For anyone who caught our first show this morning on AM560 WIND radio let me fix what I jumbled in my opening remarks. There’s nothing like losing your train of thought or using the wrong word when on the radio. You can’t exactly go back and edit like you can with a web posting.
The point I wanted to make was why we are doing the show. No one needs to hear yet another political talk show. What listeners don’t need to hear is more analysis that is, in truth, just entertainment. What is needed is more information about what they can do about the problems that exist.
Let’s face it – the political right in this country has been good at building things like think tanks and talk radio show audiences. The political left, however, has been good at creating political activists.
So we get a lot of studies and commentary, and they get a lot of action.
The political right analyzes to the nth degree, and have the 25 page policy papers to back up that analysis. The political left recruits, communicates with voters through many venues, and inspires volunteers. And lately they’ve been translating those efforts into record breaking fundraising which will translate into even more political action and communication.
While conservatives talk, government grows. While the evidence increases that we’ve got the answers and they are completely wrong, our party loses ground in opinion polls.
I don’t listen to country music all that often but when I do I always hear a verse that applies creatively to real life. The lyric that fits here is that Republicans and conservatives “need a little less talk and a lot more action.”
So why the heck are we adding to the chatter on the airwaves? Simply because we need to reach more people with this simple message: politics is not an air war only, ground troops are required.
We’ll never see men and women mustered for political service as long as the vast majority of Republican politicians are motivated more by their own political careers than they are by advancing principle based solutions.
And those GOP politicians will never do the right thing until they’re forced to. That force will only be created when more rank and file Republicans get off the couch, get in the game, and stop delegating the responsibility of their party and their government to people who are screwing things up.
Politics is a communications battle – yet too many people on our side are waiting for the media to carry their message. Or worse, they’re waiting for the next Ronald Reagan.
We need our existing leadership to change their behavior or get out of the way so capable and motivated individuals can serve.
Unfortunately today, too many so-called “activists” actually wind up enabling the bad behavior of our current “leaders” and so it’s easy to predict what happens: we get more of the same year after year.
There are so many potentially animating issues out there waiting for our political candidates to grab onto. When they don’t have strong message, guys like Barack the Vapid miraculously fill the void. Consequently, Republican energy evaporates, and independent voters look elsewhere.
Conservative Americans need to realize there is more to do than just vote on election day. Self government requires more of their time, attention, and energy if they are going to get the kind of government they want.
After twenty years of Rush Limbaugh and a decade of the Fox News Channel we have an electorate that might just elect a man for president that will make Jimmy Carter look good. Change certainly is needed – especially in our approach to the contest. After all the preaching, the choir gets it. Now the choir needs to get out of the church and help convert more of their fellow citizens to the cause of limited government and traditional values.
In the opening of the show I used the wrong word. I said “diagnosis” when I should have said “prescription.” A call to action. An outline of things that can be and should be done by folks who right now are in the bleachers when we need them on the field.
