Written By: Teague Cuddeback
for Vision to America
Want to see a conservative win in November?
Those who would be victorious in any endeavor always take
the long view. That’s what our Marxist opposition does.
They see the great sweep of history and they look far into
the future. They analyze the reasons why things have turned
out the way they have. They know succeeding and winning is
an up and down affair, that it requires specific knowledge
of the enemy and his beliefs, methods, weaknesses and habits,
that there’s no gain without pain, and no advance forward
without an occasional falling backward, that sacrifice of time,
effort, money, and sometimes blood, is part of the journey.
If only Republicans, conservatives and Christians, cuddly
safe in their glass towers, suburbs and worship centers could
grasp this fact. Jesus surely did, but sadly, many of us can’t
see beyond our noses. Mention what has transpired over the past
fifty years that paved the way for the installation of our
totalitarian president and some ill informed, historically
challenged, angry short-sighted individual will blare
“you are
living in the past and blaming republicans for all the ills in
the U.S.A.” Nothing could be farther from the truth.
But should we criticize only the beliefs and actions of the
opposition and never consider our own?
Can any logical person deny that the “past” is part and parcel
of today, still influencing the events and thinking of a great
many people who don’t understand Republican, conservative or
even Christian principles?
Can we ignore the fact that Republicans didn’t then and even
now do not go into certain neighborhoods with an eye toward
winning conservative converts?
They think all they have to do is “rally the base.”
The truth is, the conservative base is smaller than the liberal base.
We are surrounded by fellow Americans who still live with
political attitudes and beliefs from by-gone decades.
The past has been passed on in memory and emotion and kept
alive by current voters. Their narratives are embedded in
the mission statements of existing governmental agencies
and programs.
If we want to dismantle those agencies and programs, as so
many do, we can do so safely and more permanently only by
connecting with individuals who hold those wrong beliefs
and offering replacement beliefs that make sense to them,
thereby moving their loyalties from Democratic Party to
Republican Party, helping them understand that Marxism is
not Liberal and that conservative and traditional values
are emotionally rewarding and spiritually generous,
forgiving and liberal because that is God’s nature and
He is the author of true governance.
If we don’t do this difficult work, those individuals will
strengthen in their fight against us. Our very personal
educational outreach to them must be sustained over a long
period of time to make one victory become a second victory,
then a third victory, and so on.
If we fail in this effort, we can’t begin to deconstruct
what our sins of omission helped to build. We become deniers
of history who can’t or won’t face the truth and so help
perpetuate the lie that conservatives are hateful, stingy
and racist. If we do a good job now and keep it up, people
will be able to look back in history to our era and learn
in another time of crisis how we came to our senses, and
pulled back from the brink of totalitarianism to regain
control over the future of our nation to save freedom for
another generation.
The attitude of denial is not uncommon. Republicans for
decades have refused to seek votes in minority communities.
They would rather concede those geographic areas to Democrats,
believing that everyone living there is out of reach.
What lack of faith.
By thinking this way, Republicans merely prove what Democrats
say about them, that they don’t care about those people,
neighborhoods, communities, legislative districts, etc.
There are too many Republican voters who childishly think
all that has to happen is for conservatives to be victorious
on November 2nd, and then all will be right with the world.
Anger and disgust over high taxes and excessive spending
activates people only for a short period of time.
It is hard to sustain indefinitely.
People get tired, become depressed.
And there are other issues to consider.
Tea Parties are great outlets for expression but they cannot
do real politics because they are not registered as political
action committees. Political action committees can raise money
to fund candidates, run campaigns, buy candidate and ballot
issue-specific advertising, activities with the potential to
generate governing power. I wish every conservative could grasp
the importance of organizing and campaigning.
It is the glue that binds people together in political victory
and sustains them even in defeat. Sustained political togetherness
enables a government to be strong and remain strong. It enables
people with dissimilar backgrounds to stick together through thick
and thin, for the long haul. The nature of politically forged
relationships takes on aspects of family.
I spent this past weekend working with an independent fiscal
and pro-life conservative who is running on the Republican ticket.
He is Hispanic and running for office in a minority district.
The Republican Party ignored his candidacy and offered him no
support for his run because he is trying to unseat a very liberal
Latina incumbent of sixteen years who only once had faced opposition
in an underfunded campaign. I had met the Republican candidate’s
wife months ago when she was part of a small Tea Party group I was
invited to counsel. I chose to speak on political history, party
structures and effective campaign planning and messaging techniques
for reaching the politically unreached. It is easy to tell who’s
getting it and who isn’t simply by the questions they ask.
She was getting it.
Those who don’t get it usually remain silent or just make
disparaging comments. Some while later, the woman told me
her husband had decided to run for political office.
His campaign started early applying the principles and methods
I had offered. He is a very committed candidate and a consistent
and effective door-to-door campaigner.
Today, the incumbent politician he is working to defeat can’t
go home at the end of the day without seeing this man’s yard
signs up and down her street and a huge banner for him directly
across the street from her house. I’m sure it takes some of the
wind out of her sails.
It is always a good strategy to demoralize the opposition
candidate and cause them anxiety without ever having to say an
ugly word about them. People in the district are talking about
their respective candidacies, comparing who’s doing what and
who’s taking the voters for granted, and it’s all free because
it’s word of mouth. That’s good campaigning.
To be victorious requires deep individual commitment, constant
working of precincts, on-going positive campaigning, teaching
everywhere, person to person. Jesus committed himself to working
this same way for our spiritual benefit every day for three years
and gave his life for us. We can follow his pattern and do the
same to preserve the liberty that allows us to evangelize and
worship freely.
Still on the sidelines?
Don’t be “a moderate.” It’s a curse,
a blight on the body politic and a hellish thing.
Moderates have no passion for a cause unless they are “it.”
They are neither hot nor cold. They have no convictions and
cannot be convinced on an issue. They only gravitate to one
side or the other of a cause when it suits them, as they weigh
and consider their present circumstance against the political
and economic backdrop that frames it.
If they are
“religious moderates,” they consider themselves
“good” people who understand those gray areas that escape
the rest of us. They are a religion unto themselves.
Principles mean little to such persons. They live in the now,
and for them, all ethics are situational. Their words and actions,
or lack thereof, prove it.
And they tend to ignore the lessons history can teach.
Don’t forget to examine history.
Take it into account. Then, do politics.
Make the decision that you will go where you have never been
and that you will do what you have never done.
Help America secure its future in a new era of freedom.
Call your local political party and find out how to contact
a conservative candidate’s campaign near you.
Ask questions about the candidate’s beliefs.
Find out who and what groups have endorsed their campaign.
You can make a significant difference in the effectiveness
of a candidate’s efforts. And when you do, you’ll discover that
what you’ve done and learned campaigning has etched you deeply.
You’ll never see politics quite the same way again.
