Posted on 02/01/2011 8:50:06 AM PST by justsaynomore
This past week I heard possible Presidential candidate Herman Cain say something a couple of times. I wanted to elaborate on it, and describe what I think it means. Mr. Cain is not shy about taking questions when he is speaking with a group of people, or even while hosting his radio show. People frequently ask things such as "how will you get Congress to pass this bill" or "how do you expect to get this done when other Presidents have failed". Cain is very quick to say nine simple words, "when the people understand it, they will demand it". I think there is great power in those nine words.
I hear the nine words and immediately think back to Ronald Reagan. One could argue that Citizen Reagan made his first big foray into national politics in 1964 when he gave his speech on behalf of Senator Barry Goldwater, a speech dubbed "A choice, not an echo". If one goes from 1964, then counts Governor Reagan’s years leading California, his campaign in 1976, his speeches in 1977 and 1978, and then his Presidential run that started in 1979 and ended when he left the Oval Office in 1989, that is 24 years that Ronald Reagan, Governor Reagan and President Reagan was telling the tale of America. I call it a narrative, and I’m not alone.
Many times, Reagan did not just give speeches, he told a story that captured attention, he got people to believe in what he had to say, and he had the citizens of America on his side in many of the policies he pursued. Reagan never really stopped telling the story, as a public figure, he told the story until he left office. Though he may have never actually said the nine words "when the people understand it, they will demand it", Reagan obviously lived by the idea.
In modern day politics there is not much time to explain issues and policies. There is no such thing as a candidate educating the public. Not for lack of trying, but there never seems to be enough interest in it. Political campaigns too often turn into popularity contests and big media wars with tv ads and radio commercials than tell us who they are, but little else. Then, at some point in the campaigns, it becomes time for the ads to turn negative, and at that point, civil discourse turns bad, and we are more likely to hear why a candidate is bad, not why the candidate is worth voting for, and we certainly aren’t getting educated about issues and policies.
Enter Herman Cain. A man not willing to let a question go unanswered. If he doesn’t have an answer, he’ll be forthright enough about that to tell you, and then tell you he will find an answer. He’s not about to blow smoke or improvise. Take issues like the Fair Tax, immigration reform or health care. Issues with no easy, simple answers. But they are issues where Mr. Cain is able to really elaborate on specific points, tell us why we should want it, and then rally us to want it for America. If America is understanding and then demanding, a President is doing his job. It will take another great communicator to right the ship as it currently sails.
Voters will eventually go the polls to determine the Republican nominee for President. I hope the voters will get beyond some of the trivial questions we often ask ourselves, and instead will ask themselves which candidate will do the best job of challenging America to be better, which candidate will do the best job of communicating our message to America and which candidate will do the best job of putting "us" back into the process.
For me, these questions trump the questions about which candidate can raise the most money, which candidate can invest the most personal wealth or which candidate looks the best with a rifle in their hands. I want to win. Let’s choose the candidate with the best chance to reach, inspire and convince the most Americans. In my opinion, that man is Herman Cain. With nine words in his arsenal, the rest of us can now get to work.
Hermanator Ping
“when the people understand it, they will demand it”.
And yet, after wasting his time to write the column and me wasting my time reading it, I have NO IDEA what “it” is.
” When the people understand it, they will demand it. “ ___________________________________________________________
This principle has been alluded to now on CSpan in the Budget Committee. Democrat Senator Kent Conrad, ND, has brought up the problem of SS, Medicare, Defense and Revenue must be brought to the table. The concern is that the American people do not want these items touched, and if they are not, we are in a spiral downward. (Shocking coming from a democrat, and told me that ND will go republican, except for Conrad.)
Nevertheless, Conrad said the people must be taught of the dangers of failing to address these non-discretionary spending items along with everything else, admitting it can not happen without both sides of the aisle stepping up and not just kicking it down the road.
Obviously, “it” refers to more hope & change.
For clarification, see below:
"An enlightened people, and an energetic public opinion... will control and enchain the aristocratic spirit of the government." --Thomas Jefferson to Chevalier de Ouis, 1814. ME 14:130
"I know no safe depositary of the ultimate powers of the society but the people themselves; and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise their control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them, but to inform their discretion by education. This is the true corrective of abuses of constitutional power." --Thomas Jefferson to William C. Jarvis, 1820.
"Every government degenerates when trusted to the rulers of the people alone. The people themselves, therefore, are its only safe depositories. And to render even them safe, their minds must be improved to a certain degree." --Thomas Jefferson: Notes on Virginia, 1782.
"Educate and inform the whole mass of the people. Enable them to see that it is their interest to preserve peace and order, and they will preserve them. And it requires no very high degree of education to convince them of this. They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty." --Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 1787.
"Whenever the people are well-informed, they can be trusted with their own government." --Thomas Jefferson to Richard Price, 1789.
"Whenever things get so far wrong as to attract their notice, the people, if well informed, may be relied on to set them to rights." --Thomas Jefferson to Richard Price, 1789.
From James Madison:
"Although all men are born free, and all nations might be so, yet too true it is, that slavery has been the general lot of the human race. Ignorant – they have been cheated; asleep – they have been surprised; divided – the yoke has been forced upon them. But what is the lesson?... The people ought to be enlightened, to be awakened, to be united, that after establishing a government they should watch over it."
"A well-instructed people alone can be permanently a free people."
"I believe there are more instances of the abridgement of freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments by those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations."
"To suppose that any form of government will secure liberty or happiness without any virtue in the people, is a chimerical idea."
True.
Many Herman Cain listeners know what “it” is because they know what his platform is - smaller government, less taxes, less government regulation/interference, government out of school, secure the borders, defind planned parenthood, strong national security, energy independence and more.
For those who don’t know, he has been affirming his positions over several recent articles (do a “Herman Cain” search on FR). He is also putting together a booklet of his position statements that will be available soon.
Let the games begin!
plz add me to your ping list....
Are you talking about the HC ping list? I’d be happy to add you if you’d like.
yes yes!
wish I knew what I could do to help HC....
In Part III of that 293-page work, there are 25 illustrated pages, each of which contains one essential idea or principle underlying our Declaration of Independence and Constitution, using the Founders' own words, such as the Jefferson and Madison quotations in my previous post.
Each of these pages can be used to teach children or adults how to articulate the ideas of their liberty in a meaningful way. They are concise, interesting, and meaningful messages to help "the people understand" what Cain is recommending.
take a look at draftcain.org... it’s grassroots for Cain and is mobilizing by locality :) You would be such an asset - and there are several freepers there already
Never heard of him. The last time a a virtually unknown black candidate jumped from the weeds and ran for President, it did not turn out so well. I would have more confidence in the track record of a state governor, rather than an unproven talk show host.
The most succinct and clear explanation behind the energy of the THE "REPEAL OBAMACARE" tsunami...
And...Polls show that we are seeing this with Obama’s very questionable natural born status.
Good grief. Don’t quote Jefferson to me, unless Jefferson is running for something. (I don’t think so.) My point still stands, the writer told me nothing. You did little better; you told me what Jefferson said.
Neither does anything to tell me what CAIN says. I’m already not liking the guy because the people supporting him talk in riddles.
Nine words that could DEFINITELY change the debate in America:
“Obama says he’s done and will step down today.”
LOL - for SURE!
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