Spit-balling Post-Election

I'm just scribbling notes here on the loss of the election.  It sucks because I'm finding it very difficult to concentrate through the fog.  So I've collected a lot of other people's opinions HERE, and posted my initial thoughts HERE.  

But just to highlight the magnitude of the problem ahead of conservatives, I wanted to throw some things I've been thinking about on the blog here and see where things went.  I don't know about you, but until I've tried to list the factors, I can't think effectively about the problem.  And from the lists below, it's clear we have a lot of thinking to do.

Remind me of anything I've overlooked in comments, and I'll add it in.


WHERE BLAME IS FALLING

GOP Establishment
The Mainstream Media
Voter Fraud
Mitt Romney
Demographics
GOP Branding
Libertarians
Hurricane Sandy
Social Conservatives
Donation Fraud
Messaging
GOTV Efforts
Mitt Romney's Consultants


THEORIES ON WHAT TO DO

Go hard right
Perfect microtargeting
Go libertarian
Improve social media
Fracture the Democrat coalition
Go local
Infiltrate the Mainstream Media
Go after Minorities 
Build alternate institutions - Bill Whittle plan
Go after Youth
Go Galt
Opt Out/ Walk Away 
Take over the GOP
Try to pass stricter Voter ID bills
Infiltrate Hollywood


ANSWERS TO MY NON-SCIENTIFIC SURVEY OF THE MOST IMPORTANT ISSUE THE COUNTRY FACES RIGHT NOW

Economy
Lack of Values
Tyranny
Debt/Deficits
National Security
Attack on Founding Principles
Jobs
Lame-Duck Session Legislation
Family Values
Military Disenfranchisement
Losing Freedoms
Animosity towards Christians
Educational Indoctrination
Ignorance of the Electorate
Entitlement Mentality in the Culture
The Coming Fiscal Cliff
Lack of Wisdom
Immigration
Border Security
EPA Regulations
Loss of Religious Liberty
The Mainstream Media
Lack of Morality
Abortion
Credit Rating Downgrade
Supreme Court Justices
Entitlement Programs

Living With Romney?

I know, I know; a lot of people are bummed that Santorum dropped out of the presidential race.  Newt's still chugging away, but mathematically there's not much hope for Newt.  What the upcoming primary voters in states yet to hold a primary actually do is looking less and less important to the eventual outcome.


However, that doesn't mean that people should drop their favorite candidate in the primary and just vote for Romney.  Protest votes and sending a message are fine strategies, and I applaud and encourage them, and will engage in them when Texas votes.


But eventually, we'll get to the place where Romney has accumulated enough delegates to be the Republican nominee.  That's a prospect that fills few reform Republicans and conservatives with glee.  So then what?


Jimmie Bise Jr. has an answer.  Go to the site for his radio show "The Delivery" and download the podcast from April 4th.  Listen to the whole hour.  Jimmie rants about the Romney candidacy, and does it in a way that I find quite eloquent.  But Jimmie doesn't just rant.  Jimmie proposes a Grand Bargain.


I couldn't say it as well as he does:




"I've reached a compromise in my head with the Republican Party...


"I am going to extend some credit to the Republican party.  I am going to vote for Mitt Romney.  I am going to do my very best, consistent with my ability to keep my own intellectual integrity intact.  I am going to recommend to my friends that they vote for Mitt Romney... I want Mitt Romney to beat Barack Obama.  I will do whatever I have to do to drag this dead horse over the finish line.


"That's what I'm going to give the Republican party... Republicans, that what you get from me.  I don't want to do this, I don't like doing this, but I will do it.  I'll do it because, quite honestly, you have me behind the eight ball.


"But know this, Republican Party; after November, I am no longer behind the eight ball.  And I don't have to do anything else for you at all...


"So here's where the compromise comes in...  I'll drag his bloated ideological corpse where it has to be...
but I want something in return... You have dragooned me into doing something for you....


"I'm telling you, you're not going to have me locked to this oar forever... after November, you start paying me back...


"I will not do this again.


"No more, Republicans, I'm done with this.  WE are done with this.  All those tea party people that right now you think you have under your thumb, they're there till November."






