Pragmatic conservatism must prevail, but we must face reality FIRST
I am not a party insider, hold no position on the RPV State Central Committee, nor my local unit, and I am no longer in elected office (having had to resign for work reasons).
But unlike a large number of unit chairs and activists, I have actually won local elected office four times in Blue-leaning Leesburg (population about 52,000), and have knocked thousands of doors for Republican candidates outside of town in Loudoun and Fairfax counties since moving Leesburg in 2002. (Currently living in the Hampton Roads region for work, but still vote and pay property taxes in Leesburg).
Hence, I think I have a good idea what makes voters in Northern Virginia tick and have written about this extensively in this blog.
So, here are eight ideas to grow the GOP and ensure we do not become a minority party and our state becomes a New York or New Jersey style “Blue state” with high taxes, heavy regulation and social engineering programs;
First, we must recognize that Virginia has changed. It is no longer a “Southern state,” but a cosmopolitan state that is leaning Blue in statewide and presidential races. This is due to the growth in Loudoun and Prince William counties, and other outer suburbs, fueled by the influx of Northeasterners coming here for jobs and lower taxes, but not leaving behind their Democratic Party/liberal preferences. It also is due to the growing non-white population Latinos, Indians and Muslims, who think Republicans don’t want them here due to the rhetoric of our candidates and activists, and deliberately skewed by the liberal media. Sorry, but all the “extreme vetting” and immigration reforms are not going to keep people out of the country.
Second, we have to recognize that Northern Virginia is where the votes are, along with Hampton Roads and the Richmond area – not in the rural conservative areas of the Commonwealth
To win statewide, and even to win back some delegate seats lost in 2017, Republican candidates must change the conversation in campaigns away from the issues Democrats love to define us by – i.e. anti immigrant, anti woman – but to bread and butter issues that matter to ALL voters – specifically, traffic congestion (transportation), schools, including higher education, and jobs. This does not mean we forego a conservative social agenda, but give them a REASON to vote for OUR candidates, as I wrote last month.
For example, Republicans can capitalize on the Terry McAuliffe/VDOT scam to charge $30 plus tolls on I-66 inside the Beltway, which mostly disadvantages Fairfax County residents – and voters.
Third, Trump is Trump and we cannot “change him” and until he goes, we are sunk. The problem with this attitude is that none of us can change Trump – with his tweets and attacks on media celebs, and even GOP members of Congress. But his agenda is what we SHOULD embrace. Boosting military spending and investing in infrastructure HELPS VIRGINIA, whose economy and prosperity is heavily dependent on defense dollars! I believe “Trumpism” will help the GOP expand our base, not shrink it– assuming he and Congress can deliver.
Fourth, we must let go of the idea that government is BAD. In a state where 178,000 residents work for the federal government, and is No. 1 in defense spending ($59 billion in 2011, 13 percent of state GDP), how can Republicans NOT support SOME level of government? What we should want is LIMITED and EFFICIENT government, not cutting programs for the sake ideology. Perhaps every spending proposal in Richmond should be coupled with cuts in areas that are not working.
Fifth, we must take advantage of non campaign times of the year to “educate” these new voters. With elections every year in Virginia, this is hard to do, but in the early part of 2018, I would suggest RPV convene focus groups with voters who do not vote GOP and find out why and what WOULD make them vote by showing them a series of issues and topics and see how this resonates. With that information in hand, next invite select voters (non activists) from the various population groups and precincts we need to target to private town halls where they can meet with GOP office holders and help them draft an agenda for action in Richmond and the local level.
Sixth, engage “adults” to handle outreach, not kids out of college with no life experience. A number of party faithful, like myself, are mystified how RPV and various campaigns will hire inexperienced young people instead of financing “adult” campaign activists with networks and recognition in their own communities. It would behoove the party to hire someone, for example, in the growing (and conservative) West African community to engage that community which in turn could be great ambassadors to Virginia’s African American community. I could see hiring new college grads to handle Millennial outreach.
Seventh, we need to stop blaming the media, illegals and felons for our losses, as well as thinking that some strident ideological conservative as our candidate is always going to win. As Mick Staton noted in his column Ed Gillespie got more votes than any other GOP candidate in history and 97% of the GOP vote Ken Cucinnelli got in 2013. The media, academia, and Hollywood are not on our side, but growing our base among new immigrant populations will help yield ambassadors to sell our case. Republicans have to not just win elections, but hearts and minds during non election times. The media, academia and Hollywood have indoctrinated our youth, but what do we have to counter it besides the churches and Fox News?
Eighth, there needs to be more connection between the elected Republicans and party activists so suspicion doesn’t breed disunity. Politicians are accused of living in a bubble – listening to bureaucrats, lobbyists, donors and non GOP constituents, but activists also live in a bubble, too. They think every GOP candidate has to be like Ronald Reagan, without recognizing Reagan raised taxes and expanded government, too. I find so many GOP activists in this state eager to “primary” someone they just elected thinking they were “tricked.” This is now happening to Rep. Scott Taylor, who represents Tidewater. He only upended Randy Forbes in the primary last year. My feeling is activists should be engaged to join boards and commissions on local and state government and learn what it is like to make a decision, but elected GOP members must attend party meetings and not just show up to get the nomination at election time. Communication is key.
