Recently, we announced that we were continuing our Ricochet Forum series with a conversation with FreedomWorks President and CEO Matt Kibbe, one of the most influential figures in the Tea Party movement.

As usual, the Ricochet community stepped up and delivered a series of great questions. Below are the queries submitted by Ricochet members and Mr. Kibbe’s answers:

Tom Meyer, Ed.

At what point could we say the Tea Party has failed or succeeded?  I’d say that if we can’t get a president and at least one house of Congress with some affinity for its principles, we should scrap the label and completely reboot.

MK: While the brand has certainly taken a sustained beating from both the Democrats and establishment Republicans, that’s one indicator of its impact. We changed the conversation and returned focus to some core values essential to the American model. The tea party ethos is really about showing up and participating on “for the common good” issues like fiscal responsibility and individual liberty. These issues traditionally have been underrepresented because their constituency is made up of really busy people with families, jobs, and community responsibilities. The tea party, or what is now more broadly referred to as “the liberty movement,” has changed that, and five years on is a sustained social movement.

These days, incumbent politicians have to run on a platform of small government and individual liberty to survive their primaries. Millions of activists across the country have tipped the political balance of the GOP towards liberty, whether the GOP wanted it there or not. And when they have to walk like us and talk like us to remain relevant, it means we’re winning.

We are in the process of re-populating the Republican Party with a new generation of dynamic and innovative thinkers like Mike Lee, Rand Paul, Ted Cruz, David Schweikert, Thomas Massie, Justin Amash, and many others who would have been considered unelectable five years ago. My prediction: the next President will owe some debt to the tea party for their rise in prominence (think Paul, Cruz, Walker, or Rubio).

WI Con

Why the failure of Tea Party organizations to rally/choose one candidate to take on the GOP Establishment candidate? Have some sort of Tea Party primary. The Establishment opposition continues to get split. It’s frustrating.

MK: There are a lot of teachable moments for any young movement, and splitting our vote in Senate primaries has enabled establishment choices to survive. The key in the next cycle is earlier coordination and better candidate recruitment. As for the 2016 presidential primaries, I still believe that having a rigorous primary contest is an overall healthy thing. We are, after all, the guys that believe in competition and customer choice. The pressure to rally behind one candidate, to “settle” for the next guy or gal in line, is why the GOP keeps nominating Bob Dole (and then being really surprised at losing, again). I’d much rather have the debates and a real competition of ideas. Then let’s coalesce.

Gloating

Can you suggest one thing that we, as Conservatives, can do to encourage others to join our cause?

MK: Liberty benefits families and communities everywhere, not just the privileged few. Liberty is the opportunity to define your own destiny and make something of yourself regardless of who your parents are or the color of your skin. We need to take partisan politics out of the equation and approach people with our common sense values and a simple set of principles. Most important, let’s do so with a sense of humility and respect.

We sometimes get caught up in jargon that doesn’t necessarily translate well to others who we should be able to connect with, particularly young people. Instead of “defend the constitution,” let’s talk about equal treatment under the law, your freedom to speak your mind in the public square, and the right to be left alone, secure in our homes and possessions. Or, as I put it in my book, “don’t hurt people and don’t take their stuff.” Who could disagree with that?

TKC1101

In the marketplace of ideas, it seems the tea party themes are always on defense. What is your strategy to reposition small government and free markets as the mainstream and intervention and regulation as the aberration?

MK: The challenge in defending liberty is in selling the unlimited potential in letting people come together to solve problems cooperatively, from the bottom up. It does need to be positive, not just opposition to the empty promises of big government. The burden is higher than it is for the other side, because even an empty political promise (“you can keep you current health care plan if you like it”) can be attractive in a vacuum.  

The traditional lines that used to separate Republicans from Democrats are getting blurred with issues like the NSA, internet regulation, and civil liberties. It’s becoming more about Washington and its abuses of power versus the rest of us. On these types of issues, personal liberty is the rug that ties the room together, building a very different political coalition.

Skrog52

There seems to be a strong interest from entrenched power (i.e. media, punditry and consultants) to establish a narrative that the influence of the Tea Party and other grassroots efforts for conservative values has run its course. My guess is that you would refute this as wishful thinking or hopeful prophecy, but what is FreedomWorks doing to keep it from becoming real?

Also, where should we look for surprises in the 2014 election cycle?

MK: The tea party seems to have more lives than my cat, Roark. I still recall the definitive Washington Post study from October 2010 that predicted that the tea party had run its course. As Rick Perry might say, Oops…. In fairness, I think much of this is an honest misunderstanding about what political disintermediation looks like as it rolls out in real time. Because of multiple sources of news online, bloggers in basements, Twitter queens, and various social media platforms that give citizens a chance to connect with each other and share information at very low marginal costs, political power is shifting to the end user. Think about trends in the sharing economy, or the ways Uber and Lyft are so quickly dispatching permanently entrenched taxi monopolies. This a paradigm shift. There’s no putting the genie back in the bottle.

FreedomWorks believes that the best way to keep the Liberty Movement growing is by continuing to cut out the “middle man” – party bosses, well-heeled lobbyists and Senators-for-life – and to keep educating and connecting more concerned citizens across the country. We are constantly striving to lower the barriers of entry for busy people wanting to reclaim their shares in the American Enterprise.

Regarding the elections, I would keep your eye out for opportunities to expand the GOP majority in the House, while also qualitatively improving that majority. Dave Brat’s unprecedented upset of Eric Cantor shows that there are still plenty of surprises left in politics, and I think we will see a surprising number of new members for the House Liberty Caucus – people like Clint Didier (WA-4), Barry Loudermilk (GA-11) and Bruce Poliquin (ME-2), to name just a few.

