A couple of weeks ago I caught Eric Cantor, Republican Minority Whip, at a fundraiser.
I’m basically a Libertarian, as are many who attend Republican events these days. The Democratic party has been hijacked by the far left and there is little on the left that makes a Libertarian happy.
In this polarized current world, where every media giant is now a partisan, being a Libertarian is like being a Unitarian. You believe in Jesus’ principles, but you’re not exactly a Christian in the eyes of the faithful.
Republican Minority Whip, Eric Cantor
With Tea Parties and Town Hall events springing up throughout August, Cantor was a cautiously happy man. He is a lawyer, after all. They only do cautious happiness. In Washington, to be out of power is a cold experience, and scaring those currently IN power is heady wine. Cantor spoke and took questions. The smart crowd hammered him on Republican leadership, as in, where is it? The party was and is doing a lot of reacting, but not much acting. Being above the fray is not how you win the fray. The crowd knew that; many were hoping Cantor did, too.
As I see it, the Democrat party has branded itself with some hard-to-take-back identifiers (yes, in college I studied marketing.) You can’t counter feel-good, take-care-of-everybody ideas with tough love and budget fights without looking mean. You can’t counter inclusiveness without looking like an excluder. And, by extension, exclusive. That country club image of the Republicans is unshakable, possibly un-re-brandable.
During the event, I conjured a mental image of a similar other party event, with less polished people, more sloppy clothes, and certainly more minorities. (The Democrats have done a great job convincing non-white America that all Republicans are in the Klan.) The Benneton ad vision of the world is dug in deep and a party, product, or even a vacation destination without it has to fight very hard to be heard. Lacking that perception of inclusiveness, such a message is seen to be not legitimate and targeted only to an elite. Period. Somewhere along the line, the Democrat powers-that-be figured this out, and executed this strategy perfectly. While the GOP was applauding Reagan and destroying communism, the left was planning the GOP’s eventual demise.
Racism was dying out in America but the left nevertheless rode this horse relentlessly. This has taken us to a post-racial Utopia (not), one where any criticism of Barack Obama is seen as racism. Instead of allowing all Americans to live above race, the left decided the “race” card would be their path to perpetual power. So far it is working.
What about Sarah and Joe (the plumber, not the VP), you say? Palin was an up-from-nothing mom and Joe the Plumber is not a college grad. Well, they don’t count as outsider achievers, because they’re white, darn it. And white people always get somewhere, don’t they? That’s the divisive ideology the Democrats have appropriated for their personal use, and it is working very well to get people elected.
How do you un-elite Republicans? How does the GOP win over minorities, many of which would feel more at home with the Republican party if they knew what it was about? Well it helps to continuously point out the vast number of Democrat elites, of course. I don’t think principles should be jettisoned to win, either. Absolutely not. The ideas have to be re-branded, and I don’t mean by calling for patriotism or a return to America’s Revolutionary roots, because that has been demonized as being about a long-ago time when slavery existed and white people fought on both sides and much of the current population has been taught history in just that way, if it was taught at all. So waving the flag and talking about the real America is old news and is red meat to the demonizers in the mainstream media.
The answer, in my opinion, has to be about presenting one current revolution (basically European Socialism) versus another, current revolution. It’s not just Coke versus Pepsi. It’s Jolt versus Red Bull. And people are choosing which revolution they will be in. It should not be hard, because one revolution has crumbling cities, bloated bureaucracies and handouts instead of jobs. Yet, the alternative has to mean something to people personally. School choice, portable health care accomplished by breaking state insurance monopolies and lowering taxes could do it, if the Republicans are serious about actually doing that and being credible to the voters.
And here’s how the Democrats keep winning. “Please, it just has not worked yet because we’re still working out the bugs. It’s not universal enough. If every city and state functions this way, we’ll have enough revenue to make up shortfalls. Detroit is only a mess because Dallas does not give Detroit its extra money.”
To win, Republicans must harness the huge anger in our country about throwing good money after bad. It’s there, waiting to be tapped. And it’s imperative it not be re-branded by the Democrats as selfish people looking out for their own.
How do you counter that? Republican leadership better have that worked out very well. You can’t win a chess game without an end game.
Our country, every country, needs a robust two party system. Without it, you have unchecked power and graft. Look at the should-be-wealthy states like New York, California and Massachusetts. We don’t need 50 of those. Having an opposing party governor and a not-so-self-policing Democrat legislature does not count as a two party system.
Related posts:
- Obama tries to seize the mantle of small government from Republicans
- RNC, Romney seize on Obama hot mic remarks on missile defense
- Santorum let his moment come, then go
- Ryan budget plan aims to seize spending debate
Laura spent years as a Hollywood story analyst, did a big 180, and is now an entrepreneur focused on web marketing and analytics. She's also a mom of one.Laura Glendinning article archive.