We may not like it when our electeds vote a certain way, but the Democrats are worst and we only have to look North to see the wreck they have made of states like New York, New Jersey and Maryland. It is my hope these ideas may gain some traction so Virginia’s GOP does not go the way of all-too-many state parties in Blue states.
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[…] After the Gillespie-Vogel-Adams drowning in the “blue wave” of 2017, I outlined eight solutions to the problem of our party’s eroding support. […]
[…] a fever since the 2017 Gillespie-Vogel-Adams statewide loss to Democrats. (You can re-read my “8 Ideas to Growth the GOP” and “The Good, the Bad and Ugly of the 2018 Midterms” if you […]
[…] the reality is Virginia has been changing demographically for years due to the influx of non-white residents (immigrants) and Northeasterners seeking jobs and […]
Wow, Leesburg is in trouble. Sad, hate to see it become a rural getto with a slice of super wealthy “nice”. Given the job losses from govt reprioritizing in Hamptons/Virginia Beach, I say let’s go limited govt and grow some sustainable jobs. We’ve the infrastructure and the intellectual chomps to make a go of the market opportunities, we just need more of what we already make to invest in the ideas and commerce that makes jobs.
I think you’ve made some excellent points, but I hope you won’t mind if I add a couple of my own:
In a primary we have to elect a candidate who can win the general. Electing an ultra-conservative is like handing the election to the democrats. Conservatives need to nominate a conservative who can win in the general. Forgetting that our nominee will have to beat a democrat can cause us to lose an election. I’m certainly not suggesting that we nominate a democrat-light, but neither can we win with a candidate who is righter than right.
Do not immediately dismiss all millennials just because of their age. These guys work 16 hour days, 7 days a week during campaign season – something I, for one, am no longer able to do. The millennials who worked in PWC were superb and worked extremely well with the PWC Republican Committee and the Republican Women’s Clubs, and the adult activists in the County. Their knowledge of technology was essential to old fogeys like me. The best campaign employees are probably a combination of adults with their life skills and millennials with their tech skills.
Win or lose, campaigns should show some gratitude towards their volunteers at the end of the campaign – or at least the volunteers who spend the most time campaigning for you. A simple “thank you” goes a long way. As president of the largest and most active Republican Women’s Club in the area, it was an effort to motivate the members to actively campaign this year. Why? Because candidates often don’t even acknowledge the sacrifices that volunteers make, giving up evenings and weekends to campaign on your behalf. They aren’t looking for elaborate praise or public recognition, but a simple thank you would go a very long way toward fostering enthusiasm for the next campaign. And, of course, the Women’s clubs are not the only ones to whom this applies. Anyone who feels their efforts are appreciated is more likely to work harder.
Have someone with an excellent understanding of spelling and grammar proofread your campaign literature before it goes to the printer. This lit represents the candidate, and errors make a very poor impression.
Here’s one pithy analysis that has some guidance in the issues at hand:
QUOTE
In Virginia, getting the Democratic coalition out was enough to win, even though Democrats didn’t make inroads into the Trump vote in nonmetro areas. But in Alabama, where there just aren’t enough Democrats, Jones had to do something extra — he had to get enough Republican voters (and Republican-leaning independents) to cross over and vote for him. He did, focusing on moderate, Chamber of Commerce Republicans, who found Roy Moore embarrassing and damaging to the image of their state even before sexual-misconduct allegations surfaced. When it comes to enthusiasm, Democrats have the edge. President Trump seems to fire up Democrats more than his own voters. In Alabama, Jones wanted to make sure African-Americans were at least 25 percent of the electorate. They ended up at 29 percent, according to the exit polls. Jones also made important inroads with the white vote. In 2012, Mitt Romney won white, college-educated women in Alabama by 55 points; this week, Moore won them by only 11, according to the exits.
UNQUOTE
#1 should ALWAYS BE EXCELLENT CANDIDATES. EXCELLENT smarts about the job she/he/they are seeking (including practical technical smarts, not ONLY or PRIMARILY ideological ‘smarts’ to win an ideological process). EXCELLENT morality (including honesty, clarity, and openness to listen and speak to many different points of view; no, not to agree with all points of view but emotionally, intellectually, and practically able and willing to listen, learn, and discuss).
Roy Moore was NOT an EXCELLENT CANDIDATE. Was Gillespie? probably so. See #2.
#2 the platform must be to a high degree CONSONANT with issues of the majority of voters, not just ideological elites, or groups to be appeased, or groups you want campaign money from. These are often not A MAJORITY of voters. That’s simple arithmetic.
Roy Moore’s platform that named himself ‘God’s Man’ – stating, not merely implying symbolically – that Roy Moore was a ‘messianic’ figure who ‘apocalyptic/prophetic’ designs to ‘drain the swamp’ and to ‘make American Great again’. Moore, like Trump, won VERY BIG in the groups of apostate/un-Biblical Christian who believe in the idolatry that Trump, or Moore, is a messiah. Good on them … since now God knows their hearts: that they vote for SEXUAL PREDATORS contrary to the very strong teachings of Jesus. But that consonance with a group – a large group – of voters was not A MAJORITY. A winning platform must appeal to a MAJORITY, including other faith groups, and non-faith groups.
