Before We Give Up, Could We At Least Try Selling Our Ideas?

Townhall.com ^ | November 13, 2012 | David Limbaugh

[Kaslin]

We conservatives may never reach a consensus among ourselves as to the main factors that caused our election defeat, but surely we can agree that we must do a better job of selling our ideas.

Never mind, you say. The electorate has irreversibly become a taker class, and conservative ideas of self-reliance, personal responsibility and individual liberties will never appeal to a majority again, especially with demographics working against the GOP.

We must reject that, or we are as good as surrendering. To accept it, we are confessing our skepticism of the power of ideas, which itself is contrary to the conservative spirit.

Conservatives begin at a considerable disadvantage, with a liberal media and academia telling people they are victims who aren't responsible for their own actions and demonizing the American system as originally conceived, including capitalism, producers, business, energy producers and the wealthy. Of course, conservatives are handicapped from the outset when these institutions evince hostility toward limited government, American greatness and a cohesive American culture. It's amazing we even have a fighting chance when Democratic elected officials use government money and power to buy votes with no regard for the destruction this causes these individuals and society as a whole.

Republicans could be defeatist and throw in the towel, or abandon our ideas and seek to become mini-liberals, but both choices are suicidal.

How about, instead, we pick ourselves up and show we believe in the power of ideas and our ability to sell them?

I agree with those arguing we need to be smarter about how we approach Hispanics, the young, blacks, single women and others who routinely vote against us. We can package and present our ideas better and send people who can better relate to these groups to "evangelize" them. But it is even more important that we start preaching our ideas as if we truly believe in them, instead of always being on the defensive and afraid of who we are.

I do not believe blacks vote overwhelmingly Democratic because they are a purely homogenous group of liberal-leaning people. Rather, Democrats have poisoned their minds about Republicans, convincing them we are racists or at the very least don't have their best interests at heart. It's an "us" against "them" thing, and it wouldn't matter if blacks agreed with Republicans on most policy issues; they would still vote against Republicans as long as they believe we are against or don't care about them.

Similarly, Democrats have convinced many women that Republicans are sexists who are waging war on them and their access to contraceptives. They have also persuaded many people who are reliant on government programs that Republicans are greedy, wretched sorts who don't care about them either and generally have no compassion.

The irony of all of this is that Democratic policies, especially those of President Barack Obama, have particularly hurt blacks, the poor, the unemployed and those who desperately need a growing economy to escape from this destructive dependency cycle that robs their dignity and their ability to improve their lives.

Perhaps I am hopelessly naive, but I believe we can make inroads into these groups and dismantle these warped stereotypes if we make an intelligent and energetic effort both to counter the left's lies, indoctrination and demagoguery about our character, and to demonstrate the superiority of our ideas. We have to make the moral case for capitalism and show how our ideas and solutions are more compassionate and promising than liberalism.

Let's not give up on winning the hearts and minds of black Americans. Let's not sit still while Democrats continue to portray us as greedy, uncaring and indifferent to the poor. We must make clear that fewer people suffer under free markets. I don't believe the entirety of the black community and those on government aid have rejected our ideas as much as many of them haven't really been exposed to them or had their merits clearly articulated. Nor do I believe that most people who are currently dependent on the government for their livelihood want to remain so. It's crazy and insulting to write them off as perpetual Democrats.

Call me simplistic; call me Pollyannaish. I may well be. But I'm not offering this as some panacea. A multitude of factors worked together to defeat us last Tuesday, but misguided perceptions about Republicans were a large part of it and will continue to be unless we change them.

Regardless of whatever other ideas we employ going forward, let's show we believe in the winning power of conservative ideas and make a sincere, genuine effort to reach groups that have been soured against us by years of slander and misinformation. It could go a long way.

[driftless2]

Sory Dave, you are hopelessly naive. The success of any system like the U.S. is that most of the voters realize there's no free lunch. Unfortunately, we now have more people who look at other Americans as their source for eating and other necessities. Yes, in 2016 let's have a conservative who stresses conservatism and is not afraid to attack the next extreme liberal candidate( s virtual certainty..there's no such thing as a moderate Dem anymore).

But that doesn't mean we'll win. I thought in 2008 there's no way a socialist like Obama could get elected. He got elected handily. In 2012 I thought after the inevitable disaster Obama's policies brought, there's no way he'd get re-elected. He's back in. Sorry for the pessimism, but this country might have permanently tilted in favor of the takers.

[EBH]

An intuitive leap is required to understand why conservatism is important.

So what is that intuitive spark?

