It's time for Republicans to think strategically

[aligncare]

I'm not speaking about just one forum ... a few political fora ...

Ooo, I learn something new ... Who ever said you can't teach an old dog?

[DCPatriot]

Exactly. Perfect example of the point you're making was Liberal-Spy. Very few even tolerated his presence here. Yet, we have to interact with liberals at home, at work and at the supermarket – so, what's the good of a talk forum if people only talk to themselves?

heck.....if anyone's been paying attention, we're having a hard enough time getting along with one another....let alone a liberal college student with manners added to the mix.   LOL!

But your point is well taken, AC....I finally cracked open that bottle of champagne I had in the refrigerator since November 5, 2012.   .....for the Romney landslide that never materialized.

[Bigun]

Campaigning to the ideological id of your Party and governing from the center of the national political spectrum is pretty much the standard in politics. It's what happens when you join a body of people with converging political imperatives and are faced with somehow structuring national policy.

When you have representatives from the District of Columbia, Massachusetts, Oregon, Vermont, and Delaware in the same governing body as representatives from Alabama, North Dakota, Wyoming, Mississippi and Utah, what policies emerge, emerge from some point in the middle of those two widely diverging ends of the political spectrum.

Here's the problem...

When the other Party has more votes than you do (which has been the case for the last several years), the body will govern at best as a centrist, at worst as we saw in the partisan enactment of the ACA.

That's why I reject the notion that the solution to our problems is to replace GOP representatives to Congress with hard-core conservative candidates, because that doesn't give us numerical superiority, it just changes the ideological make-up of the Party and that is not enough to change DC.

If the entire GOP Congressional delegation in 2010 had been made up of hard-core conservatives, the ACA would have still been signed into law.

If conservatives are to prove to me that they are enough of a force to alter this nation's path, they need to prove to me that they can get done things that the GOP can't get done, and electing GOP representatives in States and Districts where GOP representatives are already in place doesn't make for a change.

I want to see the conservative Republican candidates knock Democrats out of their seats. THAT will make the entire nation sit up and take notice, and THAT will change the face of politics in the US.

If saying one thing to get elected and then doing another thing in Washington is the standard then we need to CHANGE the standard!

[olde north church]

Exactly. Perfect example of the point you're making was Liberal-Spy. Very few even tolerated his presence here. Yet, we have to interact with liberals at home, at work and at the supermarket – so, what's the good of a talk forum if people only talk to themselves?

For sincere discussion, there must be honesty.  Liberal Spy engaged in public masturbation.  Nothing else.

[Oceander]

Ooo, I learn something new ... Who ever said you can't teach an old dog?

woof!

[Luis Gonzalez]

If saying one thing to get elected and then doing another thing in Washington is the standard then we need to CHANGE the standard!

While we're at it, let's cure cancer!

[happyg]

If saying one thing to get elected and then doing another thing in Washington is the standard then we need to CHANGE the standard!

While we're at it, let's cure cancer!

So, you don't think we can change the standard? The Tea Party is working hard to do just that, along with conservatives, like Cruz, Lee, and Rand. Then, we have congresscritters like Boehner and McDonnell belittling them. Even with all the ragging, the Tea Party will stand strong, and if they fail, we have the GOPe to blame as well as democrats.

[Oceander]

So, you don't think we can change the standard? The Tea Party is working hard to do just that, along with conservatives, like Cruz, Lee, and Rand. Then, we have congresscritters like Boehner and McDonnell belittling them. Even with all the ragging, the Tea Party will stand strong, and if they fail, we have the GOPe to blame as well as democrats.

With all due respect, as much as I agree with folks like Cruz on the substance of things, I don't think conservatives in Congress, or in general, are really being constructive about changing the standard because - assuming for the sake of argument that the standard needs changing - their stands, while virtuous in theory, are in practice not very constructive because they never get anywhere, and they don't appear to have produced much other than theatrics.  flirting with martyrdom might be seductive, but martyrs don't generally get much done after their martyrdom.

And, quite honestly, part and parcel of changing the standard through example, which is what I suppose they're being feted for, is knowing how to strategically compromise so that, at the end of the day, you can say that you got more than you gave away.  And giving something away is the name of the game; you do not get anywhere in politics if you either (a) don't bring anything you can trade with, or (b) refuse to trade any of your toys with the other kids.

That is what sets Reagan apart from (almost) every other contender for conservative leader of the GOP:  the ability to strategically compromise - to get back more than you give away.  Part and parcel of that skill is being able to prioritize your principles and goals (i.e., your "toys") and to decide in order which ones you cannot compromise without compromising your fundamentals (your raison d'etre), which ones you can and, with respect to the latter, develop a hierarchy that runs from the most dispensable to the least dispensable.  As an aside, for these purposes it's very useful to have some cheap but flashy toys in your possession so that you can make a great show of how committed you are to compromising, to working together with the other side, without actually giving away the family jewels.

And no, I'm not defending the current GOP power structure or folks like Boehner and McCain because, quite frankly, they stink at the art of compromise as well.  In contrast to the conservatives, who don't seem to be able to compromise at all, Boehner & Co. will compromise at the drop of a hat but don't seem to have any idea what can be readily compromised and what should not be compromised without getting something very dear back in return.

In other words, republicans, moderates as well as conservatives, need to (re)learn the art of strategic politics, of which the art of strategic compromise is a subset.

[truth_seeker]

The overriding problem for conservatives, is lack of political power.

The objective should be gaining more power; by achieving majorities in both houses of Congress in 2014..

The strategy is winning more elections by running more electable candidates, and conducting better campaigns.

The tactics for doing so could include more money, and better pre-primary candidate vetting and selections, etc.

All this implies the ability to grasp fundamentals of logic, conformity of objectives and goals, agreement on strategy and tactics.

Another tactic would be discipline, to adhere to highest priorities.

Another tactic is messaging that generates support because the voters agree with the candidates' positions.

Yet another tactic is effective GOTV.

[Luis Gonzalez]

So, you don't think we can change the standard? The Tea Party is working hard to do just that, along with conservatives, like Cruz, Lee, and Rand. Then, we have congresscritters like Boehner and McDonnell belittling them. Even with all the ragging, the Tea Party will stand strong, and if they fail, we have the GOPe to blame as well as democrats.

Advocating change is easy, there is no requirement for investment into the advocacy other than the advocacy itself. To me that "need to change the standard" statement that I've heard so often in so many forums reminds me of old Rooney and Garland movies where they resolved everything by putting on a show in someone's barn.

As much as I like and support the idea of grass root activism, the way that the T.E.A. Party is going about trying to achieve that change (challenging established GOP candidates) is actually working against changing that standard, because by winning they make the Democrats stronger and hurt their own agenda.

If the T.E.A. Party truly wants to change that standard, they need to take Congressional seats from Blue Dog Democrats and have a T.E.A. Party presence in the Democratic party. Seek out centrist or right-leaning Democrats and attack both sides of the aisle.

THAT would be a huge move toward changing that standard.

Sadly, I fear that everything else is a barn show.

"We've gotta have a great show, with a million laughs... and color... and a lot of lights to make it sparkle. And songs - wonderful songs. And after we get the people in that hall, we've gotta start em in laughing right away. Oh, can't you just see it... ?"