#3 while rural values and rural voters are WONDERFUL – those are my people and my values – they are a diminishing population, in the country, in Virginia, and even in many rural districts (rural areas are losing population in Virginia!). BUT Virginians LOVE their rural places. They visit them frequently. Have family and land ‘back home’ in rural places. Apparently, the data show, Virginians particularly like to retire from Virginia urban areas to Virginia rural areas. Success will be in finding ways to keep the ‘rural values’ in the campaign and platform without making them the ONLY thing. And certainly not making them a ‘straw man’. E.g. most rural voters RESPECT(98%, duh) 2A rights BUT not like the NRA or VCDL: we don’t want the guy/gal with a history of violence to carry guns around. Keep them in their house, SURE! GREAT! But we don’t want them, with their creepy violent history, carrying guns around! Can they get them and carry them illegally? SURE, duh! But we want the law to catch them and imprison them whenever they are caught carrying when they are not allowed to carry. Just like we want the law to catch any RICH LYING BASTARD cheating on her/his/their taxes to get caught and made to pay (Trump MUST release his tax returns). Just like we want any employer hiring undocumented workers – ANY EMPLOYER including your cousin who owns a construction company SHOULD GET CAUGHT TOO! Just like we want the boss who harasses our wife, mother, daughter, etc to GET CAUGHT AND FIRED, including YOU, or YOUR family, if any of them are harassing our daughter, mother, wife, etc.
Thank you for your thoughtful post.
I would hope someone speak to
Rev. E.W.Jackson about all of this.
The Reverend seems to have missed
All your talking points , particularly #1 #2 and #5
Losing the total vote by 225,000 vote to Northam,
85,000 inFairfax, 35,000 in Arlington 35,000 in Richmond
And 25,000 in Norfolk and 25,000 in Henrico apparently has
Not been noticed by the Reverend, who promises a campaign
Based on the generalities of “ limitless opportunities”
And a “new Virginia “,perhaps because over the last
Four years he has not done the harder work of thinking of real
Solutions for the Comminwealth.
Yet like someone stuck in an endless loop he will press on.
Taking time and attention away from the educational , social
And cultural fires burning in our state.
Decent man , fine, Honorable , fine , but lacking any real
Way to appeal to current voters and current times .
Stewart , I have no comment on , except to note
If you liked Huey Long the Kingfish , you might like Baby Fish.
Large domors and PACs will stay away in lockstep from those
Candidates , lost, or appealing to the basest instincts of any voter.
I believe in a two party system , yet Jackson and Stewart
Seem intent on derailing that for some vanity that will lead
To a one party state of various shades but no real differences .
I reject your reality.
Well… nonsense. Immigrants are not natural conservatives. That is Bearing Drift bullcrap. I have said to those idiots that if you don’t build the wall, change immigration policy away from chain migration and yes deport illegals, your party is screwed. It is California everywhere. You are not going to win an election in California or Virginia man. Democrats offer to immigrants:
WELFARE. AFFIRMATIVE ACTION. IDENTITY POLITICS.
You aint beating that Holy Trinity. Have you ever made any inroads to blacks? Nope. They vote 90 percent Democratic. That is your immigrants.
Secondly… WHAT am i voting for with you? Democrat Lite? Oh yes… Loudon is sure filled with swamp money such that it now is nearly the wealthiest county in the United States… thanks to a 20 trillion dollar debt!!! I don’t get to benefit from that in my rural county of Virginia. Aint government grand for you??? Not so grand for where I live. Don’t tell me about how you send money to my poor ass county…you swallow it up in infrastructure and schools (for your swelling mass immigration population Dreamers.)
The only hope you have, like that Stanton Never Trump idiot says is to not get noticed too much so Democrats don’t turn out their vote. That isn’t going to work.
With most immigrants there’s a cultural divide problem. Limited government and personal responsibility are not something most people from the third world can identify with, those concepts are not popular in their home countries. In many cases they left their homes because they wanted access to MORE (and higher quality) government services. The main exceptions I’ve found are immigrants from countries that experienced real communism (Cuba, Eastern Europe). But that only applies to the first generation, their US-born kids don’t get it.
People don’t come here for freedom any more, they come for jobs (sometimes) and free stuff.
So how do you fight this? Simple, allow fewer immigrants into the country and reinstate the quota system.
You are correct. i noted in the article that Virginia has a growing West African population, and those folks are very conservative politically for the reasons you stated. one wonders why we did not make it easier for these folks to come here vs. allowing them to die of famine and Ebola virus in Africa vs. allowing folks to pour in from the Southern border. We hope Trump will get the border wall and limit immigration. Meanwhile, what do we do about the estimated 200,000 virginians who have green cards and are likely to add to the Democratic base? THis is why I suggested a serious focus group effort followed by serious outreach with gop electeds We also need to educate the Northeasterners who have moved here for lower taxes and cost of living that if they keep voting Democrat, they will forfeit paradise.
