It’s 2016. We’re a month away from the Iowa caucuses, Virginia has been in the grips of abnormally warm weather, and we’re all getting a little stir crazy from the holidays. As cabin fever sets in and the hangovers from New Years Eve finally die down, many turn to the annual tradition of the New Year’s resolution. With a fresh start on a fresh year, many of us are ready to start making big changes. Whether you’re quitting smoking, losing some weight, paying down that credit card debt or laying off Clash of Clans – now’s the time to think about how we can better ourselves over the next 12 months.
Resolutions tend to be individualized, but there are a few resolutions that we can all share in. The GOP is coming up on a big year for us, and if we’re going to pull off the wins this year and maintain our own sanity while preparing for the all-out Hillary Clinton blitz that’s sure to come, there are a few resolutions we should all adopt.
Before we start the list – let’s all get in the right frame of mind. Watch this.
Here’s the list:
10. Don’t be fooled by faux-conservative populism – You know what conservatism is. You’ve read Conscience of a Conservative. You believe in limited government. You believe in low taxes and controlled spending. So when you listen to candidates that don’t have good records on limited government (like using eminent domain to make money), want to raise taxes (we don’t like it when taxes get raised on anybody, even the rich), and want to create massive government boondoggle programs (like building a massive wall that won’t actually solve the immigration problem) stop and question whether they are actual conservatives or whether they’re just populists trying to spin up the middle class. We hate when the Democrats do the class warfare thing, we hate when they propose big government solutions to problems and we hate when they support expanding government power at the expense of the states, so why buy that nonsense when it’s coming out of somebody on our side? Don’t be fooled.
9. Take a deep breath, look around and realize things are going to be ok – It’s easy to freak out. Yes, the national debt is too high. Yes, we don’t like Obama. Yes, ISIS is killing Christians in the Middle East. Bad things happen every day, all the time. But that’s no reason to live in fear or anger all the time. We have problems to solve, sure. But there’s nothing we can’t solve, if we put our minds to it. Think about it this way – there’s a new Star Wars movie. Gas is below $2 in most of the country. There are like ten different superhero TV shows on right now. The Redskins are in the playoffs. No matter how down you may get, there’s always something good out there you can focus on. A good bourbon and book can take your mind off the omnibus bill for hours.
8. Stop pretending facts aren’t facts – It’s easy to pretend that things you don’t like aren’t true, and unfortunately this is something that happens far to often these days. All too often, we don’t allow ourselves to be convinced by fact based arguments. Instead we deny facts, attack the author, or simply shake our heads in disbelief. Don’t do that. Having an open mind is critical in our form of government, because we as Republicans are supposed to value fact based analyses, not appeals to emotion. Facts are stubborn things, and that’s why we too often want to ignore them or pretend they don’t exist. We have to fight our tendency to do that, especially when the facts are being presented by an outlet or person we otherwise disagree with. As much as I disagree with the opinions of someone like Barack Obama, Paul Krugman, or Jon Stewart – they aren’t always wrong on the facts. The same with Republicans you may disagree with. There’s no way to have an intelligent debate when both sides come armed with their arguments and their own facts that disagree. You don’t win the argument by making things up.
7. Put down the Bastiat and Hayek, pick up a John Adams, Abraham Lincoln or Theodore Roosevelt biography – I know Austrian economics are all the rage amongst the libertarian set, and every good conservative is supposed to have read a Road to Serfdom, among other books. But here’s the thing – you don’t need to read economic theories from the 19th century written by non-Americans to understand the policy issues of 21st century America. If you really want to look for a 19th or earlier 20th century Republican view, turn to a biography. Lincoln has entire forests dedicated to his life story, and Adams and Theodore Roosevelt both have Pulitzer Prize winning biographies written about them. Learning about these men and their character, the issues they dealt with – many of which are eerily similar to those we face now – and how they handled their many jobs will give you a better appreciation of politics than those boring Europeans.
