Outreach and Get Out The Vote

By: Loren Heal (Diary)  |  March 29th at 04:25 PM  | 

In developing the Growth and Opportunity Project‘s Autopsy of the 2012 election (pdf), the Republican National Committee correctly identified the reason for the party’s loss, but failed to recommend a coherent strategy to reverse it.

President Obama won by defining his opponent in a negative way, and marrying modern technology with old-fashioned boots on the ground. Republicans can do those things even better than he did, but doing so will require radically reforming the party.

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To Win, We Must First Admit We Lost

By: Loren Heal (Diary)  |  March 14th at 10:30 AM  | 

Excusing defeat is a sure way to keep losing. In the 2012 election, conservatives, libertarians, and tea party groups were outworked and outvoted by an array of forces that should have been demoralized and bitter, but instead focused on their common enemy and working together. If we want to avoid a repeat of that performance in 2014 and 2016, we must first recognize one reality:

We lost.

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It’s Time To Abandon The Tea Party

By: Loren Heal (Diary)  |  January 31st at 11:06 AM  | 

We in the liberty movement have a choice. We can either spend our time, treasure, and energies in an attempt to rescue the “Tea Party” brand, or we can spend those limited resources combating big government, reaching out to new people, and organizing our towns and neighborhoods for social and political involvement. It’s time to abandon the “Tea Party” label, and redouble our effort to | Read More »

I Should Not Have Had to Go to Texas

By: Loren Heal (Diary)  |  August 5th at 07:12 PM  | 

I first heard Ted Cruz speak in Atlanta at the first RedState Gathering. As much as Marco Rubio or Nikki Haley, Cruz was impressive even then. I casually monitored his campaign for Attorney General and then Senator, marveling at his consistent ability to defend and articulate conservative ideas. America needs Mr. Cruz in the Senate, and the only question for me was how much of | Read More »

Advice to Candidates, Part 2

By: Loren Heal (Diary)  |  March 13th at 09:06 AM  | 

I was asked to speak to a candidate forum in chiburban Will County, Illinois on Saturday, March 10. I had to leave early, so only spoke to the candidates themselves and a handful of early arrivals. I didn’t record the talk, so this is from my notes and speech outline. Hi, I’m Loren Heal, a Precinct Committeeman from Cumberland County in downstate Illinois, and Congressional | Read More »

The Limits of Online Activism

By: Loren Heal (Diary)  |  November 25th at 03:00 PM  | 

Michael Barone has been watching and influencing politics for decades, and seems to be the rare pundit who is not in love with his own opinion. Barone talks today about the ways in which the 2012 campaign is different than those of the last 40 years. He is more or less correct in the three key differences that he finds, but more notable to me | Read More »

It’s Time To Get Into The Game

By: Loren Heal (Diary)  |  July 25th at 12:43 PM  | 

The United States is a center-right nation.  That means there are more of us than there are of them.  Your neighbors, local businesses, and the parents at the Little League game are probably conservative by temperament. The media trains them to think that the liberal position is the traditional, reasonable one, while the conservative position is somehow radical and improper. When they hear the opposite | Read More »

What Happened At RightOnline

By: Loren Heal (Diary)  |  June 23rd at 01:59 PM  | 

Promoted from Diaries – ML Redstate’s own ColdWarrior and Ron Robinson invited several precinct activists from around the country to sit on a panel at the recent RightOnline conference, put on by Americans for Prosperity. Our topic was the “Importance of Precinct Activism”. Below the fold you will find some more details that I didn’t include in my portion of the event, and get to | Read More »

A Day In The Life of a Conservative PC

By: Loren Heal (Diary)  |  May 25th at 02:12 PM  | 

I don’t mean to say that this day is typical of my day as a conservative Precinct Committeeman, but they come like this sometimes. When I think about the end of the day, the beginning and middle seem like warm-up laps.

The Battle for the Party

By: Loren Heal (Diary)  |  October 23rd at 01:46 PM  | 

All politics is local. — Tip O’Neil (D-MA), Speaker of the House (1977-87). Tip O’Neil was wrong. O’Neil thought that all national issues were really about street-level ones — that everything devolved to the petty self-interest of the individual voter and how a policy would benefit or harm each one personally.  His mistake was ignoring both the peer pressure of people to ignore that petty | Read More »