Republicans have their guns blazing, shooting themselves in the foot.  One way that conservatives regularly harm themselves is that they start an argument by conceding defeat.  They take the false premises of the enemy as the starting point of their own argument.  If step one of your defense is to agree with your opponent, you are helping them more than you are helping yourself.

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal gave us an example of this technic on Monday.  He called on Republicans to “stop being the stupid party” .  He said,  “We cannot be, we must not be, the party that simply protects the rich so they get to keep their toys.”

Does he believe that conservative principles of limited government are only good for wealthy people?  This is exactly what his opponents believe and they express it in almost the same way he does.  Jindal accepted and repeated their premise.   If he understood conservative principles, he would argue that liberty and limited government are the keys to prosperity for all.  The stupid party is the party that thinks otherwise, against all evidence of history.

Bill Kristol showed that he accepts the premise of the Democrats when he said a few days ago, “It won’t kill the country if we raise taxes a little bit on millionaires  … I don’t really understand why Republicans don’t take Obama’s offer.”  Why, he wondered, should we “defend a bunch of millionaires”.

Does Kristol not understand what Kennedy and Reagan understood when they argued that tax increases in a recession will slow growth and decrease government revenues.  The argument is not about millionaires.  It’s about rational tax policy.  Why not make that argument rather than concede the argument with the language of the left.

And beyond the tax question, the real problem is wildly out of control spending.  Taxing the 1% even more will not remotely fix our budget problem.  Taxing high earners at 100% would only be a drop in the big, big bucket.  The debt would still be enormous and growing.  That’s the story that needs to be told.

After the election, much of the discussion among Republicans about the Hispanic vote started with the premise that conservative positions are anti-Hispanic.  That is our opponents position exactly.  But is there something racist about wanting secure borders?  Are Mexicans racist for protecting their southern border?  Is it racist to be against a socialist welfare state?  These are not racist or anti-Hispanic positions and we will never out-Democrat the Democrats in pandering on these issues.  Never.  If we say the liberals are right and we favor open borders and expanding welfare, then we have lost the battle at that point.

When you hear a Republican like George Bush say he is a new kind of Republican - a “compassionate conservative”,  you should realize that he is saying that regular conservatism is not compassionate.  That is wrong and is a good example of accepting the premise of your opponents.  Watch for it.  Republicans do it all the time.

One other possiblility to consider is this.  When establishment Republicans say, essentially, “We agree with you Democrats and want to be more like you”, they may mean exactly that.  They are striving to be Democrats-lite.

Andrew McCarthy tries to explain why Republican voter turnout was so low for this election.  Apathy among Republicans explains a big part of the loss.  But how do we explain apathy in this election?  Here is an excerpt:

Somehow, Romney managed to pull nearly 2 million fewer votes than John McCain, one of the weakest Republican nominees ever, and one who ran in a cycle when the party had sunk to historic depths of unpopularity. How to explain that?

The brute fact is: There are many people in the country who believe it makes no difference which party wins these elections. Obama Democrats are the hard Left, but Washington’s Republican establishment is progressive, not conservative. This has solidified statism as the bipartisan mainstream. Republicans may want to run Leviathan — many are actually perfectly happy in the minority — but they have no real interest in dismantling Leviathan. They are simply not about transferring power out of Washington, not in a material way.

As the 2012 campaign elucidated, the GOP wants to be seen as the party of preserving the unsustainable welfare state. When it comes to defense spending, they are just as irresponsible as Democrats in eschewing adult choices. Yes, Democrats are reckless in refusing to acknowledge the suicidal costs of their cradle-to-grave nanny state, but the Republican campaign called for enlarging a military our current spending on which dwarfs the combined defense budgets of the next several highest-spending nations. When was the last time you heard a Republican explain what departments and entitlements he’d slash to pay for that? In fact, when did the GOP last explain how a country that is in a $16 trillion debt hole could afford to enlarge anything besides its loan payments?

It’s worth reading in its entirety.

I have pasted some interesting election commentary below.  Let’s start with Rush Limbaugh, who explained the election in just 8 words:

“In a Nation of children, Santa Claus wins.”

“Do you realize that Barack Obama’s message is that the people who are making it possible for him to be Santa Claus in this country aren’t working hard enough so he’s going to tax them more?”

“Say what you want, folks: Mitt Romney did offer a vision of greatness, a vision of traditional America, a vision of an American recovery and return to prominence.”  But it was rejected.

