Other Lessons from Cuccinelli

“Alas, poor Cuccinelli, I knew thee well!”  I don’t which is worse after the elections.  Newcomers to the movement yelling RINO! at Christie or country club types disdainfully declaring the Tea Parties dead.  Fact is, when you join a political party, you have to learn that there are a lot of others who don’t agree with every dogmatic point that you desire.  You also learn that to run a successful campaign, you need both boots on the ground and money to advertize.

 

For a long time, the Dems had the distinct advantage of ground forces.  They had slave labor from the unions who were ordered to go into a certain area and canvass.  The Republican Party was more often like a group of silver-haired women who couldn’t do much house-to-house, while a few crafty well-heeled donors lubricated the politics with hefty donations.  Then along came the blessing of the tea party folks and to my dumbfounded surprise, the R’s didn’t all work with them.  I shouldn’t have been so surprised.  The money folks were used to being the influencers and big shots.  The caustic manners of the newcomers who had never belonged to a party rubbed them the wrong way.  Meanwhile the newcomers were pretty fed up and demanded an Inquisition or they would all threaten a third party. 

 

But a political party is a gathering of somewhat like-minded people who group together to get candidates elected who reflect their own views, at least in the large. This is where the Arch Conservative/Libertarians who have the grassroots roused to action in the neighborhoods need the moneyed interests for funding.  Funding is especially important in state-wide races where the candidate cannot shake every hand, but media advertising is critical.  And the guys with the purse need grassroots folks to talk neighbor-to-neighbor, especially in local races where “knowing the candidate” is most important. 

 

What both groups need desperately is glib, plainspoken candidates that know what they believe, stick to their guns, but work in steps to achieve laws and policies that conservatives and libertarians are proud of.  In the Presidential race, R’s are in dire need of a person who speaks the people’s language.  Sarah Palin’s comment on how someday she would be holding Trig in front of a Death Panel, was such.  ‘Death Panel’ was stark enough, but to evoke the emotion of a mother trying to protect her son was the kind of stuff that would erase Cuccinelli’s 3:1 loss of single moms. 

 

We need some candidates with bigger goals and wider focus.  For too long the R’s have talked about abortion and gay marriage.  Both are quite valid issues but the larger issue is the War on Judeo-Christianity.  Set the Dems back on their heels by accusing them of starting this War.  Why, after all, does a military chaplain have to shut up about what the Bible teaches?  Why do I have to shut up about what I believe?  Too long we have talked about lowering taxes.  That’s small potatoes compared with the War on Freedom and the Free Market.  How about calling a Revolution against big government overreach and legislation by bureaucrats?

 

Cuccinelli lost two groups, Afro-Americans and single women. Both voted for socialist economy.  To the single women, we need someone to level frankly.  Something like, “Listen, let me tell you what’s killing marriage and romance.  Young men don’t seek a partner until they see their own Ability to Achieve.  More than anything, they want to be warrior, skills ready to conquer the world.  It is then that they realize that the World is an awful big place and they could use a soul mate for support and to support.  When the nation’s economy is crappy and no new jobs are being created, it means the warriors can’t Do.  And so the dance of the sexes dies.  If young women want someone to love, they need to support an economy where men can be free to achieve.  Don’t vote the nanny state!  Vote a freer market.”

 

And to those of African ancestry, we need to talk change.  “The current scheme of government benefits is the cruelest slave master that sucks people into dependence. Don’t we want jobs instead?  With a job you can hold your head high, work and be a man. Respect comes with a career.  Respect comes when a person turns their life around.  Lets pledge to work together, business men and women and working men and women, to build each other up, build families up.  Yeah, there is misunderstanding.  But we can all change.  Government just perpetuates slavery to their handouts.  And the burden of handouts to the nation, is rapidly killing our country.”

 

I really don’t think we should write these two groups off.  We need leaders who can talk it over.