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How Conservatives Can Win in Blue-State America: Lessons from South Africa's Opposition
Big Government ^ | November 11, 2012 | Joel B. Pollak

Posted on 11/11/2012 1:18:43 PM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks

The new conventional wisdom in the aftermath of the 2012 elections is that Republicans face two challenges: first, that the United States is no longer a center-right nation, but a center-left one; second, that the country’s demographic shift away from whites will make it tougher for Republicans to win votes. The proposed solution is that Republicans must compromise on the party’s core policies, from immigration to taxation to social issues. The conventional wisdom is wrong.

I once worked in South Africa for a centrist party, the Democratic Alliance, which faced the same challenges as Republicans do, only far more extreme. Though it had opposed apartheid, its leadership was predominantly white, in a country that is nearly 80% black. Moreover, it supported free-market economic policies in a country whose political culture is dominated by socialist and nationalist ideologies.

The party had worked its way up from receiving less than 2% of the vote in 1994 to just over 12% in 2004. It had become the leading opposition party, but seemed to have hit a ceiling. If it could not grow, it would die. How could it broaden its appeal to black voters without losing its core constituency of white voters? And how could it advocate for the free market when large portions of the electorate demanded massive redistribution?

I joined the team that helped elect Helen Zille mayor of Cape Town in 2006 (she is now the premier, or governor, of the whole Western Cape province). It was the first time an opposition party unseated the dominant African National Congress, and the first time a white politician was chosen by a predominantly black electorate in post-apartheid South Africa.

Our success could offer lessons for the Republican Party as it seeks to refocus.

(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Editorial; Extended News; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: campaigns; coalitions; constituencies; democraticalliance; gop; gotv; helenzille; issues; losing; southafrica; winning
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To: ZULU

Did you even read the article? The author SAYS that the idea of the nation being “center-left” is the wrong conclusion.


21 posted on 11/11/2012 5:15:33 PM PST by SoFloFreeper
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks; mylife; NYTexan; LUV W; penelopesire; onyx; BuckeyeTexan; humblegunner; ...
This is the single most important Post-Election article on the whole website. Click over to Breitbart and read this in it's entirity.
22 posted on 11/11/2012 5:22:11 PM PST by Lazamataz
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To: Lazamataz; LibLieSlayer; KC_Lion; RedMDer; DJ MacWoW; trisham; musicman; I_be_tc; Lady Jag; ...

Thanks very much for this ping, sweetie!


23 posted on 11/11/2012 5:29:23 PM PST by onyx (FREE REPUBLIC IS HERE TO STAY! DONATE MONTHLY! IF YOU WANT ON SARAH PALIN''S PING LIST, LET ME KNOW)
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks

Dump our adherence to the Marquess of Queensberry rules when facing IED users.


24 posted on 11/11/2012 5:29:23 PM PST by NoLibZone ("When the people find they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic")
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks

Hire the Hells Angels as poll watchers in Philly.


25 posted on 11/11/2012 5:30:09 PM PST by NoLibZone ("When the people find they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic")
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To: onyx
With Due Respect to the Author, we already have the framework ready to save our country.

Its Called the Tea Party.

Like you said my Dear Onyx, Our huge 2010 WIN is owed to OUR TEA PARTY.

Romney ran AWAY from OUR TEA PARTY!

So like I have said, Willard, The GOP-E and all the Other feckless Morons, both left and right, can either stand by our side or be crushed under our heel, but they will NOT stand in our way.

26 posted on 11/11/2012 5:45:05 PM PST by KC_Lion (Build the America you want to live in at your address, and keep looking up.-Sarah Palin)
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To: randita

Pursue incremental changes, not sweeping ones.

That’s the most critical. The Left is constantly branding us as extremists. I know people who switched to Obama because of Akins and then Mourdocks foolish comments.


27 posted on 11/11/2012 5:48:00 PM PST by 1010RD (First, Do No Harm)
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To: KC_Lion
Romney ran AWAY from OUR TEA PARTY!
28 posted on 11/11/2012 6:29:28 PM PST by Eaker (Stripping Americans of their freedom and dignity and rubbing their noses in it is a very bad idea.)
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To: Cruz

This post is written in anger and frustration.

Angry that we continue to follow the Republican Party’s elite ignorance. A party that continues to pull defeat from the jaws of victory characterized by pompous fools who fulfill the sterotype built by the left.

Frustrated that the reality of politics is this: There will be no third party capable of competing with the coalition constructed by the dems. As a result, true conservatives MUST take steps to irradicate the ignorance of the Republican Party while still adhering to the core values of our forefathers (beliefs that I discovered are considered extreme by over half of my countrymen on Tuesday night, BTW).

I have no solve for exactly how to accomplish this. Only advice based on a long military career in several foreign lands for how to defeat the dems once this is accomplished.

This thought process is based on the concept of irregular warfare with twists thrown in here and there for good measure.

With that, I provide the following advice for the good of the order.

