Waiting for the GOP’s populist turn
Romney should have waded into blue states, especially low-income and minority areas—not because he had a real chance of winning a California, New York, or Illinois, but because he could use such occasions to remind all Americans, especially independents and conservative Democrats in swing states, that his agenda was aimed at getting the underclass jobs, empowering the lower middle classes, and giving all Americans more freedom of choice. The Romney economic message should have been aimed not just at job creators but at job seekers: smaller government, he should have argued forcefully, ensures that more people will be hired in the private sector.
Republicans need not necessarily give up on candidates who are wealthy white men in their sixties in favor of candidates who may be easier to market like Marco Rubio, Susan Martinez, or Condoleezza Rice. But to the degree that they nominate men of great wealth and substance, they must be savvy about not allowing them to be caricatured as out of touch plutocrats.
In that sense, opposing blanket amnesty should not be seen as anti-Hispanic, but instead as necessary to ensure that the working American poor, especially unemployed African-Americans and Mexican-Americans, do not have their wages undercut by foreign nationals. Those who wait in line for a legal shot at the American Dream should not be discriminated against by those who cut in line ahead of them. Do we really wish for there to be a vast underclass of exploited green card holders rather than legal immigrants who come with enough skills to have a fighting chance to succeed?…
Republicans will fail if they allow Democrats to promote the myth that their present alliance of the very wealthy and the poor is somehow more populist than empowering the middle and upper-middle classes. To become the true populists in our media-driven, electronically wired culture and to counter the Democrats’ art of class warfare, Republicans must not just argue for free-market solutions that help the hard-pressed middle, but they should look and talk—if not live—like them too.
Blowback
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In other words, the GOP should promise more freebies to everyone to get their vote. Well, bread and circuses worked really well for the Roman Empire, so why not.
RoadRunner on November 21, 2012 at 10:26 PM
As of today, Mitt Romney’s 2012 vote count has now surpassed McCain’s 2008 vote count by 18,211 votes with more yet to be officially recorded.
Barack Obama’s 2008 total is down about 5.5 million from 2008. This election was not any great groundswell of support for Obama.
crosspatch on November 21, 2012 at 10:28 PM
You must have read a different article than the one posted above.
chimney sweep on November 21, 2012 at 10:33 PM
Try embracing actual liberty, federalism and small government for once – no just rhetoric.
MoreLiberty on November 21, 2012 at 10:37 PM
VDH offers sanity in a party of screaming and fingerpointing.
He and Thomas Sowell are invaluable and should be listened to more often. Their advice and insight is spot on.
portlandon on November 21, 2012 at 10:38 PM
Image is everything?
Ladysmith CulchaVulcha on November 21, 2012 at 10:39 PM
It doesn’t matter what the party’s message is, it will never get out to the people. The major media will never report it unless a Republican gaffes. Things that are NOT the message will, however, get wide distribution. “Romney wants to ban tampons” for example.
You will hear a lot of Democrat pundits spin on the Republican message, but the masses will never hear the actual message itself unless they make an effort to dig for it. That means 99% of the people will never hear it.
We need a communications channel to the people. We don’t have one. I would start with finding Republican leaning newspapers, radio stations, and TV stations in Republican locations but that limits distribution to mostly rural areas. BUT, putting this information out directly to those outlets WILL get the information picked up through such outlets as “Google News” so people can find it with web searches.
crosspatch on November 21, 2012 at 10:49 PM
Nah. Practically the whole of Mr. Hansen’s piece was about how GOP themes such as free market capitalism and anti-illegal immigration can be successfully sold to a broader audience (with fascinating side-trips into past presidential contenders–perception, popularity, strategy, why voters did or didn’t buy what they were selling). A mighty good read!
Ladysmith CulchaVulcha on November 21, 2012 at 11:08 PM
Clearly, some people just comment on the title without actually reading the article.
UltimateBob on November 22, 2012 at 1:00 AM
It’s funny, I was just thinking about that this morning…. one word I don’t recall ever hearing out of Romney’s mouth during the entire campaign was “empowerment.”
I think it would have helped.
UltimateBob on November 22, 2012 at 1:02 AM
You know this freebies crap is getting really old and it will drive away the middle class. The GOP isn’t pure as the driven snow when it comes to handing out freebies to thier special interests. Hell Bush invented K-street. Wall street and the banks gets all kinds of tax breaks the avg person will never see. Big business gets trade deals cuts, tax cuts Oil compnaies ge ttheir piece of the freebies also. the dems didn’t win becaus ethey gave out freebies to the poor. Obama won because Mitt was a terrible candidate. He was out of touched. He never tied Obama to the economic mess because he had the same polices as Obama when it came to government programs to “create jobs” Mitt was upset with the fed chairman when he did Qe3 not because the printing of the money would drive up inflation and hurt millions of people on fixed incomes but because he thought Qe3 would work. Mitt was never able to tie Obama-Bush to the economic mess because Mitt believes in the programs he just thought they needed a better manager.
Here is a thought until the GOP stops giving out freebies to the rich and well connected why don’t they stop with this holier than thou attitude about the poor and working class. I want to support a party that is for small government that hands out no “freebies” to anyone but if the government is going to hand out freebies to the rich the poor adn middle class will want their cut of the pie too.
unseen on November 22, 2012 at 1:41 AM
this is why you need star power to get over the heads of the media. Instead of picking the one with star power this go around we settled on boring white guy number #1 who had to buy airtime everytime he wanted to get apoint across.
unseen on November 22, 2012 at 1:45 AM
agreed very good article
unseen on November 22, 2012 at 1:47 AM
Romney wasn’t a “by his bootstraps” capitalist. He had a lot of trouble articulating what true free markets and capitalism can do for prosperity. There are others out there that can carry the message with more passion.
V-rod on November 22, 2012 at 3:08 AM
Wall Street and banks also pay all kinds of fees, and have to comply with all sorts of rules and regulations that the average person will never have to. They also have all kinds of expenses the average person will never have. What’s your point?
xblade on November 22, 2012 at 5:22 AM
Ahh yes, more race hating. With conservatives like you, who needs liberals?
xblade on November 22, 2012 at 5:31 AM
Indeed.
Ladysmith CulchaVulcha on November 22, 2012 at 6:01 AM
As usual, VDH nails it.
petefrt on November 22, 2012 at 8:22 AM
More cluelessness by the resident dull blade.
Or do you really think “Mr.Cool Black Guy” wasn’t a factor against Yet Another Old White Man?
MelonCollie on November 22, 2012 at 11:08 AM