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The Men’s and Women’s March
You mean you haven’t heard of the Men’s and Women’s March? You must have been living in a cave! Or you suddenly realize that no one has ever thought to organize such an exciting and significant event. And that it’s long overdue.
One notable freedom we have in this country is the freedom of assembly, which includes marches and protests. We have many of them, large and small, sometimes one-time events, sometimes annual demonstrations. To get a sampling, go here. We tend to see mostly Leftist demonstrations (notably the Right to Life is an exception), whose values mostly conflict with the values of the Right. So I propose it’s time to have a march that speaks to the men and women of this country, their traditional views and values.
The goals of this march would be multi-faceted:
- To celebrate that men and women are different: physically, mentally, spiritually and emotionally.
- To honor relationships that are not equal, but are equitable, giving men and women the opportunity to act in those areas where they are gifted and can and want to contribute.
- To have a sense of humor about how men and women often don’t understand each other, but appreciate that those mysteries are intriguing and part of the human condition.
- To acknowledge that men and women love each other, support each other, grow with each other, honor each other, and celebrate each other with all their foibles and strengths.
- To stress the importance of appreciating differences, and not locking men or women into stereotypes that prevent them from learning and growing.
- To unite in condemning forces that create hostility and barriers between men and women.
- To embrace the paradox that we will have moments where we want to throttle each other and hug each other. (Well, okay, this might not be part of the formal platform.)
- To tell not just citizens of the United States but the world how intolerant we are—intolerant of those who try to divide men and women instead of bringing them together.
- To declare that those who insist on condemning these foundations are not supporting the improvement of the world, but its destruction.
- To encourage men and women to speak of each other honorably, speak to each other with love, curiosity, and empathy, and speak for each other publicly as a united, powerful force for commitment and marriage.
Wouldn’t you love to see this Men’s and Women’s March? Don’t you think it would be a force for hope, goodness, and unity?
Published in Culture
Great Idea Susan!
I have thought for a very long time that the current “conservative” (whatever that means) means of protesting the current horridly destructive political malaise has not worked well. Contrary to what Henry says I do think that the Tea Party protests while they lasted scared the holy living crap out of the Democrats and the Republican Deep State Establishment which caused Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell along with the usual Democrats to support the grossly illegal IRS persecution of the Tea Party. The Tea Party protests proved that “conservatives” would go rallies, perhaps not protests or “marches”, though. Presentation and optics may be key how your idea should be marketed.
Whatever we “conservatives” ( I consider myself to be a classical liberal) do we must be stubbornly unyielding and relentless in our defense of our Constitutional Rights, the Free Market and our American Way of Life. Taking a cue from Nassim’s Taleb’s idea that “The Most Intolerant Wins” from his book “Skin in the Game”, those groups of people no matter how small that have refused to give in on their ideas generally throughout history win the day. We cannot give them an inch, which we have over and over again and that is why we lose. No more compromising!
I have no problems with ” More talk. More criticism. More gentle mocking. More laughing at preposterous things.” or even calmly listening to the other sides points of view, however since most of their arguments are simply at best freshly spun retreads of failed ideas that greatly hurt millions over the last 100 years, I may not want to respect those ideas. Almost all of the Left’s Marxist/Socialist ideas require the taking of people’s rights or their property in some way and I firmly, stubbornly refuse to accept those takings.
I also believe that “Conservatives” need to start to make the Left “own” the consequences of their horrific ideas. We need to talk about how these leftwing nutcase ideas have hurt people- many of them poor and minorities- and millions of them at that. We cannot let them off the hook to talk about their “good intentions” or “how this time is going to be different” , we need to point out that the consequences of their “good intentions” in the past have hurt millions. We need to make our conservational points personal not abstract.
Beautifully expressed, @unsk2. Thanks. I agree wholeheartedly.
I’ve been thinking about this subject, and I came up with some thoughts.
Protests, demonstrations, marches, and even riots are strictly a phenomenon of the Left, especially those who consider themselves victims. But does it really help their cause?
Michael Medved used to point out that contrary to what television told us, all the Vietnam War protests in the 60’s and 70’s just made more Americans angrier at the young generation, as evidenced by polls conducted after major protests at the time. When it came to the presidential election of 1972, Nixon won against an anti-war candidate, McGovern, by the largest electoral college landslide since George Washington.
Move up to 2016. Despite having public protests, marches, riots, disrupting Republican gatherings, having 90% of the news media on their side, having highly-visible Hollywood on their side, and having most of the social media networks on their side, the Democrats couldn’t beat a rude, lying, proudly philandering, narcissistic jerk who bankrupted four businesses.
