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I have found this person's blog very informative. He is always big on information and explanation without any bloviating.

His article today is how we can win, with "we" being conservatives. He outlines some excellent points, and I hope those who determine strategy for the Republican Party read it.

http://sultanknish.blogspot.com/2012/11 ... n-win.html

Control the education, you control the mind of future generations. Just make them think FREE!

If you want fiscal conservatism, the only path that has any long term chance of success is through the rebuilding of the family.

This isn't a moral question, it's a practical question. And the exit data makes it very clear that there is a sizable gap between how married and unmarried people approach the Republican Party. That's the social element and socially liberal leads to fiscally liberal. We can either deal with this, and there are various creative solutions, most of which will allow us to also organize voters, or we can pretend it doesn't exist and that we just need to yell at people about being parasites addicted to entitlements.

That is actually a very good take on the situation...one that had not occurred to me before.

My question would be: How do you rebuild the American Family as a cultural institution, especially in light of the current trend to move away from religion?

Purplehood wrote:

If you want fiscal conservatism, the only path that has any long term chance of success is through the rebuilding of the family.

This isn't a moral question, it's a practical question. And the exit data makes it very clear that there is a sizable gap between how married and unmarried people approach the Republican Party. That's the social element and socially liberal leads to fiscally liberal. We can either deal with this, and there are various creative solutions, most of which will allow us to also organize voters, or we can pretend it doesn't exist and that we just need to yell at people about being parasites addicted to entitlements.

That is actually a very good take on the situation...one that had not occurred to me before.

My question would be: How do you rebuild the American Family as a cultural institution, especially in light of the current trend to move away from religion?

That's the $24,000 question, isn't it?

Personally, I believe the trend away from religion has been a strategic move by the Left since the '60s. Once you remove the religious underpinnings of the family, and separate religion from morality, then it creates the environment where divorce or births out of wedlock become morally and socially acceptable, as morality then becomes relative and not absolute. Since single parents have a much more difficult time raising children, the State can then step in as a surrogate parent to replace the one which is lost. This is probably something that the Left identified generations ago and began a long, systemic campaign of promoting it.

How do you rebuild the nuclear family without also changing the social trend away from religion back to it? I don't really know that you can.

You are very correct Kythas. You cant.

Longtooth,

We as humans may not be able to change things in this country but the Lord can by causing so much pain that people will seek Him for relief, recognize their sin, and turn back to the Him. The Old Testament has many examples of that happening to Israel. This country was founded by Christians so that they could be free of the persecution of England (here in the New World) and from the European countries they left. The pastors of that time led us into the American Revolution and were named the “Black Regiment” for the black robes they wore when they preached. I pray that we don’t have another armed revolution but our founding fathers spoke often of that being a final resort to free ourselves of tyranny. There is an excellent book written by Dr. David Gibbs titled "One Nation Under God" about the founding of our country and the path we have gone down to the present. It is very heavily documented if anyone wants to know about his reference material. I highly recommend it to all.

John B. Stokes

How we win?

An Idea whose time as come

I don't know what's worse, communism or theocracy.

recaffeination wrote:I don't know what's worse, communism or theocracy.

Remind me again what that 1st Amendment says in regards to religion... Why bring up a comparison to a theocracy?

recaffeination wrote:I don't know what's worse, communism or theocracy.

Theocracy by far(IMO), the mere insinuation that Obama would be considered anything close to divinity makes a little vomit come up in the back of my throat.

I believe it's possible (necessary) to make a "right/wrong", "good/bad", "moral" argument without making a solely religious argument. They share much ground, morality is intertwined with religion, but the two are not the same. If you can only make your point on religious grounds, your point will not carry the day.

Kythas wrote:

Purplehood wrote:

If you want fiscal conservatism, the only path that has any long term chance of success is through the rebuilding of the family.

This isn't a moral question, it's a practical question. And the exit data makes it very clear that there is a sizable gap between how married and unmarried people approach the Republican Party. That's the social element and socially liberal leads to fiscally liberal. We can either deal with this, and there are various creative solutions, most of which will allow us to also organize voters, or we can pretend it doesn't exist and that we just need to yell at people about being parasites addicted to entitlements.

That is actually a very good take on the situation...one that had not occurred to me before.

My question would be: How do you rebuild the American Family as a cultural institution, especially in light of the current trend to move away from religion?

That's the $24,000 question, isn't it?

Personally, I believe the trend away from religion has been a strategic move by the Left since the '60s. Once you remove the religious underpinnings of the family, and separate religion from morality, then it creates the environment where divorce or births out of wedlock become morally and socially acceptable, as morality then becomes relative and not absolute. Since single parents have a much more difficult time raising children, the State can then step in as a surrogate parent to replace the one which is lost. This is probably something that the Left identified generations ago and began a long, systemic campaign of promoting it.

How do you rebuild the nuclear family without also changing the social trend away from religion back to it? I don't really know that you can.

I compeletely disagree. Families can exist without religion, but religion cannot exist without families. Look at Iran the religious Majority has complete control over there. in the Bible a suitable punishment for breaking the 10 commandmants was genocide.

RoyGBiv wrote:I believe it's possible (necessary) to make a "right/wrong", "good/bad", "moral" argument without making a solely religious argument. They share much ground, morality is intertwined with religion, but the two are not the same. If you can only make your point on religious grounds, your point will not carry the day.

Anytime someone says "Because Jesus..." or "God says...", I completely discount everything they say afterwards.

My $0.02 FWIW

I think he's sort of on to something here. This is similar to a point I was trying to make on another thread along the same lines.

"It means that we will have to become community organizers. We will have to find and engage people who often don't even bother to vote by tying their economic interests to our policies. And we will have to narrow that focus as much as possible, organizing at the bottom in sync with a larger argument."

"We need voters who will come out because they have a direct and compelling interest"

The GOP needs to identify the real issues that hit everybody closest to home & run on those without lecturing or belitling those they're trying to win over. Republicans are never going to be able to win an election from a moral high ground because the Dems present an easier, softer way that is too enticing to refuse. I think that there is a way to run on core principles without making it an us vs them issue. For example, Republicans wouldn't be trying to court the hispanic vote by altering the stance on immigration, it would be appealing to all voters by talking about community cohesiveness and public safety/security. Likewise, the GOP shouldn't try to gain favor with the middle-eastern convenience store owners by disavowing Christianity. They should focus on the benefits of an all-inclusive pro-small-business government that will let a business owner run their enterprise without taxing them to death.

The GOP has been portrayed as the rich white guys club that won't let anybody else in. Well, that needs to change if they are going to regain the lost ground. Various groups have flocked to the Dems because the Dems have welcomed them. They'd be willing to jump ship if they were welcomed somewhere else. And part of that welcoming must be an acceptance of cultural & religious differences. The GOP has a lot more in common on a basic level with lots of different groups than you'd think. I don't think that there's really any other way. The Dems all but have the market cornered on entitlements and a Monty Hall style of government.

I do agree with the article that Social Conservatism has to go. It may have started out as a way for the true conservatives to present a softer side, but it's become the wedge that the Dems drive between the Republicans and the rest of the country.

Remember though that many people base their opinions on social matters on their fundamental religious beliefs. I think the issue of abortion in particular points to this. The concept of when life begins and how it has value is fundamentally a religious concept. Beyond that, folks tend to cherry pick what they believe, disbelieve, or profess.