Conservatives seem to be spending way too much time assigning "blame" for the loss of the national election on Nov. 6. How about this? I "blame" the Democrats for running a far smarter campaign. I "blame" the Democrats for figuring out which issues will resonate better with various groups of voters then pounding on those issues. I think the Republicans had a better candidate, but there is no question the Democrats had the better campaign. Conservatives need to put together better national campaigns.
They do just fine in local and regional races. Look at the "red and blue" map of the United States and you see far, far more "red" areas than blue ones. In small and middle size towns across the land, in red and blue states alike, conservatives win.
The big cities, the most dysfunctional parts of America, are run by Democrats and are run poorly by those same Democrats. The people in these big cities, who make up a majority of the American population, vote Democrat in high numbers, which was the difference in the 2012 election.
People who vote for Democrats are not stupid just as people who vote for Republicans aren't smarter. In fact, one listens to the media, to teachers and college professors and the Hollywood community, it is the Democrats and the liberals/progressives who are the smart ones and we conservatives are the stupid ones.
Based on the way the Presidential campaigns were run in 2012, maybe the liberals/progressives really are the smart ones. They run better campaigns.
Conservatives also spend way too much time explaining why certain issues "ought" to be important while others "ought not" be important. Meanwhile, the liberals/progressives learn which issues "are" important to voters and they focus on those issues.
Note to conservatives: It doesn't matter so much what issues you believe or even which issues should matter most. What matters most is which issues "do" matter most, which issues resonate with voters more. Don't tell voters what ought to be important to them; find out what issues are important to them and convince them your side will deal with those issues the best. Democrats do and did that better on a national level. Politics isn't just about the issues; it is also about marketing the issues, selling the issues, focusing on the issues that matter to the most voters.
It is part political science, part political art, part political salesmanship. Conservatives got the science part down. Smaller, less intrusive government, less government control on our daily lives, fiscal responsibility, etc. are the core issues of conservatism and those are all winning issues. The liberal/progressive "the government will take care of you and all your needs, at least so that you can get by" philosophy does help people "get by" but doesn't work over the long haul. See how Europe is doing these days. However, liberals/progressives may not have the
issue advantage, but they win the "art" and "salesmanship" parts of the equation.
And the Presidency.
