BARRIERS TO GROWTH- Conservatism has a lot to offer, but the problem is that many people who could theoretically become conservative, cringe at the very mention of the word. When most people hear the word, (and by most people I mean the apolitical or people left of center to any degree) they think abortion, anti-gay , possibly racist, xenophobic, warmongering, rich, evangelical, white, and old. Most of these apolitical or somewhat left-leaning people want nothing to do with any of these things. These problems, true or not, have to be dealt with in three ways. The myths must be dispelled (racist, xenophobic), the problem areas (abortion, anti-gay) must be de-emphasized, and the stereotypes (old, white, rich, evangelical) must be neutralized by bringing in new blood.
DISPELLING THE MYTHS- E pluribus unum, out of many, one. This is a core conservative principle. Articulating this principle in a positive way is surely more effective than confronting anti-Americanism with "Love it or leave it." Non-conservatives assume conservatives want nothing to do with racial minorities in part because when they look at conservatives they see no racial minorities. While this logic is faulty, the solution to this problem is to draw in racial minorities in droves. One way to do this is by toning down the vitriol when it comes to immigration. I'm not going to make a pro-illegals argument. But conservatives must be just as passionate when they speak positively about the legal immigrant as when they speak negatively about the illegals. Make the best and the brightest argument. Say again and again "we want the best and the brightest from every country, the kind of folks that do not cut in line and pay the price for admission."
Another area for improvement is the conservative outlook on language. The impression out there is that conservatives demand everyone in America speak English because it inconveniences conservatives when people do not. The way to counter this is to frame things in terms of what speaking English will do for the immigrant, not for us. Emphasize that conservatives want immigrants to succeed, and that admitting people into this country without requiring them to learn the language, and enabling them to not learn the language, keeps them down. Contrast the conservative desire to make the immigrant independent and successful with liberal reality of exploiting these people for votes, keeping them dependent, and using them to hammer conservatives.
PROBLEM AREAS- There are features of American conservatism that repel people, people it needs to survive. The standard conservative position on abortion is a non-starter for everyone left of center, and in almost all cases a total deal-breaker. Millions of women do not even consider conservatism based on this one issue. This issue must be de-emphasized by conservatives. If the average conservative could say, "I hate abortion, but I am not interested in challenging Roe v Wade. I want to do my part to improve the culture and economy so fewer and fewer women will have abortions," many of the people who never take a look at conservatism might reconsider. The long term goal of this strategy is to make the abortion issue practically obsolete. If gradually, more and more Americans take on other conservative values, which I will discuss later, the abortion rate will plummet naturally, no ban necessary.
Gay issue should be a simple problem to fix. All conservatives should come out strongly for civil unions whenever the subject of marriage comes up. Rather than saying marriage is one man and one woman, conservatives should just say, "I do not want to change the definition of marriage. I support equal rights, and any legal changes necessary to guarantee this, other than redefining marriage." This isn't much of a compromise. The area for a full compromise is gays in the military. Just forget this issue, concede. Take a "lets try it and see how it goes" approach. This issue is just to small and not worth the liability. Stop alienating potential conservatives.
STEREOTYPES- Old, white, and rich. Young people must be drawn in to counter the age problem. The way to do this involves two steps. De-emphasize social issues as I have already discussed a bit, and clearly articulate to young people that the unsustainability of liberal fiscal policies spells disaster for their future, and that conservative fiscal principles do not. I have already covered the subject of race somewhat. Clearly articulate who it is that we as conservatives do not like. We do not like people that do not want to work. Some of them are white, some of them are not, we hate all of them. Many people like work, we like all of them. Some of these people are white, some of them are not, and we love them all the same because they all contribute to the greatness of the nation, and the members of the afore-mentioned lazy group detract from the greatness of the nation. Make it clear that we as conservatives do not want racial minorities to go away or to continue to struggle, rather we want them to succeed because it is better for everyone. This sounds completely obvious and a boring point to make, but many people on the other side and even some in the middle do not believe that conservatives want racial minorities to succeed. This has to change. Many conservatives have a great deal of affection for our Founding Fathers. I feel the same way. But we are best served to focus on the ideas rather than the men. These men are long gone, they were white, and some of them owned slaves. Some people can't get past this. Separate the men from the ideas, articulate the ideas in modern terms without appeal to the greatness of the dead old white men, and more people will listen. I'm talking to you, Glenn Beck.
THE BIG PROBLEM WITH AN EASY SOLUTION- The big problem is people want stuff: Services, "free-money from Obama's Stash", programs that sound nice. The deepest part of the problem is that people who don't have a lot of stuff want people with a lot of stuff to lose as much of that stuff as possible. Many people not only want this because they support redistribution of wealth, but they see it as an intrinsic good. The assumption is, the guy with lots of stuff may have stolen it, but at least got it all way too easy, my life is hard, so I want you (Government) to take lots of his stuff. The best counter to this is one that is often made; the rich guy could give you a good job, but the government took too much of his money, so now he can't. The problem is this argument requires faith for people who don't really understand economics, or who don't trust successful people. The guy that did create some jobs, the guy who is currently creating jobs, and the guy who wanted to create jobs, but couldn't, and went to do something else instead are all real people that need to be shown to the rest of the country that doesn't believe they exist. Why every night on Fox News is there a talking head making this argument, but not a reporter asking questions of the guy that just opened a business employing people, or talking to the business owner that just closed up shop in California because he's crushed by the taxes? Interview the guy! Ask him what things were like when he got started, how the fiscal changes have destroyed wealth and hurt people, ask him why he is going to this other state where he won't be crushed, ask him how many more people he thinks he will be able to employ there. Ask the his employees who are losing their jobs how they feel about what their state is doing. Talk to real people to back up solid conservative arguments. Back to people voting themselves gifts from the government. Take cameras to the homes of people on welfare. Show how they live, ask them if they are happy. If they say they are not, ask them who they blame. Next, take the cameras to any work place where minorities and working class whites are getting by. Show them working, follow them home, show how they live, ask them what they attribute their success to. Ask them would you rather work for a living, or would you rather have most things taken care of for you? We know the answer. The contrast would be powerful. When you watch Fox News you mostly see rich (or semi-rich) white men pushing conservative principles. They must show that these principles correspond with reality, even if you are not a rich white man on TV.
ZERO IN ON WINNING ISSUES BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE- I have already covered the losing issues. I believe the more aggressively these issues are pursued, the less a chance conservatism has of surviving. However, there are many winning conservative issues that live in the shadows behind abortion and other social issues. In reality these issues matter far more. Fiscal matters impact all of us. If social issues are de-emphasized, many people that were previously hostile will begin to listen to what conservatives have to say about other matters. Once this has happened, GAME OVER. Work ethic, opportunity vs "fairness", ingenuity, self-reliance, healthy national pride, public safety, national security. I don't need to make these arguments, we have heard them all, but they have been falling on deaf ears. These are all winning issues for conservatives, we just don't realize it because many people that would get on board with us on these issues can't get past the social issues. There are two more core conservative principals that are a little more complicated, but I also think they are the most important: American exceptionalism and E Pluribus Unum. Given the current/perceived makeup of conservatism, these two subjects have the potential to come across in the wrong way. But once conservatism loses the reputation of being white and nativist, people will have to make real arguments in opposition to these ideas, and drop the racism/xenophobia B.S. These arguments will not be compelling. American exceptionalism- Europe caves in under the weight of entitlements, Russia is dying, Japan can't be bothered to reproduce, China continues to be repressive, Africa remains a disaster area, the Middle East remains backward, and the healthier nations of the world remain so to the extent that they are similar to America.
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