No Senator Cruz, the divide in the GOP voters is between Dogmatism and Realism. It not low information or anger that drives the Trump people. It is Realism.
The 2016 GOP Primary has brought to the for an old divide in Conservatism. There currently is a war being waged between the Dogmatics and the Realists. The Dogmatist care nothing about political realities, only the purity of the candidate political dogma matters to them. The Realist understands you have to be able to advance the political ball down the field to achieve the goals of the dogma. The Realist understands some times a flawed tool is going work better then the flawlessly poltical pure tool.
Reagan, who was a realist, wrote about it.
By Ronald Reagan in his autobiography An American Life
When I began entering into the give and take of legislative bargaining in Sacramento, a lot of the most radical conservatives who had supported me during the election didnt like it. Compromise was a dirty word to them and they wouldnt face the fact that we couldnt get all of what we wanted today. They wanted all or nothing and they wanted it all at once. If you dont get it all, some said, dont take anything. Id learned while negotiating union contracts that you seldom got everything you asked for. And I agreed with FDR, who said in 1933: I have no expectations of making a hit every time I come to bat. What I seek is the highest possible batting average. If you got seventy-five or eighty percent of what you were asking for, I say, you take it and fight for the rest later, and thats what I told these radical conservatives who never got used to it.
Th Dogmatic at NR, Town Hall, Red State and the rest of the Conservative media sneer at the realist as being nihlistic towards DC and the GOP.
It is not Nihilism, it Realism. Since 1988 Conservatives have faithfully pledges their treasure and time to the GOP. Despite elections successes in 1988, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2010 and 2014 what have Conservative gotten from the GOP?
Prosperity? Nope worse economy since 1979.
Reduction in Government-nope as expense, corrupt, incompetent, intrusive and bigger then ever
Supreme Court? Nope as far left as it has ever been.
A Nation secure? Nope at risk in a dangerous world. Military broken, exhausted and overextended.
A respect for rule of law and the Constitution? Nope. Goveremnt, and society, is more lawless then it has ever been.
A healthy growing vibrant society? Nope stagnant or in decline everywhere in every way.
So, it not Nihilism, it Realism. It is a realistic assessment that doing the same thing again this year electorally is going to continue this decline and degradation from DC.You can only overcome inertia in any system with force. So we need to force DC out of it denigrate path onto a new path. So why Trump rather then Cruz?
I know this falls on deaf ears with 100%ers at NR, Red State and other Conservative media but the fact remains, we are a Constitutional Republic that rests on the notion that the peoples Representatives in Government know how to compromise and negotiate.
This feeling that Cruz will ride into DC and dictate the Conservative Medias 100%er terms to everyone else there is simply wishful thinking. What is more probably is Cruz would be a GOP Carter.
Carter was the same sort of religious political puritan who went to DC and assumed he would dictate his political dogmas to everyone there. The record shows how badly that idea failed.
Conservative politicians talk a good game and then go to DC and accomplish nothing. After 30 years of fail, it is time to try another solution. The winning candidate is, brace yourseelf.... going to have to cut DEALS! And some times those deals require..compromise!!!
Another fail point for the Principled Conservatives is they think only as far as the election. Then once they win their purity candidates go to DC and fail against the inertia of the DC/Media political machine. 1988-1994-1998-2000-2002-2004-2010-2014 are all example of where this Next election mindset has failed.
Trump is merely the 1st wave of a multi wave assault. Cruz might do for a follow up wave, he is not a 1st wave candidate. Without Trump to lead the way, the Cruz boat would of either been ignored because it was irrelevant, or been shelled into oblivion by the $10s of millions of GOPE attack ads.
The 1st wave job in any assault is to shatter the defenses and open the road for the follow up waves. No matter how flawed you think the vessel is, Trump is the best 1st wave political assault team we have had to hand in my lifetime.
We need to use Trump for all he is worth to shatter the corrupt, my party right or wrong mindset that grips vast swaths of the electorate. Break that inertia, get the people thinking outside the party label box and real change is possible. Do not an we slide into a stagnate European style decline that will not end in my lifetime. Cruz shares that agenda point but is not as well equipped by background and media following to achieve that break through as Trump
We either win this now or we have little chance of ever doing it again politically. Once we win we must relentlessly stay on the attack election wave after election wave until we are dead.
I am really not willing to leave this fight to my kids and grand-kids. We have let the ship of state drift since Reagan in the hands of the smart people. We failed and most redeem that failure.
This is our generations go time
Honestly?
I’d LOVE to see the GOP destroyed, and something new built in its place. I’d LOVE to see the Reince Priebuses and Paul Ryans and Mitch McConnells and Steve Schmidts no longer have an organisation to use to project power.
That’s not nihilist. It’s constructionist. You can’t build a beautiful new skyscraper until you first tear down the decaying tenements occupying the spot.
I think Cruz is wrong about the engaged part but right about the ‘low information’ part, even if not strong enough.
It’s not that the Trupettes don’t know much, even though that’s true, it’s that so much of what they do know is wrong.
Given the level of ignorance and self delusion rampant among the Trump supporters, it would be far preferable if they weren’t so engaged.
That so many non-Democrats ould be attracted to an unrepentant statist buffoon has come as a shock to me, and makes me fear for the future.
Excellent post. Appreciate the Reagan quote, it is spot on.
This is also how I feel. Trump to me is the beginning of America’s recovery, not the whole enchilada.
There’s almost an epidemic on FR of what you also touched on - all-or-nothing thinking, which has actually been shown to be cynically dysfunctional thinking.
Wow man u r throwing high cheese!! Whatever routine u had today rinse and repeat. AWESOME!
Well said. Wish more people see your points.
As a Cruz supporter, I appreciate your analysis. It makes sense and is not full of the “Cruz is establishment” BS. I quit reading anything a Trump supporter posts if it lumps Cruz as GOPe. I worry about Trump “negotiating” as that historically means the ball still moves to the left just more slowly. We’ve seen that too many times. I need to hear “the government is too damn big” from Trump.
Great article
Any chance of getting a link for that Reagan quote? I’ll probably want to reuse it.
bump
Did you give the author credit?
Well said, Johnnie.
Cruz shows why the senate eschews his snarly petulance when he is asking for something he can’t have on time.
TRUMP and Cruz supporters are as well informed as anyone on the perils before us, and the policies that brought them.
How dare the SECOND tier candidate demand allegiance from the FRONTRUNNER TRUMP supporters, miss his mark, and start insulting those leading the only Revolution around.
Great post Johnnie!