(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.)
I have been
asked tonight to address three questions:
1. What
is the conservative message?
2. How
did we lose it?
3. What
should we do now?
I have only 5
min. to address each question, so I will not provide a full answer – just some
organized thoughts to start our discussion. Since I was first assigned to write
congressional testimony in the Army Chief of Staff's office 26 years ago, I
have been writing, teaching, and speaking about strategy on a daily basis. By strategy,
I mean a concept of cause and effect to achieve
victory against a thinking enemy over time. Every good
strategy is founded on a solid narrative – a message about how the world works,
what you want to achieve, and how the two are tied together. My specialty is
crafting the underlying narrative that provides a strategy its power
Many people
are bored by discussions of strategy because they see no way to apply it. I
have been asked to provide some applications tonight – what actions can we take
to advance the conservative message? I will satisfy his request before the
evening is out. But I want to begin by describing the narrative missing from
the conservative movement today, because it is the absence of a common
understanding about how the world works that is robbing us of our power.
Here's a quick
example. Throughout World War II, President Roosevelt and his closest advisers
misunderstood the developing Soviet threat. They did not perceive the power of
the Communist narrative which said to poor people around the world: "You
are being cheated. You are doing the work while the owners and the capitalists
and those born into money enjoy the benefits. Help us take from them so we can
give to you. This is only right and fair."
By 1950 we had recognized the danger and
developed a counter narrative: "In
the West, anyone can work and save and improve their position and become an
owner – a capitalist. Punishing such people for their initiative in order to
reward those who do not work or save will reduce productivity and overall wealth,
and hurt everyone." This narrative
became the basis for our strategy of Containment. Using our diplomacy,
military, intelligence, and economic power, we drew a line around communism and
refused to let them live off of the wealth and resources of other nations. A
system that punishes work and independence, and rewards dependence and sloth,
cannot survive without taking from others. The Soviet Union did not survive our
narrative or our strategy or our forty years of hard work. And therein is a
lesson for conservatives.
The
Cold War was just one part of a 250 year battle over what ideas provide the
best government for human beings. Until the mid-1700s, one form of government
dominated pretty much the entire earth: aristocracy. In France that aristocracy
stole everything, impoverished the people, and even corrupted the church. When
told that the people had no bread, aristocrat Marie Antoinette said," then
let them eat cake.” No wonder they cut off her head.
From
this horrible oppression in Europe arose the narrative that challenges us today.
It says:
·
There is plenty of everything –
food, clothing, health care, and money – if rich people would only share.
·
And poor people do not have these
things because the rich have stolen from them.
·
So it is only right, fair and
moral that we redistribute wealth.
·
Furthermore, poor people are
fundamentally honest and moral, so if we can just destroy the tools of the
wealthy class – history, religion, laws protecting private property, respect
for elders, the bonds of matrimony, and so forth – the forms of government and
economics that follow will be naturally good as well. We don't even need to
worry about issues like productivity and debt. Because once we destroy the institutions
of the past, things will get progressively better on their own.
·
Of course, someone would have to
guide this fundamental transformation and that will require a new elite – a new
aristocracy. But don't worry about their rise to power because they are
performing the moral act of taking wealth from those who have it and giving
wealth to those who don't.”
Does that
sound familiar? Does that sound like a campaign speech or inaugural address or
words from a progressive think tank that you've heard before? You bet. It is a
250-year-old narrative that has caused chaos and worse around the globe.
Fortunately,
conservatives do not have to create a counter narrative from scratch. The best
explanation in the history of mankind was created for us in the Declaration of
Independence and the Constitution and the writings of the Founding Fathers.
·
They believed that man’s worth
and rights came not from wealth or poverty or political standing, but were
granted directly by God – not to be constrained or denied by other men no
matter how pressing their issues.
·
The Founders thought people
should be free to work and save and advance themselves and their families above
the crowd as long as they did so in a way that did not hurt others – or they
could choose to stay home and enjoy leisure, as long as they didn’t demand
someone else pay for it. Be free. Just take responsibility for how you use that
freedom.
·
But the Founders also recognized
that all people could be tempted toward evil – especially if they did not have
a firm moral foundation. And so they
provided ways for people to speak their piece and defend themselves against
outside threats and inside dangers, in the field, in the home, in the
workplace, and in the courts.
·
Recognizing that this balance of
rights and responsibilities might not be perfect, they provided a legal way to
amend it, but by consensus of the people, not by fiat of any president or judge
or EPA administrator.
·
Don’t tell me that you can’t
better yourself under this system, because people from all walks of life have
done so. If they did it, you can do it. But you have to stop your own self
destructive behavior first.
·
This narrative is not perfect –
neither is our system. But it is so good that everybody on earth is trying to
sneak in, and NOBODY is trying to sneak out.
That is the
conservative narrative. It is a strong one. We should teach it and use it.
Later I will speak about how we lost it and how to get it back.
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