How did Conservatives lose their narrative? (2 of 3)

(Recently I was asked to speak at a meeting of political conservatives in Byan/College Station/Brazos Valley, Texas. The format was three five-minute presentations, followed by a Q&A session. There were, of course, other panelists, but I do not have copies of their presentations.  Here is what I presented.)

            OK – to review, our opponent’s narrative follows: 

·         People are basically good until corrupted by wealth, history, tradition, religion, business, nationalism, etc.

·         Poor people (and those closest to Nature, like native peoples) are the least corrupt and the most deserving because corrupt rich people have stolen everything from them.

·         So it is only fair to redistribute wealth to the poor, at the same time we break down all the traditional weapons of the rich against the poor – the military, the church, business, marriage, etc.

·         We need a new elite to carry out this plan, but they are not corrupt even if wealthy and educated, because they are carrying out the moral transfer of wealth, knowledge and power.

·         If they can just destroy the old, oppressive system, a new, fair, progressive system will naturally arise.

Of course, this narrative is a pipe dream. Every time liberals and progressives try to build a strategy, laws and a system on these ideas, it comes to disaster. It is at odds with the nature of man.

            Now, the conservative narrative actually works. Here it is:

·         Man was given his rights by God, but at the same time he has responsibilities as a person and as a citizen.

·         These rights and responsibilities are codified into behavior by the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and legitimate laws made in accordance with that Standard.

·         This system is fair & just, but when shortcomings are identified they can be corrected in accordance with established representative procedures. (What we must not do is violate the system just because we perceive a problem we want to fix. Use the system to fix the system.)

·         But we do have to be alert to bad behavior (internationally and domestically) and the misuse of power especially toward the weaker members of our society. So we need checks and balances and limitations on the collection of power.

When you use this set of conservative  ideas as the platform to build your strategy, laws and behavior, you encourage initiative and maximize freedom – and you get a healthy, growing society with opportunity for every one.

So if our narrative works, and theirs does not . . .why did 53% of the voting public in the last election reject it?  Where did we go wrong?

Boy there have been lots of missteps I could identify – I know you could do the same.  Let me mention just a couple of points.

·         After World War II, we used our conservative narrative as the basis of the Marshall Plan that saved Europe. But we did not establish that narrative as a way to change, shape and improve the future at home. Too many conservatives just wanted to put the wars behind them and get on with their families and their own lives and prosperity. Our Fore Fathers used conservative ideas to look forward;  many modern conservatives did not. This surrendered the world, our institutions, and our children to the argument that liberalism and progressives were interested in changing the world for the better, while conservatives wanted to stick to their wealth and their past.

·         Liberals sent their children and their most passionate believers into law, teaching, media, and politics. We tended to send our children into business, law enforcement and the military. We secured the nation.  They seized control of it.

·         In the 1950s, social conservatives aligned with business to oppose creeping seizure of property and the increase of taxes to support  institutions that sought to destroy our traditions.  Over the years, as big business exploded, this alignment remained in place -- until conservatives trying to build jobs at the local level found themselves painted with the taint of those moving jobs overseas.

·         For 40 years a vocal and well organized community of believes on the left have pushed their “leaders” further and further left, while “leaders” on the right resisted the conservative push from their voters at home on anything but tax reduction, fearing it would be “bad for big business.” In the few cases where conservatives triumphed – Goldwater, Reagan – the institutional elite of the Republican party resisted the conservative swing, and push back at every opportunity.

·         Today, it is clear that much of the leadership on the right side of the aisle feels more threatened by the tea party than by the democrats. They are more eager to cut a deal with the Progressives than address the concerns of conservatives in their districts. This is not a broad charge against all in Congress or at the state or local levels. But it is evident among many top “leaders” every day.

·         Conservatives have been too embarrassed to restate their faith in God as an essential part of their narrative, and to argue that it is an essential element in American Exceptionalism.  As a result we have surrendered the foundation or our narrative – the idea that our rights, our liberty, our laws and our government are based on the concept of Christian morality – instead of some sort of international humanism,  which works only in theory.

That’s enough. But the short answer is, we lost our conservative narrative because we didn’t use it. We didn’t live by it; we didn’t teach it to others.  It’s time to change that, starting now.