ENOUGH! The GOP Should Give Obama What He Wants
They’re stuck in a no-win situation. The answer is simple: Give Obama what he wants. All of it. Don’t negotiate. Just say “Put your plan up for a vote and we’ll pass it. You will own everything that happens moving forward. We’ll do it your way.”
We’re seeing more and more of this. I agree with it in principle but not in his practice. You’ll need to read the whole article to find out that he wants the Republicans to play the blame game incessantly.
From the moment they pass the legislation Obama wants, they must be disciplined in pointing out that every failure of this new law to fix the fiscal and economic problems it was meant to fix was a Democrat / Obama idea.
I think that is a bad idea. Nothing will annoy the parasites more than finger-pointing at their guy and foment anger – a thousand conspiracy theories will spring up to explain the failures as Republicans go “Nyah, nyah, nyah,na.” Sour grapes is not a winning strategy.
Instead, we need to be constantly articulating what we would do that is different if we actually had the power to enact an agenda. We need to explain why it is superior to the path we’re on. And we need to do that not as an intellectual exercise a la Milton Freidman or Any Rand but as an emotional pitch.
And none of this will work unless we engage in the culture war. Not the one that the media defined for us – the abortion issue which exists to trip conservatives, birth control, religion (by which they mean conservative Christian religion – Buddhist, Hindus and Muslims get a pass) – are all designed to distract us from the fundamental cultural issue:
Are we an independent, free people who accept responsibility for our own lives – or are we grateful serfs, decisions made for us, a benevolent government to give us our subsistence?
We need to inspire (think about that word for a moment) Americans to reclaim the promise of this nation, paid for in the blood of our fathers and mothers as they defended the idea for freedom out in the rest of the world, as our great-great grandparents lived, suffered, rejoiced and died as they pushed the frontiers of this land or suffered innumerable hardships just to reach this land so that they and their progeny could live a better life. Not a life filled with more gadgets and toys, buzzes and lights and noise but a better life where they could, by dint of hard work, creativity and passion that defined America, enjoy the fruits of their efforts, the freedom of their toil.
We have freedom but only that which promotes the circus – the aforementioned buzzes and lights and noise. True freedom, to speak without government sanction, or to earn an honest living, is hindered. Want to build a better home? If you are within 200 feet of a protected waterway, your economic utility just got seized by the state and no, you can’t build that home. Want to start a new business? Great, file with the IRS, the state Economic Security department, state tax commission, licensing departments for multiple municipalities, and for goodness sake, make sure you have good insurance because blink wrong and you might get sued.
No longer is the American Dream to build a new life but to scam enough from the government that you to can have it all – for now, until the money runs out – and the hell with your neighbor, the schmuck who’s paying for the rabbit fricassee paid for with food stamps and the funemplyment. Today, honest toil is subject to crushing regulation and denigrated.
This is the culture war that must be won. All the social issues that land on the front page when an Akin says something dumb or a pastor in Florida burns a Koran are just distractions. When Romney hit on the 47%, he was right. The reason that the progressives freaked was because he was right. 47% of the country wants Uncle Sugar to take care of them. I’m hoping it’s not more.
We are not yet beyond the point of no return but I can see it from my front porch. And it scares me.