Nike style marketing won't work? How many kids want to be like Mike? You see, your poo-poo of the idea is what is wrong with conservative trying to market their message/success. You don't like the Nike & Mike idea...how about a Coke and a Smile?

Delayed gratification vs. no gratification?

You see the message for Americans both liberal or conservative is the same...prosperity and how to get it for myself, my family. We've all seen the kid's reaction to sharing grades and they all fail. They all want what is the reward for their own efforts. This is the innate natural order of life...why can we not tap into the market?

[Buckeye McFrog]

The new generation of voters communicates primarily via Twitter.

And you just can’t sell any idea or concept more complex than “Hope n Change” with 140 characters or less.

[EBH]

Sadly enough, there are a lot of working liberals who can do basic math yet will ignore the fact that their policies and ideas do not add monetarily or socially to the outcome. These folks seem embrace negative results as necessary to their dreams of some little understood collective hell. They can lose everything they have and still believe. It’s like some sort of religious fervor.

How did they get sold on some of these ideas? Democrat business friend the other day burst into tears when I walked into her store. She shared her frustrations with me and at the end I asked her who she voted for. Of course she said, 0bama. I asked if she still felt that was the morally right thing to do for herself, her kids and society? When all the good things you want for society come at the expense of everyone else, when you are told to sacrafice until you yourself are destitute and unable to care for yourself...is that morally right? No, my democrat friend...they are coming for you too.

[EBH]

I don’t know about that? The Pope is going to be teaching Latin via twitter...

[Nowhere Man]

You can’t compete against Santa Claus.

[Teacher317]

We conservatives may never reach a consensus among ourselves as to the main factors that caused our election defeat, but surely we can agree that we must do a better job of selling our ideas.

I just don't think we can use the GOP to sell them anymore. The leadership refuses to take on the media, refuses to take stands, refuses to hold the Dems to their own promises in deals they make together, they refuse to back conservative candidates, and they refuse to hammer the limited-government message. Unless there are MAJOR changes in the GOP leadership, and very soon, then I just don't see how the brand can be carried by them anymore.

[showme_the_Glory]

You're going to sell someone something they don't really want. You're selling them the stripped down Smart model that gets good mpg and it's the smart thing for them to own. But they want to drive the fully loaded Escalade because it looks cool and it's got lots of cool shiny buttons. You're selling the $30 Walmart sneakers and they are wanting the $300 Nike's.

Conservatie ideas require hard work and committment to a greater purpose. The people that want to buy it already have it and they's in the minority now. They rest would rather kill you for your Nikes than be sold anything less. Glad I'm not in sales.

[Buckeye McFrog]

The Pope is going to be teaching Latin via twitter...

If Benedict actually tweets then I'm the Grand Mufti of Baghdad...

[semantic]

You are the archetype purveyor of conservative porn. In your fantasy world, ideas seemingly exist in a vacuum without the presence of competing interests.

Let's use your business model for example: you are advocating going head-to-head with a better capitalized organization that enjoys superior engineering, broader distribution, and favorable consumer appeal.

OK, back to reality - what does this have to do with the political economy? Simple - debt merchants have perfected their craft over 5,000 years. There is simply no competitive alternative one can offer that counters the promise of enjoyment today vs self-sacrifice for tomorrow.

If your alternative vision was effective, then why has it never succeeded over this same 5,000 years, except for a completely anomalous period of time spanning around 300 years on the N American continent? (1650-1950).

Gee, do you think it might have something to do with a wide-open empty continent rich in natural resources, that just happened to coincide with the one time in history that the common man possessed equal firepower as the state? Nah, couldn't be that, now could it?

This sucker is going down, it was planned and it is being implemented. The only question is: who is gonna emerge from the rubble? Make no mistake - our adversaries don't need a weatherman to tell them which way the wind blows. They are fully confident they'll be presiding over the new USA.

[Teacher317]

You can’t compete against Santa Claus.

Absolutely untrue. It's just really really difficult. Santa Bama was very vulnerable in a dozen ways, but the GOP refused to go after them. They ran another nice guy, and another nice guy campaign. Running "moderate" gained them ZERO votes, even in Romney's home state. If they haven't learned the lesson now, they never will... and the only way that they can show that they've learned the lesson is massive leadership changes before the New Year. That's what I'm looking for. If it doesn't happen, then I'm just registering with the Constitution Party until something better comes along.

