A simple phrase that was pounded into my head in business school is “Hope is not a Strategy.” With a week left in the 2008 Presidential Election I find myself wondering how the Republican Party comes to find itself on the verge of losing significant amounts of national power. Regardless of your political views you can’t evade the realization that Republicans have been demonized to a level not seen since the early 1970s when the country was in the grips of the Vietnam War and the Watergate scandal. This demonization has resulted in significant political momentum for the Democrats and has motivated many normally absent from our political process to become involved. Regardless of the outcome of the election next week one thing should be abundantly clear to all conservatives. We need a new strategy for 2012, 2016 and 2020. It may sound a bit crazy to some to plan that far in advance but to not do so makes hope our strategy and that is a scary proposition.
Above and beyond everything else we need a new breed of conservative leadership. Our party must change or we will be doomed to fail as the world changes around us. To ignore this change makes about as much sense as pretending that the world is flat despite all evidence to the contrary. Gone are the days where lack of military service, lack of legislative experience, extensive drug use, multiple divorces or protesting against a war precludes a man or woman from becoming the President of the United States. Gone are the days where a conservative candidate can be ignorant of the concepts of information technology, the use of the internet, macroeconomics, social justice and the perception of inequality in the distribution of wealth in this country. America tires of wealthy old men who fought heroically in a forgotten war who are seen as doing the bidding of other wealthy old men.
We need a batch of fresh conservative leaders who not only espouse traditional values like strong defense, belief in God, limited government, punishment of criminals and the responsibility of citizens to help themselves but also clearly understand the basic needs of the majority of Americans regardless of their political affiliation. Unfortunately you can’t manufacture leaders so you have to identify them early and mentor them until they are ready for candidacy on a national basis. These leaders need to be chosen based on their leadership qualities, conservative viewpoint and ability to connect with people in that order.
Our party needs to create a short-list of potential leaders for the 2012, 2016 and 2020 elections to ensure that we have at least two viable candidates for the primary. We then need to assess the current state of the economy (inflation, unemployment and position in the cyclical performance cycle), the state of world affairs (wars, unrest, threats), the current attitude of the people (happy, worried, disenfranchised) and current social issues (education, entitlement programs, crime). Once these issues are analyzed we need to present the candidate that best speaks to the people on the issues that are likely to be prevalent during the two years of campaigning prior to the election. Once the campaign is underway the candidate needs to maximize his or her use of the latest technology in order to get a repeatable and cohesive message comprised of multiple value propositions out to the public. Think of it this way, in 2004 YouTube didn’t exist but only one candidate in 2008 has embraced the use of this and other IT tools completely while the other simple tried to jump a train that had already left the station. Of course creating a strategy is much easier than executing it which requires strong GOP leadership at the national level.
The Republican Party faces three primary threats that need to be addressed:
- A lack of fresh leadership that Americans can connect with
- A lack of a long-term candidate development program that thinks three elections ahead and learns from the past three elections (call it the 24 year cycle)
- A lack of a macro-level national strategy that embraces changes in our culture, current issues, regardless if we like them or not, that connect with people on issues that impact them directly and are not seen as abstract possibilities
If we fail to do these things we will be failing our country and dooming it to a trajectory that will take us dangerously close to socialism.
