“Every one shall sit in safety under his own vine and fig tree and there shall be none to make him afraid.” This is the promise of America and the plan Republicans must offer.
There's a lot of truth to what you say, but I fear "safety" and "happiness" are subject to just as much spin and ambiguity as the "first principles" you talk about. Your strategy won't work on progressives and Dems, therefore, because they inhabit a different reality. It might work on independents and swing voters, but I'm not sure how we can deliver tangible, practical benefits to voters if we don't control the executive branch. Even when we DID control the executive branch, and even when Trump DID deliver real benefits -- like the vaccines and a robust economy -- the media worked furiously, and successfully, to obscure those accomplishments. So...none of what you suggest will be easy to do.
No doubt the task before us is a massive one. But that is the case regardless of whether the Right has a plan for moving the needle. The goal of the article was to present a coherent vision for how to make some headway in that regard. If the Left has taught us anything, it's that any word or concept can be twisted/fuzzied up to mean the opposite of what it's always meant/really means (e.g., "man" and "woman"). So, the same could be said for "safety" and "happiness." But, relieved of their moral freight, pared down to the essentials, I think a supermajority can agree that they're good -- and to have them would mean something like what I sketched. At least, that's the hope.
Makes sense. To win in 2022/24, the main thing we need to do is convince the voters that the Dems, by their extremism and/or foolishness, have harmed the public welfare. Then we win by default. In addition, though, if we can advance some sensible proposals for how to improve the voters' lot, so much the better.
There's a lot of truth to what you say, but I fear "safety" and "happiness" are subject to just as much spin and ambiguity as the "first principles" you talk about. Your strategy won't work on progressives and Dems, therefore, because they inhabit a different reality. It might work on independents and swing voters, but I'm not sure how we can deliver tangible, practical benefits to voters if we don't control the executive branch. Even when we DID control the executive branch, and even when Trump DID deliver real benefits -- like the vaccines and a robust economy -- the media worked furiously, and successfully, to obscure those accomplishments. So...none of what you suggest will be easy to do.
No doubt the task before us is a massive one. But that is the case regardless of whether the Right has a plan for moving the needle. The goal of the article was to present a coherent vision for how to make some headway in that regard. If the Left has taught us anything, it's that any word or concept can be twisted/fuzzied up to mean the opposite of what it's always meant/really means (e.g., "man" and "woman"). So, the same could be said for "safety" and "happiness." But, relieved of their moral freight, pared down to the essentials, I think a supermajority can agree that they're good -- and to have them would mean something like what I sketched. At least, that's the hope.
Makes sense. To win in 2022/24, the main thing we need to do is convince the voters that the Dems, by their extremism and/or foolishness, have harmed the public welfare. Then we win by default. In addition, though, if we can advance some sensible proposals for how to improve the voters' lot, so much the better.