Mr. Pratt.

Thanks for posting this.

I think the first thing American Conservatives must do is construct an EFFECTIVE activist apparatus.

We have an activist apparatus already. It’s just not that effective.

Looking at the left, which has definitely been more successful in recent years, we see that their activism is characterized by the following:

1. Permanent Incrementalism. The American right is all-or-nothing far too often. I know someone who is one of the highest ranking GOP people in my state. He is very pro-life, as am I. I go back and forth with him, arguing that while we change the institutions (see below), we need to take legislative steps now to limit abortions at the state level. Specifically, I believe that a Republican trifecta in the government could (quite Constitutionally – Article III) limit the jurisdiction of the courts when, for example, South Dakota makes abortion illegal. He wants nothing to do with this, instead preferring to keep fighting for a Constitutional Amendment prohibiting abortion. Meanwhile, millions of babies continue to be murdered.

When the GOP does compromise, it always seems to be very stupid compromise. For instance, take the Bush Tax Cuts. Instead of making them permanent, they put a sunset on them. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

Now, the left will take 10% of what it really wants today, with every intention of getting the other 90% later. I offer Obamacare as a prime example. I think most people agree that what Obama and his communist friends really want is single-payer healthcare. They know, however, that passing this now would result in the extinction of their party. So they pass part of what they want, the PPACA, aka ‘Obamacare’. Notice, however, they did not put a sunset on that. It’s here to stay, as far as the left is concerned. And they will march on until they get the rest of what they want, or until they are stopped.

These small, but consistent, victories of the left have accumulated in the monstrosity known as the modern-day federal government. This is incrementalism.

We need to practice it ourselves.

2.Sustained Effort with an Endgame in mind – the libs will plan for things for years, spread awareness and raise money to get what they want. When Democrat hopeful Amerish Bera lost to Republican incumbent Dan Lungren in California’s seventh district in 2010, the redistricting of California soon followed. The dems made a list called ‘red to blue’, specifically targeting districts like Lungren’s and allocating large sums of money to those races. Outside, liberal groups paid attention to this list, and to put Bera in office, have spent more money on this race than any other Congressional race in the country. Right now, Bera is barely ahead, and Lungren has yet to concede. But there is a very real chance the Republican has lost. The libs do this with the goal of consolidating their control of states they own (like Ca.) and spreading their control of states they don’t, like Texas. The second greatest amount of money spent on a Congressional race was on Tx District 21. The Republican won, but the dems are targeting it because it is majority ‘Latino’. They are trying to take over Texas.

Republicans on the other hand, never look to anything more than the next election. We constantly play defense – we strategize, not to win, but to avoid losing. We talk of demographics and the inevitable fall of conservatism, instead of strategizing on how to spread our influence and win new districts in even blue states. We might see a series of posts on one congressional election on a conservative site, with requests for donations. If the candidate wins, great. If not, we move on. The left, on the other hand, when it loses immediately begins analyzing what caused them to lose and how to fix it the next time around. They have a definite goal in mind (total control of the country) and they are constantly focused on achieving this. We on the other hand, have relatively short attention spans and we just throw money at the problem.

3.Institutional Control – the left understands that if they control the media, education and popular culture, they will eventually control the country. Wonder why the youth vote is overwhelmingly liberal? 8 hours of liberal schooling follow by 6 hours of liberal entertainment. Most of the rest is sleeping and eating. You do the math. Conservative activism on this front seems limited to a very marginal strategy: harp on about liberal bias in the press, put out a ‘gotcha’ video every once in a while and sue the occasional heavy-handed principal. News of all this barely leaves the echo chamber we call ‘conservative media’. Meanwhile, every day, year in and year out, the left continues to indoctrinate millions.

There is a cultural focus among conservatives on making money. (There’s nothing wrong with this, but please, I prithee, read on.) This means opening businesses, becoming professionals, etc. There does not seem to be much interest in professional journalism, teaching, academia, etc. Now, we could attribute this to bias in those institutions, but this seems to me a cop-out. I believe the bottom line is that those jobs don’t pay well, they’re not considered practical (‘those who can do, do. those who can’t, teach’), etc. There seems to be something of a stigma attached to these jobs, among conservatives. This needs to change. We need massive institutional change in this country, or the current trajectory will continue to its final destination.

Until conservatives focus on these matters, our ‘success’ will be much the same: one step forward, three backward. Sadly, it seems that most conservatives would rather wring their hands and use great tools like this website to vent, rather than to get something done. I guess that’s easier than doing the hard lifting required to think, plan and act effectively.