I hardly would call Northern Virginia where you live paradise. It is already becoming New Jersey. Is New Jersey paradise? Uncontrolled congestion, growing taxes, population density out your ass. And the leviathan federal government with its uncontrolled spending causing this crap to spread out further and further to ruin the rest of Virginia. Not to mention mass migration.
Here’s the best solution. You guys join DC to form the People Republic of NovaDC. You can erect statues of Marion Barry (tear down any remaining Washington, Jefferson or other slave holders) You can declare bathrooms open to whatever you wish, outlaw guns, make yourself a sanctuary state! Leave the rest of my state alone.
All your state belong to us.
And enjoy your taxes. They aren’t going anywhere but up.
Fairfax County soundly defeated a meals tax referendum last year (58 to 42). Fairfax GOP spent n worked hard to defeat reaching out to minority small business owners of restuarants and their employees. These are the issues along w the I-66 “Terry’s Tolls” which will benefit Republicans.
And your school system is always in the red, demanding more and more and more money every year… because… you are the sight of Obama’s million children march to baby momma. Benefit Republican? You are so blue in Fairfax that it is beyond a massacre at every election. The Dems are on their way to a clean sweep of Republicans there at all levels of government.
Ad hominem attack (“But I doubt you pay taxes”) means Chris k wins the argument and remarks like these cost parties elections. Or did you forget the word deplorable?
Chris K is a Democrat troll.
It is our state as well, and those of us in Northern Virginia are not enamoured with Marion Barry, gun control and sanctuary states. Your condescension does nothing to benefit the Republican party or the Commonwealth of Virginia – in your area or in mine.
This may be true in some cases, but certainly not all. I assume you are correct when it concerns women arriving with children and no husband. But Hindus from India are coming for freedom, not handouts. We must be careful not to over-generalize.
Touting the welfare mythology I see. Meanwhile in reality immigrants start small businesses, work hard, etc.
Totally agree, legal immigrants do start small businesses, work hard, etc, they earn every bit of what they have. They are responsible, care for their families, work hard, deserve the things they have earned, deserve to be left alone, deserve the basic rights of the U.S. Constitution, etc.
I only wish that Democrats included everyone who descends from European immigrants in their charitable assessment … because apparently being of European descent means you stole your land from the Native Americans, oppress people, and don’t deserve a thing you worked hard to earn.
wait, you are sore because you are not being adequately appreciated for your excellence at being white? So sad for you that your are not loved. This is the kind of post that give Dems power over the conversation
You don’t think the Left is anti-white? Oh, I forgot. You are Afrocentric. My bad.
Another good quote to use to describe the GOP. Thanks. This thread is the gift that just keeps giving.
Any chance you can write again about how trans persons mutilate kids. That one always cracks me up.
Immigrants do work hard.
Pay taxes?
Compliant with Va Employment law?
These are different questions that open up a whole different can of worms.
Now who is the Republican that speaks out about their exploitation?
Is there a Lincolnsequence Republican in our Legislature? One who speaks out about their exploitation?
Who?
Touting the hard work and starting small businesses and working hard myth I see. You have your head up your liberal or Bearing Drift Ass:
Immigration drains the government, sapping as much as $296 billion a
year from federal, state and local taxpayers while depressing wages, at
least in the short run, according to an authoritative study released
Wednesday by the National Academies of Science, Engineering and
Medicine.
The 500-page academic tome is supposed to be the final
word about the fiscal and economic effects of mass immigration, and its
findings challenge some long-held assumptions of Washington policymakers that immigration is an unqualified benefit.
The
data show that immigrants take more in benefits than they pay in taxes.
Although immigrants do boost the size of the economy, the gains are
heavily skewed toward the immigrants themselves and to wealthy investors
— not to native-born workers who end up competing with the new
arrivals.
“It reminds us, the big beneficiaries of immigrants are
the immigrants themselves, and American business. The losers tend to be
the poor,” said Steven A. Camarota, research director at the Center for
Immigration Studies, who was one of the report’s official reviewers but
was not part of the formal panel that wrote it.
The report also
concludes that new arrivals aren’t assimilating as well as past waves of
immigrants. They struggle to learn English and to increase their wages
at the rates of immigrants just a few decades ago.
when you write this, one can only read you specific words and understand that you are against all immigration. Since you did not say anything about illegals, your comments here are specifically focused on anyone coming to this country. How white and naïve are you to think that only your and your ancestors matter while no new immigrants do. You are absurd and your writing is ridiculous. Take a look around you and you will definitely see so many people not born in the US making great contributions to our country.
And you have the nerve to wonder why the GOP is flailing so much these days.
Not my words… National Science Foundation. Dealing with reality here snowflake. Immigration has been uncontrolled and based upon chain migration. The reality is, is that America doesn’t support jobs for much of its own population anymore. It has been a safety valve for Central America since the 1980s. It is reality that crap jobs mean that you have to exist on welfare– no Mexico isn’t sending us their best (see Steinle’s killer–but he is extreme) that country and Venezuela, El Salvador, and the rest of Central America send us unskilled, uneducated people. The US cannot take on more poverty. The system has to change and change dramatically, but idiots like and the guy I responded to don’t live in reality. Yes that means less immigration.