Hear the rest at The Delivery, and tell me what you think.  I think I could live with this, the way Jimmie puts it.

MIA Conservatives

What in the world is going on in Harris County?

Not much, apparently.

Today was the fifteenth e-mail, phone call or online message (counting all three ways of getting to me) in which someone asked me why they didn't see anything happening on the conservative side for the November election. This is getting so old. I don't blame the person for asking - he just wants to see conservative gains in our area, and doesn't know if he might have missed something somewhere. But there's plenty of blame to go around.


THE PARTY

Lord knows I'm not a fan of how the local Republican party leadership has operated in the past, but I must say they're far ahead of where I thought they'd be. That said, that's still LIGHT YEARS BEHIND where they need to be.

Meet and greets every week for conservative candidates? That's great! Also, the leadership has been holding sessions letting the precinct chairs know what they should be doing, and giving them tools with which to do it. Rumor has it that if a chair doesn't actually commit to doing these vital party tasks, the party will recruit another person in the precinct to do the job. THAT is exactly the focus I'd expect to see from a party that is serious about winning.

But the reports coming in from tea party folks suggest not many of the precinct chairs are engaged at all in working the plans, working with candidates in their areas, getting out the vote, or registering new voters. That's disappointing. It doesn't do a bit of good to have great ideas passed around and no one out there executing them. You can be a successful conservative without joining in party politics, but if you ARE engaged in party politics, you really have an obligation to do SOMETHING.


THE CANDIDATES

There are some great candidates out there working hard for every vote in their districts. Fernando Herrera, for example, has focused on walking the district (or skating the district!) and meeting people at every opportunity. Fernando has been at it since early this year, and always has energy and excitement in his campaign. John Faulk has probably been to more events than anyone else, asking for help and support with his campaign to unseat Sheila Jackson Lee. Neither of these candidates are depending solely on radio or print or mass mail to get them elected.

Successful candidates have poured their time and energy into doing two main things; meeting voters and recruiting volunteers. Take a look at several campaigns in the area and ask whether that is true of each of them. Just off the cuff, I can look on the east side and see Roy Morales struggling with both of those simple tasks. No campaign office, no noticeable volunteer team (in a city with a candidate that can turn 80 people out for a state house race's block walk, this is a deathknell in a Congressional race), very few candidate signs and zero energy. If they don't turn that campaign around immediately, say hello to another two years of Gene Green.

Not all this is Roy's fault; he also has to contend with things like Eric Story (who Roy defeated in the primary) bashing him at every turn, as well as Dan Patrick, who I understand is going around referring to Roy as "Roy More-or less." And that is who so many conservatives listen to? That's who's holding up the standard for the party? Ultimately the question has to become, who's worse for the district: Gene Green or Roy Morales? We're not going to get everything we want right away. We didn't get in this mess in two years and we certainly can't get out of it in two years. Long game, small steps. Dan can hang on to his grand vision of 100% perfection in conservative candidates all the way to the minority.

Still, energy in a campaign fuels more energy. Asking people to support you in a campaign is a serious endeavor. A candidate who gives voters something to believe in, shows up where they are, listens to them and convinces them he cares about them can count on them to support him all the way. A candidate who doesn't connect with voters won't have energy, and if he can't create and promote and maintain that energy, he probably doesn't really want to win.


THE PEOPLE

Oh, yes, I'm calling you closet conservatives out, too. I get so much e-mail it isn't funny, and a good bit of it centers around "Who do I vote for?" and "When are you going to have another rally?"

Really? So much for helping lead a fiscal and personal responsibility movement. It's a failure if all people want are another set of directions, or another entertainment opportunity. I didn't bleed, sweat and cry eighteen months of my life away to become an unpaid event planner and candidate cheerleader. I did everything I've done to try to get people to STOP OUTSOURCING THEIR DECISION-MAKING, and STOP WORSHIPPING POLITICAL FIGURES.

I've learned a lot these past months, but nothing more disappointing than the fact that most people really just don't care enough to do anything.

My hard-core, die-hard band of tea party allies and I will still be fighting for your freedoms; it's just going to take a lot longer if you sit in your easy chair and wait it out.

GET UP. GET BUSY.