I wanted to finish off this series before beginning any other new discussions, and so, my response to Mr. Hrabe will wait a day.
This series has been about rebranding, as much about the language of liberty which is sorely missing from most discussions on public policy, whether those discussions come from Republicans or Democrats. The people of this country ache for someone to stand up for liberty, so much so that they run to anyone who misuses that language to justify their policy positions. If Republicans actually take up the challenge of promoting liberty, and start honestly using the language of liberty, they will win. It is that simple.
But that actually requires Republicans to engage in the fight for liberty. And to engage in that fight requires work. If Republicans have any major failing, it is that they refuse to work to promote liberty. And by work, I don’t mean sending out a few press releases and talking to the service clubs in their districts, or even fighting with other Republicans at a convention. I mean taking the fight to the streets. House by house, neighborhood by neighborhood, community by community, town by town, city by city, county by county, state by state, throughout the country. Releasing reports about rebranding is silly. Actually fighting for liberty by engaging nonRepublicans, by persuading them of the rightness of our cause, or refuting the left’s agenda, is the key to victory.
I used to put on the Community Renewal Summit. It was a plan by which we showed African American and Hispanic Pastor in communities in distress how faith based private service was better for treating the problems of poverty than the government dole. I initially focused on African American neighborhoods, and at one time, had over 400 pastors in South Central Los Angeles that I was talking to on a regular basis. When I began the project in 2000, the African American vote was 9% Republican. When I left the Legislature in 2006, it was 18%. It was a lot of work, but it was paying off. Now it’s gone, because the new legislators didn’t want to have to do the work it required.
The purpose of the political process is to persuade others to entrust us with power. To do that requires that we actually engage in the persuasion process, with someone other than ourselves.
Republicans are supposed to believe in the work ethic. Yet we are looking for voter welfare, just like the Democrats. The Democrats are better at it, because they are willing to steal some people’s stuff to get the votes of the others. Republicans, quite correctly, have moral qualms about such a strategy. That means however that Republicans have to work harder for votes. Republicans are not going to win the media, they are not going to get the support of the government unions, they are not going to cobble together a coalition by selling out their basic principles to pander to groups of voters. Republicans are not going to outthink or outtechno the Democrats (it doesn’t matter how good we tweet, the latest in the “techno” ways of reaching voters), we will only defeat Democrats by outworking them. And it is time to get to it.
What else do our officeholders in California have to do? Their votes don’t count, so they need to get out of the capitol building and out of their districts, and start promoting the principles of liberty in every neighborhood. Their share of the vote in their district might fall from 60% to 55%, but the share of Republican votes statewide will start to grown, and someday we might get to a majority, and start changing this state for the better. Sitting in an office and grousing about Democrats, or fighting with fellow Republicans at a convention is not going to move our state towards liberty. Only getting out of our comfort zone, and fighting day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year, will change this state and this country. Only hard work will bring us the majority.
It is a fight worth starting. It is a work worth doing. If all we do is make this state better for our children, we will have accomplished a good thing. My generation, and the generation following may not be the greatest, but we will also not be the one that squandered our legacy of liberty for short term socialism, which right now is what is happening. We owe it to our heritage to engage in the fight. And we owe it to our children to put in the real work. Today, now.