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Why Conservatives Win Elections and Lose the War
Townhall.com ^ | April 16, 2014 | Ben Shapiro

Posted on 04/16/2014 7:24:22 AM PDT by Kaslin

On April 1, 2014, President Barack Obama triumphantly announced that 7.1 million Americans had selected a health insurance plan through Obamacare. In doing so, he nastily labeled his political opposition uncaring and unfeeling. "Why are folks working so hard for people not to have health insurance?" Obama asked. "Why are they so mad about the idea of people having health insurance?"

That night, Comedy Central's Stephen Colbert sat behind his desk at "The Colbert Report," playing his version of a conservative: vicious, mean and cruel. "I wish I could come to you with some good news, but the worst imaginable thing has happened: Millions of Americans are going to get health care."

This is why conservatives lose. They lose because while they proclaim that Obama's signature legislation fails on the merits, raising costs and lowering access to vital services, the left surges forth with a different message: Conservatives are rotten to the core.

This message doesn't just emanate from politicians in Washington. Entertainers like Colbert parrot back White House talking points in the guise of mockery. For many young people who get their news from Colbert, the only conservatism they see comes out of the mouth of a hard-core leftist playing a conservative who doesn't exist. There is no conservative sitting up nights wondering how to deprive Americans of health insurance. But many young people don't know that. They simply assume that the person Colbert is parodying must exist -- otherwise, his satire isn't satire at all, but a political smear job, an ugly and stereotypical blackfacing of conservatives.

For Colbert, to be funny, one of two alternatives must be true: Either his repulsive character must be based on a core reality -- conservatives are evil -- or his audience must believe in that core unreality. With the help of Obama and an entertainment industry dedicated full time to the defacing of conservatives' character, the latter has certainly become the case. Too many Americans now perceive conservatives as morally deficient. All it has cost is hundreds of millions of dollars and several decades of consistent attacks springing from Hollywood and the political world.

That's why so many Americans now seem comfortable giving the government power to violate freedom of conscience for conservatives: Evil people don't deserve freedom and therefore, can be deprived of it. People who consider themselves civil libertarians suddenly find their inner totalitarian when it comes to Christian-owned bakeries. That can only happen when those people become convinced that Christian-owned bakeries are fronts of hatred and darkness. And that can only happen when they are falsely maligned as such, over and over again.

Conservatives can win short-term political fights and lose the war for hearts and minds. And that's precisely what has happened, thanks to the lack of moral clarity on the right. It's not enough to be good on policy. Americans must think of you as good. By neglecting that deeper battle, conservatives sow the seeds of their own destruction -- and the destruction of American freedoms, as well.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 0bamacare; demonrats; republicans; voting

1 posted on 04/16/2014 7:24:22 AM PDT by Kaslin
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To: Kaslin

Hard to have moral clarity when the last standard bearer was pro gay, pro abortion and a known liar. Hard to have moral clarity when the current top Republicans in DC, who claim to be conservative are pushing Amnesty and refuse to prosecute the Admin for all it’s crimes.

Hard to convince people we believe in something when we say publicaly that principle does not matter, purity is a problem and then go vote for people who stand in bold and public opposition to what we, in contradiction, claim to believe in.

Anyone wishing to challenge the truth of the above, please spare us all the drama. It’s true and we all know it.


2 posted on 04/16/2014 7:36:42 AM PDT by Norm Lenhart (How's that 'lesser evil' workin' out for ya?)
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To: Kaslin
RE :”Too many Americans now perceive conservatives as morally deficient. All it has cost is hundreds of millions of dollars and several decades of consistent attacks springing from Hollywood and the political world.
That's why so many Americans now seem comfortable giving the government power to violate freedom of conscience for conservatives: Evil people don't deserve freedom and therefore, can be deprived of it. People who consider themselves civil libertarians suddenly find their inner totalitarian when it comes to Christian-owned bakeries. That can only happen when those people become convinced that Christian-owned bakeries are fronts of hatred and darkness. And that can only happen when they are falsely maligned as such, over and over again. “

That not only was Obama/Dems 2012 election strategy but it is also what they are attempting to hold off major losses this year.

