Yes, Rebuild the Party, But Figure Out What’s at the Core First
The Washington Post has an interesting enough article about a pair of Republicans who have started to try to drag the party out of the mire of its last two election defeats. The web site, RebuildTheParty.com, is nice and all and Ruffini and Finn’s manifesto hits the right chords but…I don’t know. It reminds me a lot of an Eagles album. It’s carefully crafted and polished to a brilliant shine, but it lacks soul. It sounds great but it doesn’t really grab you and hold on to you like it should. It’s wide but not deep.
A big part of why I haven’t jumped on one of the “we gotta change the party” sites like Rebuild the Party or Jon Henke’s quite good The Next Right, is because I believe most of the Young Conservative Innovators are putting the cart way before the horse. Ruffini, Finn, and the rest were, I think, entranced by the way the nutroots could organize themselves and by how slick P-E Obama’s online operation was and that’s fine. The nutroots can coordinate like few similar groups can (but how much of that is the natural progressive urger to form a mob when upset about anything?), but what’s the point of emulating the left if we have nothing to sell once we draw the crowd?
Right now, the biggest problems the Republican Party and conservatives (and the two are not the same) have are not with organization nor mobilization but with heart and soul. The right has no core principles at this moment. The Republican Party, which used to be the party of small government, free markets, and liberty is now the party of moderately huge government, populist rhetoric against capitalism, and whining about money in politics.
Organization means nothing if we have nothing coherent around which to organize. Somehow, I don’t see “bailouts for some and health care that’s only a little bit socialist!” making a stirring rallying cry. I don’t see where the Young Reformers are tackling that issue much at all. They all seem to be more worried about message and process and activism which are all good things, but it’s awfully hard to build a network to spread a message until you can tell your messengers what they’re spreading. Remember, Jesus didn’t send the disciples out right away. He taught them for a couple or three years, making sure they knew and believed the Gospel. They didn’t get their Great Commission until the end of the Gospels, after there was really something to tell people. They couldn’t spread the good news until they had the good news.
Similarly, conservatives are not going to be able to “grow the brand” until we can say just what the brand is. That’s going to take some thought and talking to each other outside of fancy manifestos and activist-recruiting.
Other Posts of Interest:
- Sniveling Isn’t A Leadership Quality
- Kathleen Parker, Live from the Crazy Train
- “Republican stupor is not a result of lack of moderation; it’s about a lack of purpose.”
Category: Conservatism
I don't know who I was listening to the other day but they were talking about how the Republicans needed to get up to speed on MySpace & FaceBook; we need to embrace technology to communicate with voters, etc. I was thinking…and once you have our cell phone numbers, what on earth will you be texting to us? You haven't a clue what it is we want & when you do, you give us multiple reasons why you think it is ridiculous…yeah, that would inspire me to sign up for your e-blasts.
They are in serious denial if they think lack of organization or communication is what led to their loss.
That's my thinking, too, Cheesy. It's not enough that the Republicans build this crazy big communications and activism network until they have something worthwhile to communicate. The moderate-pushers want us to believe that we already have the message, which is "kind of liberal, but not too liberal politics" but that's just as empty as not having a message at all.