Winning 101
By Steven Osborne | Saturday, March 7th, 2009 | PoliticsWith the recent controversy over Jeff Frederick being asked to step aside as chairman, a key debate has arisen in our party. How do we win?
Some say we must stay away from “divisive” issues, some Republicans have gone as far as to criticize other Republicans for putting cultural issues high on their priority list. These handful of moderates contend that the GOP is too culturally conservative to win. Do the facts back this up?
A Gallup poll shows that the most unpopular decision of the Obama Administration to date has been giving money to fund abortions overseas. Some of the key voting groups that we must reach, hispanics and young people, are a majority pro-life.
The State Board of Elections numbers show that Virginians favor traditional marriage.
The more moderate wing of the GOP has even suggested that Republicans have been too religiously motivated. A key study shows that hispanic voters, one of the voting groups that are crucial to our future success, are religiously motivated. They are not the only ones either.
I have said all of that to say this, the Virginia GOP will be successful again when it combines strong morals with competent leadership. What Virginians want right now is fresh ideas and solutions. If the Republican Party engages in moral relevancy, it will lack those critical solutions. If you look throughout human history, good solutions have always come from a strong moral center.
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About the author
Steven Osborne is a grassroots conservative activist from Central Virginia. He is currently furthering his education at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia. In addition to writing for Bearing Drift he is also a columnist for the Christian Law Journal.
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18 Responses to "Winning 101"
Great post — something we should remember no matter what the environment.
“the Virginia GOP will be successful again when it combines strong morals with competent leadership”
Well said indeed. Which is exactly why Frederick must go now.
Your link to young people being pro-life goes to a one time “study” in one state (Missouri).
Undermines what could otherwise be a valuable post.
I am kind of confused by the post. Was your final point social issues are important are not?
I don’t think they are. If you took a poll of actual voters in Virginia my strong bet is abortion, gay marriage, and the death penalty would not be in the top 5. Also you cite Hispanics and young people in your post but a majority of them vote for democrats anyway.
Thankfully McDonnell gets this. It still remains to be seen if he actually fleshes out policy solutions to things that people actually care about like education, jobs/economy, health care, and the environment.
I recommend reading “Fighting for Liberty and Virtue” by Marvin Olasky. The merging of economic and social politics has not only been in existence since our nation’s founding, it’s been necessary for success.
Steven Osborne,
What does it take to win? Do you understand there needs to be inclusiveness?
I am not saying you have to surrender all of your beliefs, however you sometimes need to work with those you disagree with.
As an example of none inclusive Republicans let me point towards Rush Limbaugh. Anyone who did not agree with his laundry list of opinions wasn’t really a true Republican, and he attempted to shout them down if they expressed an opposing opinion.
God help you if you disagreed with Rush Limbaugh, and many of us that voted for Republicans disagreed with him. Any Republican that disagreed with him was a RINO. And if you were a moderate/independent? Ever heard what Rush says about moderates? He has little tolerance for RINOs and zero tolerance for moderate independents.
Rush Limbaugh said, in effect, my way or the highway. He alienated voters, many of which chose the highway and voted accordingly.
Best winning idea I’ve heard lately is abolishing Lee-Jackson Day. That will really bring conservatives and moderates together. At least that is what all my Democrat friends recommend for us to do.
Dry Viking,
Better yet might be to make it Martin Luther King day. Instead of a state holiday honored in opposition to MLK, let’s just make it a holiday that goes along with why the day was chosen.
I am going to state that I am personally in opposition to any additional national holidays. When I am on the road, holidays just serve as an impediment to me making money. Just one more day I have to sit in a truck stop without any revenue.
Not sure I understand you Little David. The holiday’s date was chosen because it was Robert E. Lee’s birthday to honor him. . .
I think we make a mistake in trying to make this a vote on party policy. I have not seen the list of charges, but presumably they include not policy or personal positions but legal or ethical ones. I have posted a Forum Discussion on RPVNetwork.org that goes into more depth of where we should go from here.
Just thought you should know that the link to the SBOE does not take you to the vote on the marriage amendment. It takes you to the vote on the amendment removing the prohibition of granting charters of incorporation to churches. I thought the vote totals were odd when it showed the 8th district voting for the amendment by a 50% margin.
Dry Viking,
Thanks. I stand corrected.