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Michael Walsh at NRO:

First, the Republicans should never again agree to any debate moderated by any member of the MSM, most especially including former Democratic apparatchiks like Stephanopoulos. What used to be the American journalistic establishment — and I spent 25 years in it — is now out and proud and fully committed to the Obama Way. For them, this was the moment they’d been waiting for since the 1960s, their chance to (as they see it) change the course of American history, to be participants instead of just observers and stenographers, and if they had to first compromise, and then abandon, their stated principles of objectivity and neutrality, so what? The game was worth the candle. They will go to their graves feeling good about themselves.

…[Republicans] can’t win without a media operation that can neutralize the 15 to 20 points that MSM advocacy regularly contributes to the Democrats. The only way to beat the media is to replace the media — and if you don’t think the media won this election for Obama, you’re delusional.

Finally, as for Romney, whose political career is now over, I have mixed feelings. Like John McCain, he never really took the fight to Obama and, more important, Obamaism; he spectacularly refused to engage the Democrats on an ideological level, to explain why conservative principles are better than the chimera of “progressivism,” ….And with the intelligence community leaking damaging details about Benghazi on a near-daily basis, he inexplicably took the entire issue off the table. He’s a good man, but a bad candidate, albeit the “most electable” of an unelectable lot.

In the end, though, Mitt lost because he and his team were incapable of grasping one simple, terrible fact: Far too many Americans today don’t want a job, they want — again, to use Obama’s term — revenge.

They just got it.

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Veronique de Rugy at NRO:

Andrew McCarthy on “Immigration and Delusion”:

Could you find a more sharp disagreement between genuinely smart folk than in the competing description of Hispanic immigrants offered by Heather Mac Donald and the editors of the Wall Street Journal? Here is the Journal this morning:

Immigrants should be a natural GOP constituency. Newcomers to the U.S.—legal or illegal—tend to be aspiring people who believe in the dignity of work and self-sufficiency, and they are cultural conservatives. They are not the 47%.

Here is Heather yesterday:

If Republicans want to change their stance on immigration, they should do so on the merits, not out of a belief that only immigration policy stands between them and a Republican Hispanic majority. It is not immigration policy that creates the strong bond between Hispanics and the Democratic party, but the core Democratic principles of a more generous safety net, strong government intervention in the economy, and progressive taxation. Hispanics will prove to be even more decisive in the victory of Governor Jerry Brown’s Proposition 30, which raised upper-income taxes and the sales tax, than in the Obama election.

Heather is clearly right. Anyone who has followed her work on this topic for years knows her sobering insights are based on extensive, on-the-ground research and careful analysis. The Journal, which often reflects the views of the Republican establishment, bases its immigration views on wishful thinking. And not just its immigration views. Today’s bromides about “aspiring people who believe in the dignity of work and self-sufficiency” are of a piece with the Journal’s similar soft-spot for the “Arab Spring” and Muslim outreach. These GOP fantasies are similarly based on the wishful thinking that Islamists are also “cultural conservatives” sure to forge freedom-embracing democracies when empowered in the Middle East and become model Americans when courted here — sure to assimilate seamlessly into our society rather than seek to change it fundamentally.

Falling in love with your own high-minded rhetoric is no substitute for clear-eyed examination that takes the world as it is, not as we would have it. In point of fact, Islamists, like many Hispanic political activists (think: La Raza), are statists. As I’ve detailed in The Grand Jihad and, more recently, Spring Fever, their thoroughgoing alliance with the American Left is ideologically based — it is not a product of insensitive messaging or “Islamophobia.” Islamists revile finance capitalism, favor redistributionist economic policies, and endorse nanny state regulatory suffocation as well as an ever-expanding welfare state. This is not because Leftists made inroads while conservatives idled. It is because — though this often seems unimaginable to the Journal — Islamists, like many Hispanic activists, are the vanguard of a different culture that they passionately believe is superior to the culture of individual liberty.

There is no single-issue quick-fix to the challenge of ushering them into the Republican coalition. Rather, there is a choice to be made: either convince them that they are wrong, meaning make the unapologetic case for liberty and limited government; or fundamentally change who you are, meaning accommodate their statism.

The fact that this choice is easy to identify does not mean the right alternative is easy to implement. Convincing skeptics of the long-neglected case for freedom is going to take a long time — you can’t cede your leading institutions to statists for decades and expect to turn things around over night. But the second alternative, the one that is so easy — and obviously for some, so tempting — is surrender and steep decline. Accommodation only works in a normal political order where both sides have the same core values but differ on how to validate them. It does not work when one side is looking to vanquish the other.

