Posted by
Dennis Pemberton on Thursday, November 06, 2008 4:31:35 PM
An autopsy of the McCain defeat will show many causes, no one of which resulted in failure, but which accumulated to doom the candidacy. McCain was probably always the best candidate to win, and Palin, despite both justified and unjustified criticism, was undoubtedly the best VP choice. But the McCain candidacy was tactical, not strategic, to harken back to an episode of semantic hairsplitting from the second debate. It could have won this election, but almost certainly not the next. McCain said he was conservative, but during the primaries he was as anti-corporate as any Democrat. He was always a strong foreign policy guy, but on economics he was a mixed bag, unable to articulate a clear message until Joe the Sanitary Engineer made the case against Obama plain. A McCain Administration would lead to a rudderless conservative movement, alternately supported and undermined by its titular head.
So forget about winning elections for a minute. What can we do to win hearts and minds? To a certain extent, this battle will be reactionary, dependent on what the Obama administration and the Congress do. But we can, and must, elucidate a unifying principle, one that is a launching pad for other ideas which signify not just opposition, but forward-looking vision. There are clues in the wreckage. The marriage amendments passed. An affirmative action amendment passed. Pro-stem cell amendments passed. Doctor assisted euthanasia passed. Anti-abortion amendments failed. What's the message?
Environmentalism has been the most successful leftist idea of the last half-century. Even Osama Bin Laden decried global warming (suicide bombers are their own carbon offset, so he's pretty green). I believe this has resulted in a new mercantilism- a concept that there is only so much wealth in the world, only so many resources, and eventually we'll just be trading them back and forth like a massive game of Go Fish. Babies who aren't wanted would just use precious resources, and if they can be mined for the health of the rest of us, then even better. Tradition is fine, as long as it doesn't cost anything- telling gays not to mess with marriage has no economic impact, so that's okay. Affirmative action can prevent those who are best qualified from succeeding, so that's another waste of resources; end it. But babies who live become wards of the State, which uses up resources to which those who are already here are entitled. This is a pervasive mindset, and it cannot be changed with references to religion- religion will ban gay marriage, but it cannot trump survival instinct, at least politically. To change this reductionism requires communicationg an optimism which is opposed by the prevailing orthodoxies of global warming, habitat depletion, and overpopulation. It requires a re-education, presented with the calm certitude of a concerned teacher, rather than the fiery bromides of a revolutionary. Obama won in part by appearing calm, in control, and smart.
I think that may be a good place to start. Argue that things are not bad, with concrete examples, and show how environmentalism actually makes things worse. And do it concisely, because people are too busy to listen if it takes more than a minute to grab them. Why didn't William Ayers attacks work? Because Obama was 8 years old when he did his killing, and it takes half an hour to show why Ayers is a present danger, and not some culture warrior from long ago.
I may be off base, but I think this is a good place to start. Identify the green root. And attack it.