The other theme they use (related) is that conservatives only oppose Obama because he is black, that its racist in nature, that they disrespect him because he is black, that Obama’s policies are center-right and the Dem party has moved ‘to the right’ and if a Bush, McCain or Romney was POTUS Republicans would all support those same policies.

So any criticize of Obama is racist(and sexist based). So get off the sofa and vote (against GOP) all you victims.

3 posted on 04/16/2014 7:36:44 AM PDT by sickoflibs (Obama : 'You can keep your doctor if you want. I never tell a lie ')
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To: Kaslin

All of what Ben Shapiro stated in his article is Captain Obvious to every conservative.

So what does Shapiro recommend? Nothing as far as I caught in his remarks.

What we’re really talking about is attempting to reach people who have no clue, who are narcissistic, and who think primarily with their emotions, rather than logic.

However, when the Obama regime and its lapdog media tells everyone that the economy is now “great” (yet, why do we either not have a full time job, or, we have only part-time jobs?), when they say that Obamacare is an immense success (yet many people continue to lose their insurance plan, or the changes because of the “miracle” of Obamacare now make it unaffordable), and when people found out how much domestic spying is going on by their government, and, when they saw just how ruthless the federal government can be against one lone American citizen who refused to play the BLM’s/Reid’s game - maybe, just maybe, some of them will begin to see some truth.

I’m praying, maybe fruitlessly, that most Americans, even the low-information ones, have enough intellectual insight to see what their own eyes tell them, rather than the flat out lies they are being told by the government and the media. The elections this fall will tell the tale.

My concern is, will those elected keep their word and actually do what is needed to set the nation back on a sane course economically, restore domestic enforcement of our border laws and illegal immigration laws, and stop the harassment of Americans citizens who attempt to live and work by their religious convictions? Will they set us back on course to a strong military, a strong strategic plan for security of our nation and its true allies?

Will they do what must be done regardless of the criticism of the media and without regard as to whether or not they will be re-elected?

Even more, will they return our government to abiding by the Constitution and the rule of law?

All the while we, as individual citizens, must remember as the Psalmist said:

“The king is not saved by a mighty army; A warrior is not delivered by great strength. A horse is a false hope for victory; Nor does it deliver anyone by its great strength. Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him, On those who hope for His lovingkindness, To deliver their soul from death And to keep them alive in famine.”

Psalm 33:16-19


4 posted on 04/16/2014 8:06:43 AM PDT by rusty schucklefurd
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To: Kaslin
It goes back in large part to my warning for two election cycles that the Republicans at all levels simply don't understand how to play dirty, and by that, I mean they do not use every legal tool available to win. Obama should have been crushed by McCain, his entire leftist agenda not only discussed but ridiculed. They should have encouraged the birth control questions, hammered the death panels, and paraded Rev. Wright in every commercial.

I was at least somewhat hopeful that Romney, with his reputation for ruthlessness against other Republicans, would be equally fearsome against Obama, and he cowered just as McCain did. What happened to the party that was never afraid to "wave the bloody shirt' and remind voters who started the Civil War? Who urged people (the majority) to "vote like you shot"?

The GOP consultants have ensured that no matter what happens in district and House races, the Senate will almost exclusively be dominated by wimps.

5 posted on 04/16/2014 8:22:23 AM PDT by LS ('Castles made of sand, fall in the sea . . . eventually.' Hendrix)
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To: Norm Lenhart
Good post. Bump.
6 posted on 04/16/2014 2:50:31 PM PDT by lentulusgracchus
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bkmk


7 posted on 04/16/2014 8:55:42 PM PDT by AllAmericanGirl44
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