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Hyperbole, Decibels, and Persistency
[hat tip to @oldbathos for inspiring this post]
Everything I recommend here will be abhorrent to traditional Republicans. It stinks of nastiness, exaggerations, and mischief. But we already know that our usual methods for accomplishing anything are a waste of time and unappreciated. Going along to get along is off the table.
I’m seeing signs of people in Congress and outside of government who know what I’m talking about. They are on the brink of taking effective action, and I don’t know how bad things will need to get for them to step up and set an example. But I believe the time has arrived.
What am I recommending? We need to use hyperbole, decibels, and persistency to break through the media silence and the public’s ignorance.
First, we need to be selective about the issues we choose. We have to pick those that matter the most to the larger public, such as the border, inflation, maybe Afghanistan, and what will be the most devastating aspects of climate change legislation. We have to predict potential outcomes in the worst possible ways, whether we know for certain that they will play out.
Let me use the border as an example. We need to explain how further invasion will “devastate” our economy: crime will go up even further, maybe rise 50% across the country; drug deaths from fentanyl coming across the border could increase to 500,000 in the urban areas; COVID-19, now on the decline, will begin to rise substantially, where we will surpass the death numbers by another 250,000; urban decay will increase in 40% of our cities; riots will begin to surge again, this time between gang member immigrants and Antifa. And the list goes on.
Pretty crazy, huh? But we don’t know that those things will not happen if conditions deteriorate enough.
Second, we need to pick people who appear sane and rational. Senator Tom Cotton comes to mind. He will need to find that balance of urgency and calmness, rather than snarkiness and sarcasm. He needs to find the “volume” to speak out firmly and relentlessly and persistently. He needs to find other credible Republicans who will make it impossible for the MSM to ignore him. We can no longer be polite. This must be a Campaign for Truth; I’m not suggesting that anyone lie. But when you’re projecting into the future, who knows whether hyperbole won’t become reality?
Would you have believed that we’d find ourselves in today’s situations?
Published in Domestic Policy
Just so.
I’ll be in my element!
The bad guys will set a lot of the agenda just because opposing them will be so necessary. But in the same way that Democrats think they can sell disastrous policies just by running against Trump, Republicans make a mistake by assuming that just being less awful than the lefty loons is enough.
There really needs to be an affirmative agenda. Here is a seat of the pants example…
Whatever.
But it does need to be an activist agenda. Voters did not approve or agree with every item in the 1994 Contract With America but overall it was saleable and more importantly, it was activist, forward-looking, coherent, and an honest look at what people were voting for. That image, that impression was as important and the specifics of the content. And I think people are sick of tribal negative politics.
Five years ago, if I had pitched a scifi novel based on the Western World becoming an authoritarian dystopia because of a cold virus with a 99.5% survival rate, it would have been rejected as too absurd.
Imagine telling Republicans in the 1980’s that in 2021, there would be people held as political prisoners in the United States for protesting at the Capitol; while violent rioters had their charges dismissed because they were aligned with the Democratic Party.
Imagine if you had posted on social media in 2020 that the Biden Administration would offer nearly half-million dollar payouts to illegal immigrants as an apology for detaining them at the border. You would have gotten banned for spreading misinformation.
Imagine telling people, just a few years ago, that Democrats would go to the wall to support the proposition that teaching white children to hate themselves and their culture should be part of public education.
I’m with you! But we need to be specific about why the current situation is a disaster; otherwise, the public won’t be motivated to change. We can’t just tell them, well, trust us, you’ll like this when we’re through. For example, we need to sell that green energy will be a diaster for them, not just rich guys. And that one isn’t even an exaggeration!
Why? The other side doesn’t. No one could be more milquetoast sane than Romney; no one could be more Establishment-approved than McCain. Hopeless. Put someone with a decades-long track record of talking outrageously on the ticket, however, and…
Impossible. It’s like sheep holding a beauty parade to make it impossible for the butcher to ignore them.
Yes, but the other side is theirs, and the media presents them as sane. I’m not calling for milquetoast–I’m calling for passion. I’m not calling for a McCain who didn’t care for the larger cause but only for himself. It will take a few skilled orators who believe in the cause.
Not only that, but we’ve got to stop making excuses. I’m sick of it. Aren’t you?
Even as I read your comment, VTK, I can’t believe it. How can Republicans just keep going along with this nightmare?
Yes. The strategic answer is to destroy the MSM. Just stop feeding the beast. No more WashPo editorials. No more appearances on CNN. Or Fox. Drive the normies to alternative media if they want to find out what’s happening. (If they don’t, how can we expect to reach them via the media anyway?) To a close approximation, no-one watches or reads the MSM news, anyway.
