what must be a
devastating loss. Funnily enough, with the severely divisive rancor
in recent years, I find myself waxing nostalgic for what used to be the Grand
Ole Party. I know you've not asked me, conservative
friends, but I’m going to offer some gentle suggestion as to how you might
build consensus within your party and perhaps identify leaders who can win the
electorate.
1. Let
your leadership trickle up from grass roots. You've got to build a
ground game: a community of folks who are like minded about issues and identify
from those ranks, folks who have strong leadership and organizing qualities.
Add the words ‘community organizer’ back to your lexicon.
2. Always
operate from your better angel; you devils are all snark and venom.
Don’t call college educated women like Sandra Fluke sluts. Don’t call the
president a liar while he addresses the nation. Don’t call 47% of the
electorate lazy. Name-calling sucks and is ineffective. People ought to be
treated with respect, even if you vehemently disagree with them or think they
are lying lazy-ass sluts. Remember the golden rule.
3. Consider
a different news source, or demand integrity from the one you prefer.
Conservative media folk like Limbaugh, Beck and Coulter and sources like FOX
are selling you a load of bull, my friend. During the presidential campaign,
liberal David Axelrod confidently said, “They’ve got the myth
and we've got the math.” He was right. Wouldn't you rather
know the bad news than have someone blow sunshine in your face? What if, months
ago, conservatives saw things as they really were i.e., the message of hatred
and the obstructionism and the unfounded attacks on Obama and the ‘trickle-down
theory’ were not working to build consensus within the electorate. What would
the right have done differently? Might the right have called out members using
the rhetoric of hate and demanded that the party operate from civility?
4. If
you surround yourself with clowns and fire breathers, folks might think they’re
at a circus. I've mulled over the Republican primary. I could not
imagine what you folks were thinking. The slate of candidates was outrageous,
yet entertaining. In the end, I figured all those folks were in the game as a
means to make Romney look reasonable. But strong candidates like John Huntsman
were virtually ignored and wonderful centrist leaders like Olympia Snow were
driven away. Take a cue from the competition and build diversity within your
party. Give up the “my way” or the highway edict.” Clowns: Beck, Limbaugh,
Trump, Santorum, Cain, Aiken, West…the list goes on.
5. Let
your electorate, not special interest groups, drive your agenda. Bag up all
that super-pac/ dark money and toss it to the nearest charity. Can you say “Sandy
recovery?” Screw the NRA. Screw the oil lobby. Screw the Koch Brothers and that
Sheldon guy. Those people, just like everyone else, get one vote. We've just
been schooled in the fact that our electorate is not for sale; stop letting
your leadership try to buy it.
6. Get
to yes. Obstructionist tactics as political tactics blow, and voters don’t like
them. Your representatives are supposed to be working, not spending their time
rooting for the economy to go in the shitter so that the president will not be
reelected. Whoever thought that one up is supremely stupid. Tell
your leadership to get to yes on some level. Supporting president Obama’s success
might not have helped conservatives win the White House, but neither did their
ridiculous obstructionist ways. The saddest part of this story is that the
House of Representatives failed the struggling electorate in a time of great
need.
7. Send
your pretend friends home. Stop with the “liberals are socialist” crap. You
know me and you know that I am no more attending a secret communist meeting
than you are a KKK rally (at least you better not be). Read the definition of
socialism and recognize that the democrats are the same group of people they
always were. Your guy lost; the world will not come to an end. In four years
you get another shot at it. No more crap about birth certificates or
secret Muslim-ism. No more spinning an American tragedy like Benghazi
to try and vilify your leader. And yes, the president is your leader and you
are duty bound to recognize this.
8. Retire the dinosaurs and the haters. These
guys—Rove, Cheney, Norquist, Snunu, Limbaugh, Coulter, Gingrich, Beck and
others should be respectfully retired and installed into the GOP museum of
non-science. For one, who elected these people? That’s right, no one.
9. Build real consensus. If your issue is
abortion, then bring those most affected by such questions to the decision making
table, having a bunch of non-uterus owning white guys talk about rape and
abortion with no input from women is going to fail you every time. If it looks
bad; it is bad. I’m talking real not fake consensus. Propping up Marco Rubio
or Bobby Jindal may give you the optics you are looking for but it’s only real
if it’s real. Americans are savvy; they can tell the difference. You have to
reach out to living breathing voters: black voters, Asian voters, women voters,
Gay voters, Transgender-ed voters and the list is wonderfully,
beautifully long and diverse. Besides, as Lindsay Graham said, there are not
enough angry white men.
I know about a government designed to invite debate from
opposing sides in order to reach consensus. I know about a process
meant to create institutions that evolve from the people and for the people.
It’s called democracy. I offer these suggestions because the negative rancor is
a damaging waste of time and resources. Bullying and name
calling isn't even for kids anymore. Imagine where we would be today
if on the night of the inaugural 2008, instead of having a meeting about one
term presidencies, conservatives got together to discuss how they could support
their president and thereby American success while furthering a
conservative agenda?
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