We are in an interesting and powerful time for Republicans, yet somehow I doubt that the RNC realizes it, or will take advantage of the moment. It troubles me that some people in suits, locked away in a distant room, are deciding the fate of what should be a movement, but is instead just a cult of opinion. – that goes for both parties, not just the right.
As a nation, we will wake up in mid-January to a country that has no power of consequence being held by the Right. There are two ways to deal with that: The Right can sit back and sulk, or it can take advantage of a unique moment and define itself.
Note that I said “define” and not “re-define.” Re-definition implies that there is definition in the first place, and there really isn’t one, at least not a consistent one. There cannot be one monolithic definition for an entire party, I know that, but there can at least be a common thread; a set of core values, if you will.
That is why I propose a new conservative movement, The Neo-Neo-Con! (the name is a work in progress, I’m taking suggestions).
- I need a Time-Out here to make a point. Let us agree that a person is driven most often by emotion and desire, and rarely logic. Sometimes religion drives a person’s views, sometimes it is secularism. Often times, individual experience is a driving factor. This is, in my opinion, what causes there to be the greatest divide in our nation. Example: I say “abortion”, you say “PRO LIFE!” and the person behind you says “PRO CHOICE!”. We could argue about whether it is a 4th amendment or 14th amendment case until we are blue in the face, we both have facts on our side, we just view the issue through a different prism. What is missing in that example is the greater good; the ability to recognize only the facts, and apply them to the rule of law and the governing of a nation. A reasonable person, and political person, must be able to see past his or her own beliefs and govern for the people, according to the principles of the nation (i.e. The Constitution), else we might as well be a monarchy, or better yet mob-rule.
It is incumbent upon the intellectual to argue intellectually, even if to a crowd of fools. - Back to where we were…
There are three steps to this rebirth that need to be taken collectively, through open conversation: Cut all old ties to policy and platform, define core values (and it should be a really short list) and define the new agenda and new policies according to the aforementioned core values. That’s a tall order.
This movement needs to be cultural and intellectual. The cultural aspect is more about cultural ideals and philosophy than it is about fads, and that is a critical distinction. Renaming a political party “progressive” and making it the hipster choice is only going to grab and hold a small part of the population (and, by these standards, probably not the most desirable part of the population) , the same way being the party of old-white men does.
At their very core, I believe most Americans to be philosophically conservative with a twist of moderate social liberalism. People have not abandoned their core values. Most of their core values are just not being represented. Worse still, when their values are represented, they are often contorted into being “pro” or “anti” “controversy-dujour”. A new conservative movement (neo-neo-con?) is going to require some real introspection, and some hard choices. Old cornerstones may be lost forever, and new ideas that may seem antithetical because they are “owned” by the left may need to be adopted as well.
Concepts like abortion rights and gay marriage own the spotlight, and are almost never argued intellectually. Those ties need to be severed and only re-investigated after we decide what we truly believe in. Religious thought needs to be set aside and take a back seat to Constitutional thought as well (see time-out above). There is no excuse for allowing personal religious views to get in the way of choosing a government.
This post was going to be about the movement itself, what I believe the core values to be, and what policies and platforms are necessarily a part. Having thought about it, I think I will leave that to a future post, and just let the concept sink in.