I’d be all for it! You’re right, that would clear the table! But how? I know most people don’t read them, but they seem to be able to hang in there. Suggestions for strategies?
Do we really want the votes of people too stupid to notice this on their own?
Didn’t we just have someone who did that?
I’d be careful with this idea. Much wisdom is enhanced through time on earth and experience. Recognize that a major technique of the Marxists has been to get to young people early with their indoctrination, even to the point of doing this in a way that curtails independent critical thinking. They support giving the vote to younger people. Younger people tend to support “free” things without the understanding that someone is paying. This doesn’t mean this condition cannot be overcome. Here is a possible example from recent election results. I saw an interview this morning with someone, a committed Democrat who is apparently very active, trying to coach Democrat voters to alleviate the gains Republicans recently made. Her approach was to point out again all the dog whistles she claims show how the Republicans are racist. I think Republican leaders need to show how those claims are coming from the true racists.Voters are already seeing this and I think the person being interviewed doesn’t get it.
It’s pretty bad. That’s why I think we need to try very hard not to conjure up lies. Since we can’t really know the future, that is speculation and could actually be true.
I’d prefer they understand, but a vote is a vote!
I don’t think we want to open that door, Bryan. Especially since he didn’t demonstrate all the attributes I described.
For those of you who have not looked at Newt Gingrich’s Contract with America in a while, or have never read it, you will likely be surprised at its proposals. I’d love to hear what you think of it, given today’s circumstances. It’s not that long; you can read it here.
When you’re right, you’re right. Trump was right. Not perfect, but netter than those who have been telling us that the time to fight is not now, etc… the plodders who claim to have plans but who really just find the status quo comfortable and who resist efforts to change our trajectory.
The first issue you mentioned was the border. Trump had dried up illegal immigration to a trickle, and did it by working with governments south of the border.
Until people on the “right” understand, accept, and get angry about the fact that Trump was betrayed by a mutiny and coup, we will never make any gains.
Believe me, I agree with what you’re saying. Glad to have you on board the righteously angry and vocal coalition. Some of us have been here for quite some time, and in fact got a President elected on that basis. And the Republican Party wilted.
I know that BDB. He got lots of good stuff done. I wonder if he would have had as much resistance from the NTers if he had toned it down just a little. (I’ll never be convinced that he had to be so nasty to get his agenda through–never.) I guess we’ll never know.
Let’s not go off track re Trump, please.
The first days of the 104th Congress were giddy. The Washington Post was in a tizzy– the barbarians had overrun the Capitol, every headline could have been Post has no Sources in the Majority; Old Sources Alarmed by Change. Committees cranked out amendments to environmental legislation and environmental groups were horrified. Why weren’t they consulted? The Democrats always let them write/review/edit/veto bills. How dare they leave us out!
They did a lot in the first 100 days as promised. Then the media and Dems regrouped and began to attack….
It’s crazy . . .
Sounds like one of my posts . . .
I’ll just let it go, but you named the issue in the first line of the first paragraph of your post:
We cannot fight the outside forces unless we win inside. I consider myself a traditional Republican, as in good old traditional Republicans like Lincoln and Reagan. The split is not new — it’s probably a feature of all groups. It is increasingly nasty now as it was in the years leading up to the Civil War because the stakes have grown so important.
Morpheus didn’t recruit Neo by meeting him halfway and easing him along. He clarified the stakes and confronted him with a stark choice.
Or maybe, we could bypass the leftist agenda and preach how good the future will actually be, Sunny days in summer and snowmen in the winter. Good economy with lower taxes and you heating bill will be lower so you can easier afford a new iphone. People will get to know you personally instead of your race and your sexual self. People will not be readying for war and death. With the current solar cycle, starvation will be eradicated. People will be able to own their own cars and afford the gas and tires.
Maybe a theme song: Happy Days Are Here Again!
Seriously.
Points all taken. I’m not clear about whether you’re saying the Left is nasty or the Right is. From here, I see the Left getting nastier and the Right getting more complacent. The Left is figuring out that the harder they push, the more the Right wimps out. How do you see that?
Yes. We need someone more hyperbolic. Someone more bumper-sticky. Someone who sets aggressive agendas.
Hm. Sounds like Trump.
Added: Sorry. I wrote this before I saw your instructions to leave Trump out. (But he does fit the bill.)
So Flicker, you’re saying it’s hopeless? ;-)
But the government will just start subsidizing them.
The nasty split is the one you identify in your first line. Of course we’re at war with the Marxist left. Problem is, a lot of Republicans will not fight, and will sabotage attempts to do so.