A few notes about some recent posts on the web. First up, Paul Ryan’s article in the Wall Street Journal laying out a budget that isn’t balanced for a decade. You can read it here:
Really? That’s our starting position? Obama comes in in 2009 and with the help of a Democratically controlled Congress ramps up spending to insane levels — and our side’s position is to keep them in place and grow from there?
As I’ve written about on this website for a very long time Republicans’ failure to learn mass communications is what has brought this on us. When you can’t even win the argument in the public square that a cut in the rate of growth is not a cut, well, you’ve lost. And Republicans are good at losing.
Anthony J. Ciani had a post at American Thinker titled “Winning the Message” and writes what will sound familiar to those who read my dispatches:
Republicans lost the presidential election by a hairs breadth, and the echo chambers rang with cries of fixing the message. Republicans were beaten up over the Obama tax hikes, and once again, the echo chambers rang with cries of fixing the message. Then came the debt ceiling and now the sequester. No matter the issue, Republicans seem to find themselves on the losing side of public opinion; baffled and with no plan to fix it.
Some suggest that Republicans should pander to 50% plus one of the voters. Others suggest that the messaging should be adapted to appeal to not-old, not-white, not-men. What if the strategists are baffled because the voting results and poll numbers are poor indicators? What if the message already resonates with the vast majority of Americans, and it is only the delivery that needs to be addressed?
When people are polled on their beliefs, the Republican Party is in the minority on nothing. The Republican Party aligns best with the country, often on the 70 and 80 percent sides of important issues. No wonder the strategists are baffled. How can 80% of Americans think they are overtaxed and have no trust in government, but then side with President Obama’s plans to raise taxes and grow government? How can 80% think that the Federal government has a spending problem, and then side with Obama’s plans to spend more?
There is a disconnect between beliefs, knowledge and the political reality. Why?
Because Republicans are micro-communicators, that’s why.
Steve McCann’s post at American Thinker the other day was titled “Why Is America Facing Economic and Societal Turmoil?” In it he writes:
How did the United States, a country founded on the principle of individual freedom and having achieved great wealth and world influence, find itself in its present financial and societal predicament? Until the bulk of the American citizenry understands the why, there is no hope of reversing the nation’s headlong plunge into the abyss.
The history of mankind is replete with the rise and fall of major civilizations. The downfall of these societies inevitably stemmed from a prolonged period without adversity, during which time internal strife developed out of political intrigue and avarice on the part of the ruling classes. In due course these empires were easily conquered or dominated by others.
This history was well known to the founders of the United States. The overall concept of government being answerable to an informed and involved citizenry was their effort to avoid such an outcome. Unfortunately, today’s destructive political/economic philosophies such as Marxism and socialism, manipulated by the self-absorbed to achieve political power and an uninvolved and ill-educated citizenry, were factors the founding fathers could not have foreseen.
Later in the article he hits on another well-worn theme found here.
[M]uch of the citizenry quietly accepted the [wrong arguments] and simply dropped out of active participation in government. They assumed the nation was in reasonably good hands with the two political parties whose motives or agenda were never questioned.
Well we sure know that wasn’t true.
Lastly, I like Robert Guenther’s sentiment expressed in a recent post over at GOPUSA:
Whichever line of attack Republicans take, it’s as General Patton said: Americans love a winner and will not tolerate a loser. Victory begets victory, and in order to win, you have to fight. Pernicious dereliction of strategic thinking by Republicans and a crass negligence of duty by the media has allowed the Obama administration to go virtually unscathed these past four years. Rand Paul set the table for future Republican incursions into Democrat territory. The time has come for the GOP to stop wallowing in defeatism and to stop pathetically begging for approval by braying like Democrats.
Rand Paul has sounded the trumpet to charge. Time for Republicans to fight.
As Patrick Henry said, “If we wish to be free…we must fight,” and the war is an information war so let’s get at it.