[patriot08]

Sign the petition:

http://www.petition2congress.com/8222/petition-recount-on-2012-presidential-election/

Visit this site. They are keeping a running account of cases of voter fraud and what to do about it:

(ABSOLUTELY AMAZING!)

http://www.ObamaVoterFraud.com/

SARAH PALIN speaks out of massive Obama machine voter fraud:

Sarah Palin News ‏@SarahPalinLinks Between suppression of the military vote and voter fraud, Obama stole another election. http://www.canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/46302 …DEMAND A RECOUNT! #VoterFraud

Sarah Palin News ‏@SarahPalinLinks People need to stop pointing fingers within the GOP and investigate the Dems' massive voter fraud and suppression of the military vote.

Mitt Romney tweets about election fraud:

Mitt Romney in 2012! ‏@PlanetRomney #tcot The Competent Conservative: Elections Have Not Yet Been Certified, Here’s What You Can Do:

>> These electi... http://bit.ly/Zzam8Y

http://thecompetentconservative.com/elections-have-not-yet-been-certified-heres-what-you-can-do/

Excerpt

These elections are NOT certified yet. The only way to get this investigated, much less recounted or overturned, is through the Secretary of State of each of the five key states: Florida, Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. EVEN IF YOU ARE IN ANOTHER STATE you can help. But it won’t do any good to dilute our effort to challenge California or Michigan or other states. Until a major group gets involved to do more, here is the plan: Contact the Secretary of State of the state in question. See contact information below...

(cont...see http://thecompetentconservative.com/elections-have-not-yet-been-certified-heres-what-you-can-do/)

Hannity and Col Allan West hit voter fraud: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-aVy_s76ZY

Photo of Ethiopians brought to Ohio voting stations by busload, 95% of whom did not speak English, and told to vote for Obama, straight Dem ticket https://www.facebook.com/lori.patriot/posts/404694619604138<

Must watch videos!

VIDEO-- Programmer Testifies About Rigging Elections With Vote Counting

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Hbf3iaEbAuY

VIDEO- Illegal Aliens Caught Voting and Stealing Elections In Florida In Vast Numbers

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ILJDudUpct0

VIDEO- Michael Savage: How Obama fixed the 2012 election: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=dmJtaOO2etc

VIDEO- Massive voter fraud discovered in April:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ILJDudUpct0

VIDEO- Whistle blower speaks out about voter fraud: http://www.youtube.com/watch? feature=player_embedded&v=k_rMpQKqZhM

___________________________________________________

We can not wait for 2014 and 2016 to regroup and figure out new strategies. By then it will be too late. The Marxist/Muslim usurper will have completed his planned distruction of America. That's what people fail to understand.

We must act NOW.

Start with the election. If we let the Rats get away with this massive voter fraud, we're no better than a bananna republic.

We must keep digging and pounding him every day, in every way we can- phony birth certificate, Benghazi, Fast and Furious, his hidden life, records....

We are FReepers. We must fight!

Those who shrug and accept this atrocity without a fight are not worthy to be called Freepers!

[kabar]

I agree with those arguing we need to be smarter about how we approach Hispanics, the young, blacks, single women and others who routinely vote against us. We can package and present our ideas better and send people who can better relate to these groups to "evangelize" them. But it is even more important that we start preaching our ideas as if we truly believe in them, instead of always being on the defensive and afraid of who we are.

I do not believe blacks vote overwhelmingly Democratic because they are a purely homogenous group of liberal-leaning people. Rather, Democrats have poisoned their minds about Republicans, convincing them we are racists or at the very least don't have their best interests at heart. It's an "us" against "them" thing, and it wouldn't matter if blacks agreed with Republicans on most policy issues; they would still vote against Republicans as long as they believe we are against or don't care about them.

Limbaugh is a fool. It has nothing to do with the failure to communicate our message properly. It has to do with the fact that they don't agree with what we are selling. The Dems are far more relevant to their world view and personal needs. They want Big Government and all that it offers.

[CodeToad]

“Could We At Least Try Selling Our Ideas?”

You mean the 50+ years we have been selling our ideas hasn’t been enough? The 1964 election kicked off the topic into high gear and it has remained in high gear ever since.

Free stuff is easier to understand, and so long as people can vote themselves money from the treasury no nation will survive. The Democrat party is about free money. You can’t compete with Santa Claus giving away free money.

[CodeToad]

“When one is losing money on a product line, they dump the line, they don’t lower the price to sell more.”

An even better analogy, IMHO:

When your competitor is allowed to steal the products that you make (read: money) and give it away to their customers, you stop making the product. There is no more motivation for your company to continue.

