How about one general catch all rule: be a true conservative! The rest will fall into place.
This isn’t rocket science.
- Be nice to dogs!
- One wife ONLY, please! (*gender of your choice)
- Don’t give people cancer.
I smell GOP-E. The stench clogs the nostrils.
"27-Be ready and able to explain how your plans benefit individual voters. Self-interest is a powerful thing in a democracy."
Perhaps a bit surprising that Dan McLaughlin doesn't know we don't live in a democracy. But perhaps only a bit.
"69-Getting distance from your base in the general on ancillary issues won’t hurt you; they’ll suck it up and independents will like it."
Tell that to President Romney. And finally:
"2-Ask yourself what you’re willing to sacrifice or compromise on to win. If there’s nothing important you’d sacrifice, don’t run; you will lose. If there’s nothing important you wouldn’t, don’t run; you deserve to lose."
The Republican Party loses Presidential elections because it's one big compromise. Nobody ever asks a Democrat what they will give up or how they will meet in the middle. Ever. The only correct answer to that question is 'I'll sacrifice my opponent's principles, not my own'." I think people would be amazed at the kind of conservative candidate that might emerge.
I will add my own rule for candidates. How to get elected but still keep to your principles.
Make a list of your core values. Try to list 50 things you are certain about. *Do not* order the list from most to least important. Since they are core values, they should all be about equal.
Next, poll the public about *your* core values. Ask them which of *your* core values matters most *to them*.
Then take the “top 10” of *your* core values favored by the public, and make them your clear, easy to understand election platform. “Bullet points” of one sentence each.
That doesn’t mean at all that you ignore the other 40 core values, just that you run on the 10 most popular core values.
So why do things this way?
First of all, because it lets you keep your integrity and honor.
Second of all, because voters adore clarity in politics.
They are more inclined to vote for a candidate when they know “where they stand” than one who obscures what they think in doublespeak and exceptions.
(Though he is a bit off, Patrick Buchanan once got a heck of an endorsement from a political opponent who said, “Agree with him or not, you know that if you injected him with sodium pentothol (truth serum), he would say *exactly* the same things he says right now.”)
Speaking simply, without being patronizing, is appreciated by voters, because besides being clear, it projects this clarity, which is usually interpreted as honesty.
And another rule, kind of an odd one.
Americans distinguish between ethics and morality. Candidates who assert they are ethical are seen as obeying the written law, which is an objective thing: either they are, or they aren’t. The public likes that.
However, candidates who proclaim they are moral are looked at with caution, because morality is seen as following religious rules that vary tremendously between religions. So voters don’t know where a candidate stands.
So while you may be moral as the day is long, it is still better to run on being ethical.
Food for thought to those promoting Ben Carson for president.
We SHOULD be using “Rules For Radicals” against the Leftists.
And why shouldn’t we? They have proven successful.
Rule 1: run because you love the country and the constitution it was based upon, believing that government’s purpose is to protect the people’s rights.
Rule 2: see rule 1
RUN ONLY IF YOU KNOW YOU CAN SAVE OUR COUNTRY.
74-No Pooftahs!