Why Do Conservatives Often Lose?

4-13-07 | Henry David Thoreau

[Bob J]

"There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil
to one who is striking at the root"

Henry David Thoreau

[Bob J]

No sermon, what does this mean to you?

[A CA Guy]

The squeaky wheel gets oiled.

Conservatives are not nearly as squeaky as liberals and are way too polite and quiet.

[Mr. Mojo]

what does this mean to you?

The title of Bernard Goldberg's new book comes to mind: Crazies to the Left of Me, Wimps to the Right

[The_Republican]

Gots to clean own house first.

[digger48]

Bush approval ratings

[Rick_Michael]

Because the enemy isn’t as naivee.

[Fierce Allegiance]

Using the current administration as an example, I’d say you nailed it!

[WestVirginiaRebel]

Social conservatives lose when they start to sound like Sunday school teachers on steroids.

Fiscal conservatives lose when their message gets overshadowed by the former.

We all lose if one group decides to stay home because they're in a such a snit that they're willing to allow someone like She Who Awaits to become President, in which case those who stayed home should then keep their traps shut about why things are so bad.

[sushiman]

Mojo summed it up nicely .

[tomnbeverly]

George W. Bush showing leadership and conviction against the evil that befell us on 9-11-01 is the striking the root of the problem.

Liberals are swinging in all directions at once sure they hit the ball more but it is fouled or grounded out.

[Vicomte13]

Because there are different types of conservative, and they don’t really agree with each other philosophically when push comes to shove. Push came to shove.

[jveritas]

I doubt that conservatives often lose. I think we greatly underestimate our victories and power and on the other hand greatly overrate the left power and victories. In reality we are winning more elections than democrats, 7 of the last 10 Presidential elections were won by Republicans and to a larger degree by Conservatives. Republicans controlled Congress from 1994-2006 and in some way it brought good victories for the conservative cause despite that we did not get everything we wanted. For sure we stopped the left wing liberal from achieving a lot of what they wanted in the last 25 years or so.

[doc1019]

Because most conservatives are “nice” people and don’t like (idiotic) confrontation.

[Bob J]

I think we concentrate too much on what the libs do instead of improving our own batting and fielding.

[LdSentinal]

Liberal Media.

[Chena]

Kill the tree of evil where it grows from the ground up.

[Keith in Iowa]

Agree with you 1000%.

[longtermmemmory]

One person sees the root of the problem while the mob strikes to biggest target.

Kind of like looking for something in the best lit area even though you lost in the the dark someplace else because there is better light.

[Bob J]

True but ancient history in terms of politics. We got clobbered in ‘06 and are about to get waxed in ‘08 and we are wandering aimlessly in the desert looking for a silver bullet.

[FredHunter08]

“We all lose if one group decides to stay home because they’re in a such a snit that they’re willing to allow someone like She Who Awaits to become President, in which case those who stayed home should then keep their traps shut about why things are so bad.”

WE win nothing if someone as bad as Hillary gets elected with an “R”.

Guiliani is an ENEMY of the Constitution. The 2nd Amendment is NOT a “social issue”.

You’re no “rebel”. You’re a Tory.

[Bob J]

Bingo.

[69ConvertibleFirebird]

That you’re very good at colored fonts.

[Bob J]

What is the tree of evil?

[PISANO]

Muslim extremists like their Democrat brethren have NO RULES, suffer no FOOLS and put ideology above self interests.

Conservatives play by the rules, suffer fools and always put self-interest above ideology.

WARS can not be WON with PC ROE's that ONLY the good guys follow!!

[Bob J]

Okay, how do we fix that?

[M203M4]

Poor choice of battles - the enemies of modern conservatism are many, but to strike at their common theme would undo them all. There is a singular fount of evil that too few are attacking directly - most efforts are directed at attacking, in vain, its various hydra-headed manifestations.

Now, everyone is going to give a different answer on what the "root" is. I have my own.

[Bob J]

“Liberals are swinging in all directions at once sure they hit the ball more but it is fouled or grounded out.”

..and a few go out of the park.

[JWinNC]

Why Do Conservatives Often Lose?

They don't run.

or they think they have to play leftward to win.

Bold conservatism often wins, you just don't see it very often.

jw

[Bob J]

Is there anything ALL conservatives can agree on?

[jveritas]

You are a French socialist who has been bashing the US capitalist system in every opportunity and telling us how great the utterly failed European socialist system is and how superior it is to our system. Also you have been telling us that the US is going to be defeated militarily in Iraq. Please go and express your lies, your US bashing, your capitalist system bashing, your love to socialism, and your defeatism on DU or KOS where you belong and they will love you there.

[SteveMcKing]

If one believes that government has innately sinister qualities, then the tendency is to not get involved lest one become part of the problem.

This naturally cedes control of the government to those who love it -- ie. to "commies at heart" and to commies in fact.

Conservatives only begin to involve ourselves once the government is screwing us somehow. And by then it's too late.

[Bob J]

Too bad we can’t get the mob to also strike at the root. What power that would be.