Mark Steyn’s election analysis:

I appreciate the sterling if pitiful efforts of my comrades to clutch at straws these last few hours, but, on this grim morning after, I fear the most salient analysis comes from Sir Richard Mottram, Her Britannic Majesty’s former Permanent Secretary for the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions, albeit speaking in another context:

“We’re all f***ed. I’m f***ed. You’re f***ed. The whole department’s f***ed. It’s been the biggest c**k-up ever and we’re all completely f***ed.”

Words to ponder.

[You can read about our future in Steyn's book, "After America".]

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Neal Boortz analysis:

It’s not going to get better.  The welfare state will expand more.  The 49.1% of American households in which at least one member is getting an unearned check from government will grow to well over 50% by the next election.  The 60% of American households who get more unearned money from the government every year than they pay in taxes — that number will expand as well.  The numbers on food stamps and Social Security disability will expand, and ObamaCare will create still another dependent demographic, government health care dependents.  By 2016 the Democrats will have achieved their decades-long dream of being able to go into an election battle saying:  “If you vote for the Republicans they are going to take away your medical care.”

The argument could be made that this was our last chance .. this election … 2012.  Our LAST chance … and we blew it.  Turning this country back toward freedom, economic liberty and self reliance will be an even tougher task in the midterm elections of 2014, and probably impossible in 2016.  By 2016 even more Americans will realize that they can use the ballot as a weapon .. a legal weapon .. to do something that would put them in jail if they did it with a gun … and that is take someone else’s money.  Game. Set. Match.

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We have published this quote before, but it’s worth re-reading today.  It was a letter to the editor after Obama’s first victory. The expressed fear about the intelligence of the electorate is painfully more obvious today:

 “The danger to America is not Barack Obama but a citizenry capable of entrusting an inexperienced man like him with the Presidency. It will be far easier to limit and undo the follies of an Obama presidency than to restore the necessary common sense and good judgment to a depraved electorate willing to have such a man for their president… The problem is much deeper and far more serious than Mr. Obama, who is a mere symptom of what ails America. Blaming the prince of the fools should not blind anyone to the vast confederacy of fools that made him their prince… The Republic can survive a Barack Obama. It is less likely to survive a multitude of Idiots such as those who made him president.”

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A couple of good links:

Victory for the Demagogue

5 Big Stories The Media Will ‘Discover’ After The  Election

Here’s an email from Zack White to Instapundit that fits my mood today:

“If Obama is reelected, good hardworking people should give up and go Galt.  The tipping point is the 2012 election. Will the makers finally succumb to the takers? It’s pointless to think that if America reelects the most unqualified disastrous president in recent memory, we should stand our ground and continue fighting. it’s a signal that marxist free-lunchism and free birth control for everyone trump economic well-being and prosperity in the minds of the masses.  Give up. Go Galt. Protect what few assets you have left, and start to hunker down for the coming storm. America is beyond screwed, well past the fiscal insanity of a number of EU countries.  Think of it this way – we sit and watch California destroy itself and wonder who could be so foolish as to remain there and dedicate himself to indentured servitude in a state headed for disaster.  Why don’t those fools just leave!! Same for Venezuela. as they descend into chaos and totalitarianism, do they reject Chavez more? The answer is plainly no. The spiral down the drain is irreversible and obvious. The more the government creates misery, the more they create programs to help people cope with the misery they’ve created, and we achieve a perpetual negative feedback loop.  My advice is simple – if Obama is reelected, get a lawyer and a financial advisor, cash out as much of your assets as you can, and prepare yourself for a nosedive off a cliff. anything else would be imprudent and irresponsible to yourself and your dependents.  Who wants to be a Dagny Taggart dedicating themselves to a life of indentured servitude trying to correct the wrongs of a heavy handed government? i will not be volunteering.  I didn’t give up on America, America gave up on me.”

The extent of blatantly racist voter suppression is starting to become clear as courageous news organizations uncover the details. In one recent case, billboards like this started popping up around Cleveland:

People who are not racially sensitive may think that this a benign billboard, promoting honest elections. But those in the racial grievance business know that this is nothing but ugly racism.  Civil rights activists were immediately indignant :

Cleveland Councilwoman Phyllis Cleveland said,

“When you have the words ‘felony,’ ‘voter,’ and ‘fine’ all in the same message, and by placing it where it is, the only message that you are intending to send is that this is a threat to you if you vote,” “It’s just a blatant attempt to keep people in this community, particularly black people and poor people, from voting.”

You can watch Ms. Cleveland’s comments here:

http://video-embed.cleveland.com/services/player/bcpid649725534001?bctid=1878549255001&bckey=AQ~~,AAAAQBxUNqE~,xKBGzTdiYSTvTgY_KEDQxGs6uqT6UiMm

Connie Schultz

Connie Schultz is the wife of Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown. Here are clips of what she  wrote about the billboards:

Signs of trouble are rising like the ghosts of Jim Crow in the heart of Cleveland’s African-American community.