I’m not convinced that we are “always” losing. Appearances can be deceiving. Because the Liberals are in control of most of the media, they tell us constantly that we are losing every day, and it convinces even some Conservatives. The elections tell a different story. Despite the aberration of Obama, we overturned over 700 State House seats in 2012 while only losing one, gained 2/3 of all the Governorships and State Houses around the same time, and now we have a real majority on the Supreme court that may get larger.
Despite a truly seismic barrage of 24/7 flame-throwing media coverage for more than two years against Trump, he now has a slightly positive approval rating. How can this be?
The mid-term elections last November was definitely a setback that lost us the House and a few Governorships, but we were so far ahead that the loss did not do irreparable damage. Like the old saying goes, “you can’t have everything.”
I think the deeper meaning is that protests, marches, and demonstrations probably don’t win over many converts to the Democratic side. I surmise that they do it because it gives them excitement and meaning in life, to be fighting a greater cause while being part of, and accepted by, a support group. Republicans don’t usually need those things. We have jobs, family, friends, children, God(!), and a purpose in life outside of politics. We pass on most of our values by teaching on a one-to-one basis as opposed to shouting slogans and chants in public. It takes intellectual processes to learn Conservative values. It just takes “feelings” to learn Leftist values.
Susan, I still support your idea of having a march, but I just wanted to put the stakes in perspective.
In moments like these, Susan, you really feel the lack in having community organizers in the conservative ranks.
My tips are to start local. Orlando would be a good testing ground that is still local to you.
Find like minded people in the vicinity willing to meet and form a committee, each responsible for different parts.
For a parade, you’d need
– Food/drink vendors
– clowns
– organizations (I’d start with local religious groups and churches and expand from there to 4H clubs, Rotaries, auxilaries, and explore Meet-up websites for traditionally oriented meeting groups) for floats and marching members.
– traditionally minded businesses (chick fil a, car dealerships, local businesses, etc) to sponsor or participate
Figure out a budget, get permits, and advertising, and security.
It would be one heck of a learning curve.
I agree with all your points, @stevenseward. But because we are used to doing things a certain way doesn’t mean we have to continue. I would also say we have had victories, but we are not consistent. I think we can actually change the meaning of being a Conservative and of “marches.” That’s the point I’m trying to make. We can have them for completely different reasons: to celebrate America, our values, the importance of community and so on. We don’t have to include the ugliness that the Left practices. It’s not for everyone, as both @henryracette and I have said, but just imagine there are people on the Left who are becoming undecided. Could not our “parades” that are positive draw them in? I suspect we agree with each other; I’m just trying to broaden the possibilities.
I think this is an excellent comment, Steven. I particularly like the observation that we really aren’t losing everywhere. I agree.
I think what’s important to note is that Republicans may win at the ballot box, but Democrats are winning the culture.
What do we do to win the culture, too?
I agree, we are losing the culture so far. Gay marriage has become normalized and now turned into some hideous “pick your gender” chaotic morass. No science fiction movie, not even the Rocky Horror Picture show, has foretold this. This particular issue was not lost at the ballot box, but by the Supreme Court, at a time when it was not stacked as much in our favor. I’m hopeful that the reconfigured court won’t be as foolish.
I don’t know how to change the culture. Promoting two-parent households is certainly a start. I know of one thing that will change the culture automatically and drastically when it happens – The day the U.S. can no longer borrow 40% of the money it spends, mostly on entitlement and Welfare programs. We are going to see a cataclysmic upheaval.
I can point to a few cultural victories. A majority of Americans support keeping illegal aliens out. Support for Global Warming is steadily eroding. Obama failed to get any traction out of his Justice Department decree to public schools to let boys urinate, defecate, shower, and sleep, with girls. The war on religious Christmas seems to be losing due to push-back. And most significantly, the right to bear arms has had enormous support and has actually been gaining ground (maybe because they have guns!).
I am going to add one more important cultural victory for the Right. Crime. Not only has crime been diminishing, but the public attitude against crime has consistently been stronger than almost any other Western Nation.
Think globally, act locally.
For most of us, our circle of influence is small. Let’s try to make the most of it.
Just thought of another important one. Maybe we’re not losing as many cultural wars as I thought – FAKE NEWS. Surveys show that more and more Americans distrust the News Media every year. As I pointed out earlier CNN’s miniscule viewership, all TV News viewership has been plummeting at an alarming rate in the last decade. This doesn’t necessarily mean that Americans have suddenly developed critical thinking skills (?!) but it is a good start. Thank You Donald Trump.
Steven, you should write a post on the cultural wars we ARE winning. It’d be great!
Well, I wasn’t sure we were winning many of them until I thought about it. I’ve never written a post, but maybe someday…….
Don’t forget the Harley riders. There are a lot of good groups.