Posted on 06/24/2020 11:29:11 AM PDT by upchuck
Hat tip to my friend Leo for this. This is an excerpt. Click on the link for the complete article.
Republicans need a new mission.
It seems to me Republicans are somewhat lost. And that may be, in part, because they are not exactly sure where they want to go. They do not think clearly enough about their purpose or mission.
My proposal for a mission is this: To “preserve the American way of life.”
The party’s platform and rhetoric should serve this mission. To “preserve the American way of life” is not simply a bumper sticker or a talking point (though it might work well as both). It is the essential starting point for a strategy.
Strategy follows from purpose. If the purpose is poorly understood, then the strategy almost certainly will be muddled, particularly when circumstances change. A man who wants to climb to the top of a mountain often can follow a well-trodden trail, his head down, confident that the trail will take him to his destination. But what if the trail is washed away, blocked, or disguised? Under these circumstances the climber must find an alternative route—but this requires keeping his head up and his destination in sight.
President Trump gets this. He has a mission: “Make America Great Again.” That’s his mountain top. He keeps his eye on it, and he recognizes that the new circumstances of the moment require a route which does not conform to traditional Republican norms.
“Freedom” and “Limited Government” Are Not Enough
Often, Republicans describe their mission as “freedom.” But the word “freedom” (used in its everyday sense) does not give us any guidance as to when freedom must be restricted, as it often must. Take the coronavirus pandemic. We all can agree that in this case some restrictions are justified, but what restrictions exactly?
To answer that (very difficult) question we need a concept both more focused and more comprehensive than just freedom. We need a mission. If Republicans formulated their mission as preserving the American way of life, I think it might be clearer to them that minimizing deaths from the virus and the health of the economy, important as they may be, are not the only considerations.
With a clearer sense of purpose we might better appreciate that vesting control in people like Coronavirus czar Dr. Anthony Fauci—people who know a lot about a little—risks sacrificing the body for the sake of a finger.
Republicans sometimes also say their purpose is “constitutional government” (or limited government). But this, too, is not a mission: it is a means to a mission. The Constitution does indeed provide limits and we should, of course, stay within them—but within them there exists a great deal of latitude. To frame the mission as “limited government” fails to provide enough guidance as to what the government should be doing at any particular time.
The mission I propose is shorthand for “securing the conditions necessary to pursue a worthy life.” “A worthy life” is what the founders meant by “happiness” in the Declaration of Independence. The most essential “conditions” are the beliefs and values that must be held by society at large in order that each American can pursue a worthy life. These beliefs and values support the American way of life; hence the short form version of the mission: To “preserve the American way of life.”
STATUES COMING DOWN IS START OF A REVOLUTION
GAME ON, PEOPLE! ARE YOU READY?
https://tinyurl.com/ycyrwwuq
OANN saying President Trump, LIVE, soon....fyi ;-)
Got any more info than that? A link? I went to ONAN and they had a pic of PDJT but that was from yesterday at Turning Point. The White House link says PDJT will be having a presser with the President of Poland. Is that what you’re talking about?
Yes. It was the presser with Polish President.
They both spoke....I didn’t hear any questions, from the press. OANN may have cut to break when/if any questions were asked.
Polish Prez spoke much longer than POTUS...lol.
Sorry for lack of detail, earlier. I had no idea what the presser was about...until it started.
It’s over now. Looking at the replay, there were no questions from the press.
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