In reality, there are huge demographic differences in immigrants. For example. while I am sure there are a SMALL number of exceptions,, none of us is very likely to see an East Asian or South Asian emptying trash at our work sites or washing dishes in the kitchen of a restaurant. Nor are we likely to see a person from Guatemala or Honduras writing computer code or heading up a research division at a major tech startup. The focus of the GOP should be attracting East Asians and South Asians. That is where the business acumen lies and that is where the GOP pitch CAN resonate. The secondary focus is trying to convince blacks that Democratic policies have hurt them and deny many of their children a decent education. The GOP is not going to make ANY inroads among the hordes of Central Americans, who do indeed work hard, but who also contain households in which at least someone has their hand in the federal coffer or is an illegal immigrant. That is REALITY – not the Bearing Driftless Pollyanna Bullshit we read. Pew Research reveals that over 80% of foreign born Latinos want BIGGER government (in other words, mas dinero for their immigrant chain family members).
No Mark, that 80 percent of Latinos that want big government are really Country Club Republicans just waiting to be free! Bearing Drift basically shills for corporate lobbyists who want cheap labor and those guys want to feed at that trough. I see they dumped a couple of their idiots lately.
One of the problems is with language differences. “Republican” means big government, and “Democrat” means freedom and small government in some of the countries that have minorities in the US.
We need to be aware of such cultural miscommunications and explain that in the US, Republican is the party for less government and more individual freedom.
So why bother if all the Rep party is to become is a caretaker for the failed socialist schemes of t h e Dems. Where is the imagination and boldness to change direction. Our cities are teaming with crime and corruption. Their schools barely graduate 50 percent . We have a federal debt we ignore. We have an assault on our values and are lectured to by those who can’t figure out which bathroom to use. The GOP won’t be saved by the Barbara Comstocks. Our problems are far greater than the cost of commuting to D C.
I am not suggesting we “go moderate or liberal.,” and I am ONLY addressing state and local issues here, of which transportation, schools (including higher ed) and jobs are of great importance to Virginia residents, and what we have a state government for. The cities are examples of places where one-party (Dem) rule is failing. We know that. But how do you break into the mindset of African American voters, who cannot bring themselves to vote for a Republican? But there is a growing Asian/Indian, Muslim and latino population and these folks also have turned a deaf ear to us? I believe we have to make inroads into these population groups and not just ignore them and find common ground with conservative markewt-oriented solutions. If we do not do that, we’re toast for generations to come and will go the way of minority GOP parties in Maryland, New Jersey, New York, etc.
Ken, John’s point is exactly right. All people of goodwill need to relentlessly oppose the pro-slavery, racist, hateful of neighbors agenda of the Democrats. This is what members of the Party of Lincoln, and indeed any decent American, should do. The task before us is breaking through the barricades that Democrats have erected in the minds of their captives … because their captives believe that Democrats are the anti-slavery anti-racism party of loving and caring. (!!!)
Thanks for your article. I do have a couple further comments on it:
1) I don’t think there is any reasonable person who thinks government is bad – certainly I don’t know of a single conservative who would assert this – , so this looks like a straw man to me. We want government that behaves and sticks to its constitutional limits, does not engage in cronyism, etc. Yes, insisting upon this would require changes to the livelihoods of many people currently at the tax dollar trough who live in our area, so it is a political minefield. But if limited government is a good thing – and it is – then we need to support it.
2) I don’t think any reasonable person is under the illusion that a strident ideological conservative candidate will always win. The point is that a strident ideological conservative candidate who is not severely flawed in other ways CAN win most of the time – if supported by the “moderate” or liberal Republicans. Too often, we find that the electability myth becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy as more liberal Republicans abandon or even sabotage candidates who have the nerve to run on the Republican platform and actually mean it.
3) Voting by illegal immigrants (that is, people who have engaged in the act of immigrating or remaining in the United States against the law) and other people ineligible to vote does happen and in some cases does affect elections. But for any non-citizen to cast a vote in a Federal election is a felony. This is a big issue, and if we fail to treat self-governance as a precious thing by protecting the integrity of the vote franchise to citizens, then self-governance will erode away, and with it all the various institutions of our civil society.
4) You are correct that we need active outreach to immigrants. Most immigrants, including legal immigrants, think of themselves as Democrats because (among other things), “Democrat” is related to the word “Democracy” and the United States, the Land of Opportunity, is elevated in their minds as the place where Democracy exists … so who would say no to that? Of course, the Republican Party (anti-slavery, pro-freedom and opportunity, colorblind meritocracy, etc.) is the natural home for most immigrants but unless we have systematic programs for welcoming and enfolding immigrants they may never escape the Democrat party of hate and slavery.
5) You are correct that Virginia is no longer a “southern” state in the sense that it has changed and most people here no longer support the slavery and racism of the Red Democrats. Unfortunately, as DC expands, Northern VA is indeed becoming more and more Red. The Republican areas are less dense and so we Blue folks need to make inroads into the Red Democrat areas. I agree with you that focusing on issues that concern people (such as traffic congestion, high taxes, intrusive regulations, equality (such as pro-immigrant policies that advance the equal application of immigration law, rather than embracing the bigotry of low expectations regarding illegal immigrants), safety of their kids from when in school, etc.) is a good thing for Republicans to be doing. I, however, disagree with the suggestion that we need to soften on immigration matters. What we need to do is talk about it as a matter of equality EVERY time it comes up. Everyone benefits when no one is above the law. Everyone benefits when there is a clear set of rules, duly passed by our elected representatives, and enforced as written. This is an equality and fairness issue and we need to agree to always talk about it this way.