James Of England

Which three close Senate races excite Matt the most?

I think that editing Wikipedia to add favorable and well-sourced stories is the most effective thing that a middle-class individual can do. What does Matt think the Americans who care about this election should do if they only volunteer for one kind of activity?

MK: I’m watching Iowa, Colorado, and Alaska, but it should be a seller’s market for Senate Republican candidates running against any Democrat that voted for ObamaCare. That said, I sure wish more Republicans would run for something — on that positive vision of liberty I discussed above — and not just coast to an assumed victory with issueless campaigns that bank on the President’s failed economic agenda.

I think there is a place for everyone in the movement, and it all depends on personal preferences. Let’s create a virtual division of labor based on the skills and preferences we all bring to the table. I know a lot of outspoken and extroverted activists who love to call into local radio stations or go door-to-door. I also know a lot of people who are more understated, and prefer to organize event logistics or upload their local group’s website content. Most important, get connected. Campaign ads come and go, but the value of building principle-based relationships in your community will go a lot further than just Election Day.  

liberal jim

What specific strategies will FreedomWorks use to pressure elected officials to vote for smaller government?

MK: Ultimately, what politicians care about is getting reelected, and no number of smartly-argued white papers or op-eds will influence them as much as hearing from their constituents. Incentives matter, and the grassroots sends a market signal. FreedomWorks works with a community of over 6.6 million Americans who are organizing to create an incentive for politicians to do the right thing in Washington.

Technology allows us to give people information about important votes in real-time, and then put them in touch with their representatives to make their voices heard. Nothing motivates a good vote like a fear that you are on the wrong side of the people.

Edward Smith

If you were to begin a long-term commitment to campaigning where the Progressives have the strongest hold, especially in the inner cities, to at least attempt to persuade them that conservatives are not the uncaring monsters they imagine us to be, what would you say to them?

MK: This is a great question. Young people are clearly up for grabs, and are feeling great buyer’s remorse over the whole Hope and Change thing. A great study by the Reason Foundation shows that Millennials are very much up for grabs, and that many libertarian values are very compelling to them. I don’t think that the Grand Old Party has what it takes to reach them, so we will need to connect outside of politics, on values and a sense of justice and community. If you think about it, that’s really our common bond.

It’s not enough to sit around and nod heads with people that already agree with you. We’ve already begun an outreach campaign called Empower.org, led by Deneen Borelli and Rev. CL Bryant, which engages people of all colors based on ideas and values, not political labels. They do a fantastic job at identifying the specific ways in which big-government policies have resulted in failing schools, unemployment, crime, and rising prices. True change starts with talking about values at the community level, and politics inevitably follows as an outcome of that.

Casey

What would you like American government (realistically and at all levels) to look like in 10 years?

What do you think it will actually look like?

MK: If you told me five years ago that we would have a sustained social movement of people who believe in liberty, and multiple contenders for the GOP presidential nomination in 2016 that were previously deemed “unelectable” underdog challengers during their Senate runs just a few short years ago, I would have said “I’ll have what you’re drinking.”

Call me radically optimistic, but I see a re-awakening of the American people happening. Between the IRS scandals, the NSA spying, the Common Core education takeover, and the ObamaCare train wreck, people are witnessing the inevitable damage and collapse of unchecked government authority. People are educating themselves and organizing across the country more efficiently and effectively than ever before.

My aspirations for government are seemingly modest: one strictly limited in its powers by constitutional rules; one that allows individual choice in education, health care, and retirement; one that pays its bills without taxing away innovation and individual potential. But I dream….  

Donald Todd

The success of the Democrats is in keeping separate groups within the party umbrella. If any form of Republicanism is to have success, then the various nominally Republican and conservative groups will have to serve each other to get people elected who will carry the flag and won’t actively work against these varied interests. None of them can be contrary to one another. How would FreedomWorks handle this kind of issue?

MK: It’s important first to build a coalition of the willing. Just because you work with someone on one issue does not mean you have to work together on every issue. Start by finding the greatest common denominator and work your way up from there, respectfully and constructively.

Our membership is made up of economic libertarians, paleo-conservatives, social conservatives, Constitutional conservatives, tea partiers, and even left-leaning civil libertarians. The common denominator is liberty and the right to be left alone to work, worship, educate your children, or speak your mind. Part of this changing dynamic is because of younger generations who stand united in concerns over student debts, unemployment, and their loss of privacy. But slowly but surely, every incremental victory contributes to the larger mission of shrinking government and preserving liberty.

Troy Senik, Ed.

There has been a lot of argument in recent years as to what constitutes an “establishment Republican” and even as to whether the label has any real meaning. What are the key factors that lead you to think of someone as an “establishment Republican”? And what are the major factors that differentiate a “Tea Party Republican” from an “establishment Republican.”

MK: There is always going to be a wing of special interests within the Republican Party, and a more populist wing of the party – that’s just the nature of politics. It’s our job as citizen activists to make sure that good policy outside the Beltway becomes good politics inside the Beltway.

The establishment, what can also be called the “lobbying wing of the GOP,” is mainly defined by a sense of elitism: the belief that politics should be under the control of a few special interests who they believe are better and smarter than you are.

The tea party Republican, or “Liberty Republican,” believes that individuals, if left free, will create more value for society than government could ever try to micromanage from the top down. Thanks to the hard work of activists across the country, the number of Liberty Republicans continues to grow with every election cycle.

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