LEADERSHIP: The old crew has proven either incompotent or outdated. McConnell and Boerner must go. They represent a failed plan to defend and resist without clearly explaining their position. They are content with looking like the bad guys and face public scorn when they don’t realize how important it is to manipulate a clearly left leaning MSM. They represent the failure of the last four years to our own and obstructionists to the opposition. We’ve got to show a new face to the nation. That is the genesis of rebuilding this movement. Ryan or Cantor in the House, Rubio or Demint in the Senate.

We also need a standard bearer and I see no one on the horizon with as much rockstar potential and substance as Rubio. These next four years must put him on the center stage with a unified and consolidated message. It also needs to protect him from the attacks from the left that are guaranteed to come.

Everything the Obamites used to deny, deflect, and difuse will be used againstt hem....including the race card. THAT is what will make Rubio a teflon candidate.

These men represent a change in a party that has been beaten soundly in the last two elections by a charlatan and his traveling circus. A fresh choice in leadership represents change you can TRULY beleive in from every angle. It marks a clear start from inside and outside when we actually started taking this enemy seriously.

GROUND GAME: It is IMPERATIVE to develop and foster an intricate ground game. It requires a MICRO-ANALYSIS of every county, every city, and every early and absentee ballot by demographic to find how how, why, and with what method they voted. The dems have built quite the coalition but it’s a house of cards; it’s a fractured coalition of single issue voters held together by a media-invested hollyweird worshipping demagogue. They can be piecemealed away bitby bit without sacrficing principle.

Give it to the dems on their “community organizing” machine. We don’t need to reinvent that model. We MUST develop our own. One that will INSTILL our principles in a language tailored to the audience. They’ve tailored theirs on the community organizer, we can create ours around the military special operator. This the winning of hearts and minds in our own third world backyard dem strongholds.

This isn’t as difficult as it sounds. It requires a patient and immediate effort that starts with the post election analysis looking not for what we WANT to find, but for the GROUND TRUTH. GROUND TRUTH is REAL INTELLIGENCE not Rovian number-crunching wishful thinking.

It will require an insurgent effort at the ground level. An infiltration into dem areas that we identify are weak or vulnerable to start cutting in to the blue.

The COIN (insurgeny/counterinsurgency)effort would include the identification of these areas, the inflitration of the areas through churches and charitable organizations AND PARTICULARLY THROUGH EDUCATION.

There ARE like thinkers in these communities. How do we find them? Ask Jesse L. Peterson. Ask JC Watts and Herman Cain. They KNOW how to splinter these vulnerable areas off the blue.

The hispanic issue is RIPE for moving into the red. Catholic, family oriented cultures who beleive in being left alone and naturally distrust the government. And they voted Obama? This is the epitome of the single issue voter. the RNC needs to go toe to toe, issue to issue with “the Race” and counter it in that community, in that language, at THAT LEVEL.

Think it can’t be done? SOF has been doing it since the end of World War II. It CAN be done.

WE must get deep into the education system to promote the ideals and values of conservatism that should be selling themselves. I’m not talking about traditional public schools and universities. They are ROTTED with liberals. They also aren’tthe keys to education in the 21st century.

I’m talking about the new way to educate - the online universities, the trade schools and nightschools. Corporate allies need to invest and educate with the ideals of economic and fiscal conservatism.

The RNC needs to lead and develop this effort. A novice like me can see that there is a disconnect between the voting habits of catholic-dominated hispanics and pockets of baptist blacks and their actual stated values. That disconnect can be exploited if it is done slowly, deliberately, and effectively.

INFORMATION WARFARE: We are ATROCIOUS AT THIS. Dems get a simple message out early and often. They poison the well and we are left to change minds rather than get the initial impression right from jump. We constantly play defense and think we are sooooo clever when dems (as they ALWAYS do) do something stupid or illegal and shocked when the media all but ignores it. We must take the offensive in getting up in every Candy Crowley, every George Stepenopolis’ face and call them what they are: democratic hacks posing as the “objective media”

We ABSOLUTELY MUST be proactive. We must attack at EVERY OPPORTUNITY then add each fail of the dems to a trend and theme. These themes must be simple, tailored, and repetitively broadcast to each target demographic.

We must look out beyond the 5 and 10 meter targets. We’ve got to effectively interpret what the dem message is on the horizon and confront it at all levels - from the national MSM level filtering directly down to the target group level. Even I can see what the talking points of the upcoming week are by watching the Sunday talking head programs. Defense is unacceptable. we can’t pretent that the most outrageous comment won’t gain traction then act surprised when weeks later, that theme picks up steam. Attack, attack, attack.

Alinsky tactics must be turned against their masters. There is GREAT power in ridicule and scorn. They make it too easy to use. It needs to be culturally tailored and consistent. Dennis Miller needs his own show on FNC AND a late night show on Fox. Let him source and promote culturally diverse conserative comedians that vulnerable areas can relate to and remember. Bold Fresh tours aren’t enough.

This is only part of an overall information operation plan that is constant in a simple party message and what it means to each target group.