Great Post, I also find when talking to other Young People and Hispanics, Abortion is one of the most effective arguments I have for convincing them to vote for a Republican.
(BTW, Abolishing Lee-Jackson day will only diminish our heritage, The solution to race problems is to treat everyone the same and not walk on eggshells, One of the problems I see is that White People are now afraid to speak their mind, Many will only criticize Obama if there are no Black people around because they are afraid of “Offending” someone, This breeds subconscious resentment, Especially with the rising prevalence of Black on White racism.)
PW Conservative:
My point exactly. I guess many missed the sarcasm in my initial post on this thread. This post asking what to do to win sits aside a request on this site to ban Lee-Jackson Day. Doesn’t get any crazier.
If we want to build a coalition of conservatives here in Virginia, they way to do it is to appeal to our common belief in our core values. Most of those are rooted in the moral issues of our day. On that this post is correct.
On the other hand if you want to split the Republicans, particularly those outside of NoVA, pick an obscure fight like this website has done against Virginian heritage in honoring RE Lee. That divides most of us. Not a good strategy if you want to win. You are right and we should stop walking on eggshells, speak the truth and treat everyone the same, with respect.
Little David, I don’t think you “get” Rush.
He doesn’t shout down opposing opinions.
You are right that philisophically, he isn’t tolerant of “moderates”. To him, I guess he doesn’t appreciate the lack of conviction. I’m a little bit more forgiving on that than he is.
I was listening to him a couple days ago. He complimented Ron Paul believe it or not ,and said that, “that guy stands for freedom”. He didn’t stray however, from his contention that Ron Paul just isn’t presidential material. Though Limbaugh and Paul disagree on some issues profoundly, I don’t think Rush would characterize him as a “moderate” lacking conviction.
Rush has no tolerance for RINOs and neither do I. Who likes a liar?
There was a time where I thought Rush was “carrying water” for Bush. But when it came to McCain, I respected how Rush would unapologetically tell it like it is. If Rush runs the GOP, how was McCain the nominee?
I disagree with Rush now and then but, I have a lot of respect for him.
The targeting of Rush will be a huge failure. Partly because the Dems insist he runs the party and anyone that listens to Rush knows he doesn’t. What does that do? That causes the Dems to look like obvious liars and really shreds the credibility of anything else you say. Rush bashing will only work when your singing to the chroir drinking that kool-aid.
Don’t get me wrong, politics of destruction does work. Why do you think entrenched encumbants are often the first to suggest a “No negative campaigning on the issues” ? Why do you think those that attack Cuccinelli and Frederick are so vicious?
Fortunately for Rush, the Dems don’t understand him as a target. Alienating something you don’t even “get” is pretty difficult. It is like criticizing all the inside jokes of the crowd you want to embrace you. It isn’t going to work too well.
How does the GOP win?
Try living up to the Republican Creed. Might help.
http://www.rpv.org/about/page/republican-party-of-virginia-creed
How much “Big Government” , fiscal recklessness, and individual interference acts by even our Republican elected officials have you seen? I’ve observed plenty. That doesn’t excuse Democrats but, we’re talking about how to make the GOP better able to win on this thread.
You can’t divide your base before an election. If anything, you need to concentrate on common interests and freakin’ forgive somebody if they don’t match your passion on your particular pet issue. You certainly make no ground if you openly attack and insult core issues held dear by key groups in your party. You CAN openly disagree but, you must do so respectfully. In return, you should expect nothing less than that same respect.
Winning elections starts before the official campaign does. First, you win over YOUR side. You win over their assets and effort. THEN you go after the rest of the public. If your own team lacks conviction, the public sees you as a likely loser. Fundraising success follows percieved winners. The people like to vote for winners. Attacking your own people is the first step toward a failed effort.
Am I wrong or is the information on “Virginians overwhelmingly favoring traditional marriage” paired with the incorrect link?
Try this link:
http://www2.sbe.virginia.gov/web_docs/Election/results/2006/Nov/htm/l_141.htm
and while it doesn’t change drastically I think you’ll find that it wasn’t a complete landslide like proposed amendment 2 (the amendment you have linked)
Sorry about the link, I am having technical difficulties and am working to correct the problem. You can however access the info on the SBE page, I just linked to the wrong section. Sorry about that.
As far as the Young People results, the article points out that those numbers mirror the national ones.
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