reposted due to problems linking to my original article
Most of the people who hang out at RedState are conservatives of one form or another (I don’t really care to break us into sub groupings because that is both simplistic and counter productive). Since we are conservatives, the Republican Party is our natural home. No other party has a hope of getting any significant number of conservatives elected. That means that most of us want to get conservative Republicans elected to public office. Lately, we’ve been doing a terrible job of reaching that goal for various reasons some of which I will cover here.
One of the major problems we see is that the party is supporting more moderates and even liberal Republicans. Frankly the party is moving too far to the left in its chosen candidates. And the more elections we lose the farther it seems to move to the left. So how do we stop this trend and hopefully reverse it? We have to take a number of actions some of which many of my friends here disagree with.
We must remember that we are playing a long game. We aren’t likely to be able to turn the party around in just 1 or even 2 election cycles. If the situation changes we need to be ready to play a short term game and move all in, but we have to get the framework in place for the long run in order to take advantage of any opportunities that arise. So let’s talk about building the framework.
The most important action we can take is to get involved! Become a precinct committeeman. Get active at your local county party’s level. Work local campaigns. Recruit good conservatives for local offices. Get conservatives selected in local primaries and get them elected to local city councils, county boards, school boards, road commissions, etc. No office is too menial to consider important. Hold your elected officials accountable to the conservative values they claimed when you recruited them. These are the farm team for people who are going to run for higher office. This isn’t too controversial, but it’s hard and important work. And no one’s going to do it if you don’t. Martin A. Knight has written on the precinct committeeman project. Look for those posts for ideas or just call your county party headquarters and get started. If you don’t have an active party in your county, guess what. You’re the cavalry. You’ll have to build the party yourself (and yes you can do it).
Get active in the primary process. Find a candidate that is a good conservative in your area. Donate time and money to this person and get him or her to win in the primary. Promote your candidate, but try to remember the 11th commandment. Send money to conservative candidates in other districts to help them win their primary. Marco Rubio, Pat Toomey, or Adam Kinzinger could use your help, even if it’s only a token $10. It costs a LOT to run a campaign and many small donations work as well as a few large ones.
Now the hard part: Party unity. If our candidate doesn’t win the primary, we must support the victor. Staying home or voting 3rd party or otherwise punishing the party is guaranteed to do 2 things. It will give the seat to the Democrat and it will move the party farther to the left in selecting future candidates. Even good conservatives like Cornyn are laboring under the false belief that we need to put up squishes in order to save Republican seats.
Party unity requires the cooperation of all the people involved and this is where all factions of the party have been deficient of late (including ours). We must stop this trend and the only way we can do it is to be the adults in the room and forgive the moderates and liberal wings and provide support to them IF they win the primary. In exchange we must remind them that we are loyal when they win and we expect the same from them when WE win (and yes we will start winning). After all, what help can you expect from them when you win if you refuse to help when they win. Split electorates always lose and we can’t afford to keep splitting the party.
Go to party events and talk to people. If there are any national level party officials present, let them know that party unity requires cooperation on both sides and that you are doing your part, but expect them to also work for unity. Tell them that favoring people in party primaries is a divisive action and that they need to stop if they want to maintain unity. My local party has an RNC town hall meeting tomorrow and I intend to bring this up. If you happen to be in the Peoria Illinois area, stop in and lend me a hand. Just remember that loyal people who hammer on the party leadership are more likely to get their way than fair weather friends.
Finally, we need to bring back conservative leaning people who have already left the party. Talk to Libertarian Party, Conservative Party, etc members and try to convince them that you need their help to take back the Republican Party. Most of them left due to the party not living up to its conservative base. We need to convince them that the only way to get conservative people elected is within this party. Chances are they won’t come completely back to the party, but maybe you can get them to commit to voting with the Republicans when they don’t have a candidate in the race. We have to start building coalitions with other conservative leaning groups.
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As the village idi...er malcontent, I would question one segment of your premise...
AceInTX (Diary) Monday, June 8th at 2:16PM EST (link)If our candidate doesn’t win the primary, we must support the victor. Staying home or voting 3rd party or otherwise punishing the party is guaranteed to do 2 things. It will give the seat to the Democrat and it will move the party farther to the left in selecting future candidates. Even good conservatives like Cornyn are laboring under the false belief that we need to put up squishes in order to save Republican seats.
Party unity requires the cooperation of all the people involved and this is where all factions of the party have been deficient of late (including ours). We must stop this trend and the only way we can do it is to be the adults in the room and forgive the moderates and liberal wings and provide support to them IF they win the primary. In exchange we must remind them that we are loyal when they win and we expect the same from them when WE win (and yes we will start winning). After all, what help can you expect from them when you win if you refuse to help when they win. Split electorates always lose and we can’t afford to keep splitting the party.
First off..the question has to be asked and answered as to who exactly is working to destroy party unity? You correctly noted the issue when you state in essence that Conservatives have always demonstrated party unity. I know…I’ve been at this since 1992. The issue is the other side of this debate shows no such loyalty…and they never have. They’re the ones we keep electing with our loyalty and they return the favor by incessantly attacking us in the press and railroad our candidates and elected officials once they’re in office. Moderates are the ones that insisted we select John McCain and then jumped the shark by endorsing Obama.
That brings up the issue of supporting their candidates and not staying home…I agree this is self destructive behavior but I also see the other side of the issue. I keep stating one of my wifes favorite sayings as passed down to her from her family:
“Your silence is your consent”
After nearly 20 years of turning out to blindly support them, I can’t get past the idea that I am encouraging their bad faith behavior toward us by rewarding them and blindly supporting them no matter what. As with any negotiation or partnership agreement between parties, there has to be a carrot and stick involved for both sides of the agreement…there has to be a benefit to one side for doing the right thing by the other party…and there has to be negative consequences for acting in bad faith…
Since I’ve been involved with the Republican Party, Conservatives have been handing the other side the carrots and have never been willing or allowed to wield the stick.