[Road Glide]

“Limbaugh is a fool. It has nothing to do with the failure to communicate our message properly. It has to do with the fact that they don’t agree with what we are selling. The Dems are far more relevant to their world view and personal needs. They want Big Government and all that it offers.”

Good post and the best response to Limbaugh’s piece.

I was never “in sales”, but it would seem to me that before you attempt to sell a product, that you ascertain who your potential market is.

In the wake of this defeat, I see many (too many) conservatives and Republicans looking towards “the new immigrants” and muttering to themselves, “what do we have to do to sell our product to these people?”

They will never understand because they believe (in a “Pollyannish” manor, the same term that Limbaugh used in the piece above) that “everyone can be like just like we are”, and they believe that all the new immigrants are at their core no different than they, and that their product will sell if they just re-package it with the right glimmers and sparkles.

Ain’t gonna happen.
Paging Willie Loman...

However, there IS a group out there that is conservatism’s “market territory”, and it is to them we should tailor our message.

They are the Euro-Americans.

McCain got about 55% of the “Euro vote” in 2008 (he lost).
Romney got about 59% in 2012 (he still lost).
If Romney had been able to garner a slightly higher share of Euros — say, 63% — he would have won.

There are going to be those who reply to this by saying, “each year the Euro-Americans comprise a smaller percentage of the overall population.”

That may be true, but right now American is still 70-71% Euro-American. That’s approaching three out of four. The largest majorities of non-Euros (such as Hispanics and Asians) are concentrated in “blue states” anyway, that for all practical purposes will remain lost to the Republicans now and forever.

We need to tailor our message to states like Iowa, Wisconsin, etc., which have few “new immigrants”, but are decisive in national political elections. Pandering to Hispanics and Asians will do NOTHING for us in those states where it is really going to count.

I expect replies arguing for conservatives to embrace “group politics” goes against the grain of conservatism. Hogwash. Until William F. Buckley purged the “paleoconservatives” and ushered in what would is now called neo-conservatism, the base of ideological conservatism was about protecting the status quo from the onslaught of liberalism. And it was the national policy of The United States until the early 1960’s to exclude many on the basis of national origin and ethnicity, and by doing so protect the status quo cultural/ethnic makeup of the country.

Once that was abandoned, we opened the gates to a whole new cohort of people, who are so culturally different from our old norms, that our “old ideas” (the traditional American them of “Scots-Irish” self-reliance and distrust of government) are foreign to them, as well.

We can fantasize all we want, but these newcomers ain’t gonna be buyin’ what Republicans have to sell.

If we want to keep our brand from going out of business due to lack of sales, we had best learn where our market is...

[kabar]

We may be on our way to creating a white identity, not a good thing but understandable as this society becomes more polarized along racial, ethnic, and cultural lines. This romanticized idea of a melting pot may be crumbling as the demographic mix changes. The US is not immune to the same kinds of forces that affect many other societies. In many cases, it is just a function of numbers that can set off the dynamic of political tribalism. It is interesting to note that 53% of Latinos self-describe themselves as white.

We should go after the white voter, young and old. According to the CNN exit polls, whites 18-29 voted for Romney 51%-44%. Latinos of the same age group voted 74% to 23% for Obama. And Blacks voted 91%-8% for Obama. We can increase our share of the white vote easier than converting minority voters. We can also reduce legal immigration from the current 1.2 million a year, 87% of whom are minorities as defined by the USG.

[EBH]

http://www.uscatholic.org/blog/2012/11/habemus-papam-twitteratum-pope-tweet-latin

Habemus papam in Twitteratum: Pope to tweet (in Latin?)

Now that Pope Benedict XVI is entering the Twitterverse—with the pope’s first 140 characters to appear before the end of the year—I’m wondering how his embrace of this new(ish) communications medium relates to this week’s creation of the Vatican’s new Pontifical Academy for Latin Studies. Maybe he coud use the former to promote the latter?

[DannyTN]

"The electorate has irreversibly become a taker class,... We must reject that, or we are as good as surrendering. "

I wholeheartedly agree, the only reason the electorate is presently a taker class, is because we lowered our import tariffs and exported our jobs overseas, forcing them to become taker class.

Unfortunately, our candidate wanted to export more jobs. And Obama seems focused on four things: 1) how to avoid becoming the fossil fuel president having presided over the largest increase in domestic production, 2) How to get Arab Winter to dance with him, 3) scoping Michelle some good vacation spots and 4) "Oh, oh, is that a golf course? Can we play?"

[Baynative]

You would think that selling liberty would be an easier task.