So how would you make inroads to these minority groups? The republican party has had outreach programs since Nixon..The voting percentage doesn’t change. Wouldn’t a better strategy be to recruit discourage democrats who have watched their party become the vanguard of Normal Thomas.
I think that’s what I sort of proposed in the article. RPV needs to start with hiring a focus group market research firm Start with focus groups of key population groups we want to reach, but are not — i.e., Indian Americans and Muslims. Get their drift, show it to SCC and district chairs of RPV and then to GOP legislators and invite the latter in to speak to select population groups on a topic. The goal is to get the popujlation groups in front of the electeds and figure out some common ground legislation to work on together. Take it from there. I am sure others will have better ideas, but this is what I am suggesting as focus groups are routeinely done by businesses that are losing market share or wish to capture more of the market of a competitor. I think this is superior to hiring kids out of school to be “coordinators” for different ethnic groups
People especially vote for candidates that come from their culture. We fail to recruit candidates from those communities and when we do, provide zero support in difficult districts.
Transportation, jobs, higher education are issues that many conservatives are very concerned about.
I feel your problem , Republicans problems are not
solved by obtaining percentage votes by a specific race of voters.
The message is less than consistent rendering you the party of the bought and paid for and of those who aspire to be bought and paid for.
Example;
Steve Albertson claimed The Campbell County Republican Party overseer Rick Boyer as a “stalwart conservative”.
Now Boyer had two of his men (Mike Rousseau, Charles Good) BOS just last month the vote came up at BOS Meeting on Federal and State money that had been allocated to us for economic development. The issue was to use this for workforce development. Rousseau stated that he did not believe the Goverment should be in workforce development, voted No.
C. Good although he agreed with Rousseau did not cast a vote citing his conflict of interest, his wife held a job with a company that does this.
Now let’s jump to just a couple of days ago. TBE ‘ S same Steve Albertson spoke of his pride in being a Republican because of men like Delegate Freitas.
Delegate Freitas claims to be all about workforce development.
Why conflict in jobs training?
Should there not be a policy of precedent for Republicans to adhere to?
Now did we Conservative Independents here in Campbell County do the proper thing in ousting g Mike Rousseau this past November? If no then it would not be right to support Delegate Freitas for Senate, right?
You enlighten me please.
If you are for workforce development the surely you are for protecting the jobs themselves.
A good start is not to vilify the immigrant but to end the law breaking illegal employment that undermines our legal workforce while it exploits the immigrant , undermines legal wages and sucks tax revenue from.Va’s General Fund.
And while I am at it.
if Jerry Falwell Jr. feels like he must endorse every Candidate like Rousseau maybe he could offer up endorsements
Ten:
Stop OVERT and SUBTLE race baiting and gay baiting. This is SO challenging for Republicans because these issues of race and culture, sexuality and gender are excluded from their probing analysis of LIMITED GOVERNMENT. They bewail ANTI-FREEDOM BIG Government EXCEPT when it is to HARM or THREATEN or OFFEND gay people or people of color. This also SO challenging for Republicans because there issues of race and culture, sexually and gender, and families are conceived not as within the Constitution domain of Constitutional protections of ‘equal treatment’ and ‘due process’ and ‘free expression’ but as METAPHYSICAL DOCTRINES.
Edward, I amuse myself by believing that all Democrats believe as you believe, that you actually think that racism and bigotry is what drives the Republican party. It is my hope as a conservative that you and yours will keep believing that, and keep thinking you are on some moral high ground above the rest of the country and that your party is the only one with a message of hope and righteousness. Because it’s that attitude that is driving Republican electoral wins.
People are so sick of Democrats in Alabama that they elected a Democrat over a person that even Republicans find reprehensible by ONE percentage point. That should have been a 20 point race for Democrats, but people are so sick of hearing people like you piss on them with your self-important Puritanical moralizing that they’d rather vote for a guy like Moore than the Democrat, and a guy like Trump instead of a Democrat. That’s where your parties conceit has brought us.
My my …
Our points about backfiring gay baiting and race baiting appears to be TRUE.
And, WITHOUT ANY DOUBT WHATSOEVER, the Biblical foundations for STOPPING HATEFUL gay baiting and race baiting ARE PERFECTLY CLEAR. Mr Child-Rape Moore, HATE AND BAIT Moore proclaimed – on his podium, with a Bible image, and in his speech, peppered with phrases to anoint himself as ‘God’s man’ – LOST. GOD was NOT on the creepy hypocrite’s side. Hypocrite is what we call him and all Republicans and any others who fetishize unborn infants (without truly loving them as God loves them, which would mean LOVING their parents, to ensure them SAFE and HEALTH housing, GOOD and ACCESSIBLE and AFFORDABLE health care, etc)
Edward see you think that you’re saying the truth, that you are making a point, and all of that, but you just don’t realize that when we read what you just wrote we think you are out of touch, self-important, and don’t have any idea what you’re talking about. I mean that honestly. It’d be like if someone came up to you and started talking about how you are an evil space alien who hates humans … you’d be like … uhh, what ? That’s how WE are when you write this nonsense. You aren’t convincing us its true, you aren’t pointing out some truth that we’re all hiding, you aren’t preaching to the unconverted … you just seem like you have no idea what you’re talking about, like you live in some bubble of nonsense and can’t find your way out to see reality. What you’re saying doesn’t make us angry, or get us to think about our views, or question our beliefs, … it just makes us wonder why you are so confused.