Staying home and rewarding the Democrats because of the bad behavior of moderate to liberal Republicans is self destructive and not the best idea in the world to be sure…but turning out to vote for Republicans who will help the Democrats advance their agenda isn’t very smart either…and could arguably be worse because it’s the Republicans who get the blame when bad legislation causes problems and their collusion damages the party brand by feeding the feeling many voters have the Republican Party is just as bad as the Democrats .
I guess I’m not really contending with you on this issue because I’m torn right down the middle on both sides of the argument. I’d just like someone to come up with a way to show them we won’t be taken for granted and we aren’t here to reward them when they act in bad faith toward the party.
Thread post corrected:
AceInTX (Diary) Monday, June 8th at 2:18PM EST (link)First off..the question has to be asked and answered as to who exactly is working to destroy/split the party? You correctly noted the issue when you state in essence that Conservatives have always demonstrated party unity. I know…I’ve been at this since 1992. The issue is the other side of this debate shows no such loyalty…and they never have. They’re the ones we keep electing with our loyalty and they return the favor by incessantly attacking us in the press and railroad our candidates and elected officials once they’re in office. Moderates are the ones that insisted we select John McCain and then jumped the shark by endorsing Obama.
That brings up the issue of supporting their candidates and not staying home…I agree this is self destructive behavior but I also see the other side of the issue. I keep stating one of my wifes favorite sayings as passed down to her from her family:
After nearly 20 years of turning out to blindly support them, I can’t get past the idea that I am encouraging their bad faith behavior toward us by rewarding them and blindly supporting them no matter what. As with any negotiation or partnership agreement between parties, there has to be a carrot and stick involved for both sides of the agreement…there has to be a benefit to one side for doing the right thing by the other party…and there has to be negative consequences for acting in bad faith…
Since I’ve been involved with the Republican Party, Conservatives have been handing the other side the carrots and have never been willing or allowed to wield the stick.
Staying home and rewarding the Democrats because of the bad behavior of moderate to liberal Republicans is self destructive and not the best idea in the world to be sure…but turning out to vote for Republicans who will help the Democrats advance their agenda isn’t very smart either…and could arguably be worse because it’s the Republicans who get the blame when bad legislation causes problems and their collusion damages the party brand by feeding the feeling many voters have the Republican Party is just as bad as the Democrats .
I guess I’m not really contending with you on this issue because I’m torn right down the middle on both sides of the argument. I’d just like someone to come up with a way to show them we won’t be taken for granted and we aren’t here to reward them when they act in bad faith toward the party.
Thanks Ace, and you've come to the heart of the problem.
Brian Hibbert (Diary) Monday, June 8th at 2:46PM EST (link)Staying home or voting 3rd party is self destructive. What I was trying to say is we need to start requiring party unity from them as well. It’s just difficult to ask it of them if we don’t do our part. We will win in some primaries and we need those people to support our candidates just as much as they need us to support theirs. That’s where a unity pledge at the start of the primary helps.
I think one way to get our point across is to become the vocal majority at party functions. We have to let the leadership know that what they are doing is alienating the base. As I said, I intend to do this at a town hall meeting tomorrow. I hope you’ll do the same when one rolls around to Texas. Maybe their listening tour will get them enough feedback to get the point.
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AceInTX (Diary) Monday, June 8th at 3:36PM EST (link)I’m doing my part and am working inside the party…problem is…the liberals are in leadership and block people like me and other conservatives from climbing the ladder
Same here Ace.
Danielle Davis (ocleverone) (Diary) Monday, June 8th at 4:44PM EST (link)We just had our Committee Chair elections and I walked away needing a shower it was so slimy.
The Committee has, in the past, wrung their hands about people getting involved so this election cycle, a young woman with strong conservative credentials (and who had served admirably on the Executive Committee) stepped up to the plate to run as Chair. The little Napolean who controls all the behind the scenes movements couldn’t have this woman as Chair. He paid dues for members and came in with 10 proxies and this woman lost by 7 votes.
I congratulated her for standing against “the machine”.
To me, “consensus” seems to be the process of abandoning all beliefs, principles, values and policies. So it is something in which no one believes and to which no one objects … There are still people in my party who believe in “consensus” politics. I regard them as Quislings, as traitors … I mean it. — Margaret Thatcher
Heh...sounds familiar...
AceInTX (Diary) Monday, June 8th at 5:55PM EST (link)District 22, (San Antonio/Bexar county) has been broken into 3 factions since I’ve been involved. I’m one of those 3 leggers that is equally comfortable attending meetings run by any of the three opposing factions and what I find to be universal with each faction is the constant preaching about the need to unify and beat the Democrats and a discussion about how each faction needs the other faction to succeed…but when SoCons are brought up among 2 of the three factions…the discussion turns to how nasty and undesirable the unwashed SoCon peons are and how they turn everyone off and need to just shut the hell up.
The differences between the other two factions are minimal and pertain more to personalities and egos than anything else…and you don’t want to be around when either of those two factions are going off about the other…it’s nasty, petty and vile the way the talk about each other!
The one thing that unites them all is a knee jerk opposition to anyone new coming in and trying to change things…they will unite and work as a well oiled machine to freeze out the new interlopers and then revert to form once the threat from the outsider has been eliminated!
The above was a reply to ocleverone in the thread above...I hit reply to but it started a new thread anyway...nt
AceInTX (Diary) Monday, June 8th at 5:56PM EST (link)