 

The billboards’ written message: VOTER FRAUD IS A FELONY — UP to 3 1/2 YRS and $10,000 FINE.

The billboards’ unwritten message: We will do anything to keep you from voting.

The plan, of course, is to intimidate an entire community of innocent Americans accustomed to withering suspicions steeped in race.

Voter fraud is a myth.

Redemption may be the law, but it does not reside in the hearts of those who will go to extraordinary lengths to keep certain people down and out.

I am ever mindful of Michael Green, an African-American man in Cleveland who was falsely incarcerated for 13 years for a rape he didn’t commit. After I wrote a series about Green’s ordeal in 2002, he extracted one promise from me, kept to this day. Whenever I speak to classrooms with young black men, I share Green’s warning: Never run when a police officer shows up. No matter how innocent you are, stop in your tracks and put your hands in the air.  [Huh?]

MSNBC raced to the scene.  Sharpton and Ed Schultz were outraged.  Ohio state Sen. Nina Turner told Schultz that when she saw the sign,  ”tears welled up in my eyes at the sight of that.  The fact that African-Americans have had to fight so hard to get the right to vote, and then you have groups who are putting billboards up like that.”

The billboards were taken down,  but that story is just scratching the surface of this problem.  There are people in favor of legal voting all over this country.  I’m talking about nefarious organization like True The Vote which says its goal is to stop voter fraud so that we have honest and fair elections.  They are trying to get dead people and fraudulent registrations removed from the voter rolls.  I know, it’s pretty disgusting stuff, but there is hope that they can be stopped.

True the Vote is currently under an investigation prompted by Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD).  Congressman Cummings says “If these efforts are intentional, politically motivated, and widespread across multiple states, they could amount to a criminal conspiracy to deny legitimate voters their constitutional rights.”

Another group fighting this voter suppression is The Georgia Coalition of the People’s Agenda. Helen Butler, the Executive Director, says, “They’re trying to stop certain people from voting – communities of color, poor white people as well.”  This organization is led by Dr. Joseph E. Lowery, who gave the benediction at President Obama’s inauguration.  Who can forget that poignant prayer when Lowery hoped for the day when a black man would have a chance in this country.  He prayed,  ‘Lord,  …we ask you to help us work for that day when black will not be asked to get in back, … when white will embrace what is right.”  Say Amen!

Still working in the fight against racism , Lowery was speaking at a get out the vote event last week in Georgia when he said, “all white people are going to hell“.  Lowery went on to say, “I don’t know what kind of a nig___ wouldn’t vote with a black man running.”

Racism in this country will not end until we have more people like Joseph Lowery.  At least he is working to instill anger in the next generation so we can continue the battle.

The Daily Kos, The Huffington Post,  CNN and others are running stories about racist Republicans and voter suppression.  We see headlines like,  The Last Refuge of Scoundrels — Republicans and Voter Suppression” ,and  ”GOP’s Push to Suppress Vote Threatens Democracy”.  If Obama loses the election, this will be a big story for a long time.  We all know that racism is the only reason he could lose.

Don’t be fooled into believing that voter fraud is a problem.  You may hear, for example, that ACORN was in the business of creating voter fraud all around the country.  Or you may hear that in many cases when registration lists are carefully checked large numbers of fraudulent names are found.  Connie Schultz told us that voter fraud is a myth.  The whole issue is just created by racist Republicans so that their so-called efforts for fair elections can somehow keep black people from voting.

James O’Keefe’s Project Veritas sent investigative reporters to the polls during the New Hampshire presidential primary on January 10. The goal was to show how easy it was for someone to obtain a ballot using the name of a deceased person. They attempted this at more than a dozen polling places, and were successful in obtaining ballots in all cases except one. That was one where an alert poll worker personally knew the deceased person.  This must have just been a fluke, like when O’Keefe successfully voted as Attorney General Holder:

Our Attorney General is, in fact, very concerned about voter fraud.  He strongly believes that asking for ID for this most important act of voting is simple racism.  He says it is like a Poll Tax.  Asking for ID’s is good for things like checking out library books, but certainly not for voting.

Holder knows intimidation when he sees it.   For example, when Holder saw that some Black Panthers were being harassed for standing at the doorway of a polling place and simply waving billy clubs and yelling threats at white voters, he knew that this was not voter intimidation.  Not at all.  He intervened to make sure these scurrilous charges were dropped against the fine, Panther voting assistants.

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In an unrelated story, once again this year,  thousands of ballots won’t reach military people in time for their votes to count.