Let is back down then and examine the PERCEPTIONS of what is real and ‘fake’, true or ‘lies’.
IS there a perception – widespread and important politically (and morally) – that as I say
1. Republicans have been race-baiting and gay baiting – by speaking ill of the humanity of gay people, transgender people, immigrants, etc – to suit Republican political purposes?
[ btw, speaking of being called ‘evil space aliens’ as you note – Republicans have IN FACT – and Judge Pedophile Moore has only recently – called gay people worse than evil space aliens.]
2. Republicans have been advocated big government social control of people because of race and ethnicity, gender and sexuality, such as CONTROLLING their families? CONTROLLING their marriages? CONTROLLING their liberties?
[btw, didn’t SCOTUS say that in Obergefell? And didn’t many lower courts say that in decisions regarding the first round of Trump immigrant bans? ]
Edward, that you’re even framing the conversation in that way points to how confused you are.
You’re talking about issues that were solved LONG AGO (for the most part – women vote, everyone has the opportunity to work, etc)
Identity politics is not a destination, it is a strategy that Democrats use to win elections.
Identity politics NEEDS AN ENEMY, it needs a foil, and Democrats can’t use it as a strategy to win elections without demonizing Republicans.
Whether you know it or not YOU ARE A TOOL masquerading as an enlightened emissary, but you don’t know that because identity politics is the only thing you know.
WAKE UP
You really think a bunch of hicks and farmers out in the red states are the ones controlling YOU and YOUR PARTY ? It’s the height of absurdity that you can’t see that you’re on the wrong side, that you are actually supporting all of the things you claim to be fighting against – big business as an example. You are supporting the very machine that is causing all of the problems you keep complaining about.
First,
‘my people’ are among the first ‘hicks’ in Virginia: ancestors got to the Shenandoah frontier in the early-mid 1700s. They were fleaing BIG GOVERNMENT SOCIAL CONTROL in Europe including the genocide of their Anabaptist communities by the Lutheran princes and the RC Bishops. Speaking of identity politics … genocidal wars against religious groups, such as my ancestors … was specially WHAT the American Founders wanted to avoid.
So
we agree that ‘Identity Politics’ in most forms is detrimental not beneficial to the American Constitutional polity.
Historically, while post-Civil War Amendments may have wanted otherwise, the mistreatment of Blacks in the South were NOT ‘long ago solved’ as you claim. Historically it was Southern Democrats who most horribly violated Black people’s political, civil, and human rights. But Republicans – to appeal to Southern and other overtly and covertly racist voters – took over what the Democrats had been doing.
So, I have no special love for either of these ‘parties’ …
Historically, the ‘equal treatment’ of gay families only began a few years ago – a FEW years, not ‘long ago’ – with Obergefell findings in SCOTUS.
And as recent times in NC show Republicans have been INTENT on treating trans people as ‘beasts’ and not humans.
Not to mention treating unborn infants as FETISHES rather than as living human beings, who need safe housing, affordable health care, etc AFTER they are born humans.
NOBODY GIVES A CRAP ABOUT TRANS ISSUES
And by NOBODY GIVES A CRAP I mean that for better and worse. Nobody cares meaning nobody actually cares if they are having trouble in society, and nobody cares meaning nobody is even PAYING ATTENTION to them. Trans people are such a small percentage of the population … literally ZERO POINT THREE PERCENT of the population.
That’s THREE PEOPLE out of every THOUSAND.
NOBODY CARES. Nobody is even paying attention. Nobody is “oppressing” Trans people, not Republicans, conservatives, NOBODY .. NOBODY GIVES A CRAP ONE WAY OR THE OTHER WHAT TRANS PEOPLE DO AS LONG AS THEY ARE NOT HURTING OTHER PEOPLE.
But the Identity Politics engine needs fuel to run, so Trans Bathrooms is a thing. A thing that affects THREE PEOPLE IN A THOUSAND. It’s absurd that Democrats even champion this B.S. like it’s an actual issue that affects anybodies life .. oh, well, excuse me, an issue that affects more than THREE PEOPLE IN A THOUSAND. And I seriously doubt the “trans bathroom issue” even affects most of them, because they’re cross-dressing so they can pretty much just go into whatever bathroom they want and very few people would know anyway.
See, it isn’t about trans issues, it’s about Democrats needing that identity politics machine to continue to chug along even after equal opportunity is the law of the land for everyone, even after everyone has the right to vote, ever after everyone is protected under the law … ALL THAT IS LEFT IS TRANS PEOPLE CAN’T PICK WHAT BATHROOM THEY WANT TO USE. That’s the level of B.S. Democrats now have to stoop to in order to continue to use identity politics as a tactic.