[Bob J]

How about we keep the intramural squabbles out of a question about our combined survival?

[Bob J]

Don’t be shy.

[FredHunter08]

“How about we keep the intramural squabbles out of a question about our combined survival?”

Who is “us” and why do you assume Guiliani supporters are in the same school, as it were, as conservatives?

[jveritas]

The Republicans lost in 2006 when the democrats run a lot of so called conservatives. They won because they run conservatives candidates or claim to be conservatives in many districts. Anyway the Republicans cannot win forever at some time they are going to lose and election.

I do not share your opinion that we are going to be waxed in 2008. I doubt very much that liberal elitists from the Northeast like Hillary Clinton and Barak Obama are going to win the Presidency. Besides Hillary Clinton is the nastiest, meanest, most arrogant, most fake, most uncharismatic woman to run for President, and that very horrible character, screeching voice, and open eyes looks will destroy her. The majority of voters will not elect a B*** for President.

[Bob J]

We should always win.

[LibKill]

Conservatives are not nearly as squeaky as liberals and are way too polite and quiet.

You nailed that in one. We are too nice. We are also the kind of people that mind our own business and have to be provoked before we will make a scene.

Compare that to the liberal drama-types whose whole life ads up to "look at me, LOOK AT ME, LOOK AT MEEEEEEEEEEE!

[Chena]

The tree of evil has many roots. In this day and age they would include immoral people, evil people, liberals who condone, sympathize with and nurture evil, Islamic facists, abusers of children, devil worshipers........ All of those lay at the root of all evil.

(not necessarily in any particular order)

[Bob J]

Hmmm, are there things we could do that don’t involve direct confrontation?

If your army isn’t good at archery, don’t stick a bow in their hands.

[Big Horn]

The voters are like hogs. A hog knows the guy that throws him the corn and looked for him. The hog is not interested in the guys that planted, cultivated, fertilized and harvested the corn.

[Fledermaus]

Fiscal conservatives lose when they start agreeing with left wing premises and just haggle over the price.

Here’s a perfect example: here in Tennessee our liberal, pretending to be to the right of center, governor proposed raising the cigarette tax by 40 cents a pack “for the children” (yep, for education, again) and the incompatible reason of “getting people to quit”. Idiots.

Our “conservative” representatives solution? Try and get us involved in “lowering the 40 cent increase to 20 cents”. Haggling over the price instead of defeating the stupid idea on principle.

The GOP is Democrat-Lite and you actually lecture people like me for “staying home”? I don’t vote for the lesser of two evils. You either provide a clear alternative or, in my opinion, you are just 50% less of a monster.

By your standard I should be happy to have a worthless McCain that only wants to destroy half my rights so I won’t get a Hillary that wants to destroy them all.

Disgusting.

[Bob J]

What do we do about that?

[jveritas]

Bob J you know that this is impossible in the most advanced political system in history. Not a single entity can win all the time, the most important thing is that we win most of the time :)

[Cold Heat]

Gots to clean own house first.

That idea has a nasty habit of working both ways..............

[Bob J]

If you don’t want to discuss objectively, then go to another thread. I am equally repulsed by Rudi supporters as well as Hunter and others.

[united1000]

Agree with the title you posted:

The title of Bernard Goldberg's new book comes to mind: Crazies to the Left of Me, Wimps to the Right

[FredHunter08]

“If you don’t want to discuss objectively, then go to another thread. I am equally repulsed by Rudi supporters as well as Hunter and others.”

So, you don’t like conservatives either.

What is a “conservative” to you?

Your very theory is wrong on its face. Conservatives don’t often lose. It’s just that most Republican politicians aren’t Conservatives.

[The Spirit Of Allegiance]

Good question. I will rant in question format and hopefully some constructive answers and suggestions will be forthcoming.

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It means we must ask: why do we have a live thread about Nancy Pelosi on Leno and no After Action Report when I posted the studio information a day in advance on the CA state board?

It means we must ask: why is there an important case pending (Peter Paul vs. Hillary Clinton) and twice the only people making the sacrifice during weekday hours to help Peter Paul is DFU and myself?

It means we must ask: why do we have Anna Nicole Smith and other threads that go on for tens of thousands of posts—hundreds of thousands of views—and we have far too few Freepers that bother to meet the Move America Forward/Gathering Of Eagles Caravan as it was going across the country to D.C. and far too few Rallies and AARs? Not that GOE wasn’t a RESOUNDING success—it was! (California FReepers, I am the CA GOE Coordinator so Freepmail to get on that list.)

It means we must ask: why do so many people rationalize and knowingly subsidize firms that deliberately subsidize Leftist media instead of sacrificially or at least creatively doing without/finding an alternative?

It means we must ask: why do so few do and so many talk?

Last but not least, it means we must ask: why do so many talk trash about each other and about our elected and appointed leaders and so few pray for them?

[Man50D]

I think we concentrate too much on what the libs do instead of improving our own batting and fielding.

Conservatives can improve both. We need to distinguish ourselves from the socialist Republican parity by forming our own party.