6. Turn off your radio (unless you’ve got The Score on) – I have been listening to Rush Limbaugh since 1990. I was 13 when I first turned his show on – and yes, I snuck a radio into school to listen. I’ve listened to almost all of the biggest talking heads on radio, from Rush to Hannity, Levin, Savage, and the local guys up here in NoVA. Rush was critically important to bringing me to conservatism in the first place – I grew up in a family where my mother was a southern Democrat and my father had no interest in politics. As time has gone on, however, the need for conservative talk radio has waned – with the rise of Fox News and the internet, Rush (and those who have copied him, mostly rather poorly) isn’t as important as he used to be. While I still am a fan, I find myself not as attracted to talk radio as I have been in the past, and positively repelled by some of it. Given the number of alternative outlets that can provide you with better information in a format less designed to make you want to ram your car into a bridge abutment, take some time this year to turn off talk radio. It’s been 25 years for some of us. Time for a rest.
5. Fact-check all the candidates, including the ones you like – As I’ve said time and time again, the reason why many of us are so angry is that we keep being lied to. In response to being lied to, we turn around and reward those who tell us lies we want to hear, and that just leads to a vicious cycle of cynicism and then apathy. Our presidential candidates are no exception, and those who are leading right now – the top three – are also the three with the biggest problems with the truth. Don’t assume because a candidate says something that it’s correct – even if it’s your favorite candidate. And don’t give those candidates a pass when they lie or make major factual errors.
4. Don’t believe the polls – Polling is not a science. It’s like economics, psychology and meteorology. At best, you’re dealing with educated guesses. You can make a poll look however you want by how you ask the questions, who you sample, when, how you reach them, and even then some folks just like to lie. We’ve seen in at least two situations in Virginia (the Governor race in 2013 and the Senate race in 2014) where polling screwed our candidates by predicting they were doing far worse than they actually did. I’m of the opinion that as polling has become such a big money maker and polls drive so many news stories, those polls are less likely to be accurate, especially in places that are notoriously hard to poll, like Iowa. If the polls were right, Mitt Romney would be running for reelection right now.
3. Listen more, yell less – Politics is a contact sport. Politics ain’t beanbag. All those other aphorisms you’ve heard. But what politics is – what it has always been and always must be – is personal. So when you get angry, start name calling and berating those who disagree with you, you’re taking it too personally. Step back and remember Resolution #9. There’s no reason to treat somebody you disagree with – especially another Republican – like they’re pond scum, or worse. They simply disagree with you. This is one of the ones on the list that I intend to fully implement. I know that I tend to be harsh sometimes, and I have to constantly remind myself that we’re all people with our own ideas and we deserve respect. So for those of you who’ve read this far, you get to see something that you rarely see from anybody in politics these days: an apology. For those I’ve angered, offended, mocked, taunted, called names (even with good reason), talked down to, disrespected or laughed at – I’m sorry. I will do better in 2016. We all need to listen more, and yell less.
2. Be optimistic, every day – Optimism is hard, but it’s also rewarding. Why? Because it’s contagious. Candidates who present the case that it’s morning in America, rather than those who push fear and anger, tend to win. When we realize that our best days are yet to come, and when we look at our kids and grandkids and realize that no matter what our fears are for their futures, that future has yet to be written and will probably be a bright one, it helps us to keep fighting these political battles every day. Keep your chin up, and be optimistic. It’s the right attitude for winning.
1. Keep volunteering, donating and voting – No matter what happens, our candidates don’t win when we don’t volunteer and vote. If volunteering isn’t your thing, you can always hire a substitute – your donation helps to plug that hole. We’ve got a lot of great candidates running in 2016, and as the fall races shape up, we’re going to be introduced to a whole host of new candidates running at the federal level, and the state and local levels around the country. They need our help. Don’t let the last couple years of failures make you give up on politics.
2016 is going to be a great year for the GOP – but it’s up to all of us to make it that way.
30 days to Iowa.