Fortunately for conservatives … most people actually care more about tax cuts, because that affects ONE OUT OF EVERY ONE PERSON in this country.
To believe Democrat’s B.S. about conservatives “oppressing Trans people” relies on the basic tenant that a conservative person COULD EVEN FIND A TRANS PERSON TO OPPRESS … which is VERY UNLIKELY since there are only THREE out of every THOUSAND people who are trans. It’s like trying to say that Republicans are oppressing people who believe tasting red wine on a Thursday will result in instant teleportation to planet Zenon. Conservatives aren’t oppressing Trans people .. MOST OF THEM DON’T EVEN KNOW ANY TRANS PEOPLE. Hell, the older ones don’t even know what “Trans” even means …
BUT none of that stops Democrats from trying to convince their voters to turn out to stop the evil conservatives from oppressing Trans people. and it doesn’t stop their TOOLS from coming on forums and fighting the good fight for them either.
you could always stop posting nonsense attacks trans people – this site is full of hate
I know many transgender persons. I agree with you – perhaps – that some are whinin’ and ‘plainin’ to suit themselves rather than to achieve human rights. On the issue, for example, that we hear about mis-gendering – e.g. a transgender person being called by a gender pronoun that they don’t like – I advise any trans friend to ‘be an adult’ and respect other’s failures to use perfect choice of words. BUT on the other hand when trans friends tells me that every time – EVERY time! – that they go in to see their health care provider – the receptionist calls them the wrong gender even after being corrected many times – I tell them to FILE A COMPLAINT at the hospital, or clinic, or Board of Dentistry, etc .. and tell them that I will help write the complaint. BECAUSE that is just wrong! and HATE-ful. No less so than if every time you went for an appointment the nurse, or hygienist, etc – considering yourself a man – called you ‘yes MADAM’ or greeted you with ‘What a pretty HAIRDO you have today. Who does your hair?’.
WHO CARES.
People call me an asshole to my face all the time, and I don’t feel I have to file a damn complaint about it. That’s called LIFE. S$#T happens. Get over it. Hell, we have to sit here and listen to you call us RACISTS all the damn time, should I file a complaint about that ? Certainly that’s more offensive than someone mistaking you for a male or female when you’re intentionally confusing the issue with the way you dress.
I’m not the least bit interested in what pronoun someone says they want to be called, to me that’s just inane B.S. If that’s the worst of your freaking problems then you don’t have problems.
We agree about the trivial pursuit of ‘pronouns’.
Is Trump’s PURSUIT of ‘not taking any blame’, ‘blaming others’,braggadocio about himself – e.g. ‘can grab al the pussy I want’, ‘I’m smarter than all the generals’ – constant lies, and other UNGODLINESS trivial or consequential?
You only need to read a few chapters of the Bible – try Proverbs first – to know GOD’S reckoning of Trump’s speech and behavior!
But, then you don’t have a give a shit about God, of the Bible. You can put you trust in Satanic Lord Putin, or Satanic Minion Bannon, etc.
can you get any more judgemental? It is not up to you to determine what is a problem to someone and what is trivial. You don’t get to choose for others
Why are you supporting sexual perversion?
oh, you mean sexual perversions like ADULTERY and DIVORCE!? I don’t support divorce. Law should make it hard to get a divorce unless a spouse abuses, neglects, abandons, and harms or threatens to abuse, neglect, abandon or harm the other spouse. And ADULTERY is a CRIME in Virginia. All adultery should be VIGOROUSLY INVESTIGATED, MADE PUBLIC WITH POLICE DETAINING AND QUESTIONING, ARRESTING AND CHARGING, AND WITH HIGHLY VISIBLE PUBLIC TRIALS WITH STRICT AND HARSH PENALTIES. WE MUST treat the sexual perversion of divorce and adultery very harshly.
You can call Edward N Virginia a liberal troll, but the reality is that his view of the GOP is rampant among newcomers to Va. and immigrants. I actually was told by a Latino woman at a festival in 2014 where Barbara Comstock was speaking that she was voting for JOhn Foust because “Comstock doesn’t like Latinos.” Yoiu and I know that is not true, but the Democrat/media/academia PC spin machine has won the hearts and minds of millions of people of color who firmly believe Republicans don’t like them. So, what better what to mitigate that than to bring rooms full of Indian , Muslim and Latino leaders into a room with GOP delegates , supervisors, etc. and show them we’re not monsters? Let’s start talking to the customers we’re not getting, which is a common marketing practice.
Marketing is how we got here.
It’s the problem, not the solution.
Conservative values aren’t a product, and we aren’t making a sales pitch.
If we don’t make a sales pitch (an honest one, not spin), we will never win again. The democrats not only give a sales pitch, but they also demonize republicans with their own spin, such as “republicans hate immigrants”, etc. There is only one way to counteract a devious democrat party and complicit media, so unless you want to lose, you’d better help make the sales pitch.
Henrico County (and Metro Richmond) has changed drastically, too. Damn carpetbaggers.
Ninth – don’t nominate Corey Stewart