WE DON’T DO THAT WELL. WHY NOT? I find it unbelievable that Obama has hijacked the reputation and imagery of the Party of Lincoln.

COIN operations involve a very in depth understanding of cultural idocyncracies and how best to exploit them to our advantage. It’s not a “wool-over-the-eyes” approach or a “free shit” approach like the dems sell. THAT ALWAYS COMES UP SHORT.

It’s a sell based on how it effects each target group and what it means to them. If it’s done right, I am CONFIDENT that the tenets of conservatism sell themselves.

In Civil Miltary Operations, assistance in areas that seem unrelated builds trust in the agency. Granted, there’s a fine line between assistance and the giving of free shit but, the special operations forces walk that line well. It can be done. Community outreach in areas that we identify, in ways that we haven’t before can build a larger tent without sacrificing our beliefs.

The military has been doing this in third world countries for years. We’ve been more successful in some areas, less successful in others. In the United States third world strongholds of the Democratic Party,I am confident that it can be done.

Here’s the kicker: There are countless retired special operations planners and operators working overseas as contractors RIGHT NOW. It’s too easy; the RNC needs to hire them as contractors over here.

This is, by far, not the only avenue we’ve got to pursue in order to turn the tide.

But, if we are going to war, the RNC must look to the military to rediscover and reorganize. The number-crunching beancounters have their place in the organization but, on their best days, they can only identify who will and won’t vote Republican.

This is a “Hearts and Minds” effort.

It requires a new way to think about the political battlefield.

Rangers Lead the Way.



29 posted on 11/11/2012 7:27:45 PM PST by military cop (I carry a .45....cause they don't make a .46....)
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks

bookmark


30 posted on 11/11/2012 9:31:22 PM PST by Democrat_media (limit government to 5000 words of laws. how to limit gov Quantify limited government ...)
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To: muawiyah

Shouldn’t you at least wait until the boomers retire, before you have them all dying off?

I don’t think that Todd and Sarah Palin are going to die anytime soon.


31 posted on 11/11/2012 11:50:07 PM PST by ansel12 (Todd Akin was NOT the tea party candidate, Sarah Steelman was, Brunner had tea party support also.)
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To: conservatism_IS_compassion

BTTT


32 posted on 11/12/2012 1:18:41 AM PST by E.G.C.
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To: ansel12
The Baby Boomers start their drive to cultural and political dominance in 1946! Those guys are already 66 years of age. The higher death rates begin in earnest when a cohort reaches 60!

Sarah and Todd aren't Boomers!

33 posted on 11/12/2012 4:18:17 AM PST by muawiyah
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To: ansel12
A baby boomer is a person who was born during the demographic post-World War II baby boom between the years 1946 and 1964, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Sarah was born in 1964, at the tail end.

There's a cohort that's 18 years long and the first 6 years, or a full 1/3 of the Boomers, are already well into their 60s and they are dying left and right.

34 posted on 11/12/2012 4:23:55 AM PST by muawiyah
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To: muawiyah

Generations are confusing to people, including the media. For instance, Generation Y lasted from 1982 to 2000, yet the media calls them “millennials”. None of them where born in the third millennium. That would be Generation Z (2001-2018).


35 posted on 11/12/2012 9:36:11 AM PST by rmlew ("Mosques are our barracks, minarets our bayonets, domes our helmets, the believers our soldiers.")
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To: muawiyah

Sarah Palin and Todd and Obama are all boomers.

I know that boomers range in age from 48 through 66, and that people within that age group die, but you make it sound like they are all in their final days and close to disappearing.

The age group of 48 which includes Todd and Sarah, to 66, still have more than a few years left to participate in America.


36 posted on 11/12/2012 9:58:33 AM PST by ansel12 (Todd Akin was NOT the tea party candidate, Sarah Steelman was, Brunner had tea party support also.)
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To: ansel12
I didn't say they are all dead ~ just that they are running out of time and it looks like 1/3 of them have arrived at that time of life where their cohort faces a far higher death rate than before.

As long as you replace each one who dies, or is disabled, or just can't do it any more, you are OK, but you need some truly heroic registration drives to do that.

Do you want them all to die or something?

37 posted on 11/12/2012 11:45:38 AM PST by muawiyah
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To: muawiyah
The biggest single problem in politics currently is the movement of the Baby Boom generation into that time of life where the death rate climbs to the sky.

I think that people are aware of where 48 year old to 66 year olds are in regards to dying off suddenly.

Your overly dramatic posts on multiple threads make it sound like they are finished as a force in politics, boomer Sarah Palin still has a few years to go, and many boomers become more conservative as they age, which has the effect of making up for people who die many years before the average life expectancy.

38 posted on 11/12/2012 12:12:44 PM PST by ansel12 (Todd Akin was NOT the tea party candidate, Sarah Steelman was, Brunner had tea party support also.)
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To: ansel12
But the Conservative black boomers keep on voting for Obama don't they.

The point is to deal with some rather fantastic change in effective voting strength election to election for both parties.

39 posted on 11/12/2012 12:19:21 PM PST by muawiyah
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