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Rapid Right Innovation: Top 20

Submitted by Max Borders on Thu, 07/02/2009 - 06:46
in

They’re getting comfortable. As Henke alludes to here, the self-satisfaction that comes with being in control was a primary factor in the waning of GOP power after 2002. The Dems know political power is nothing if not entropic. That’s exactly why the leadership is rushing like hell to do what they can to entrench their power and fundamentally alter the economy (i.e. before things start to burn and the people turn). Having mastered both the blame game and the art of sophistry, they think they’re better and smarter—despite all the linear thinking and pseudo-intellectual fervor. But victory has a half-life.

What is the Right to do? Let the Left languish in their smugness. Let's innovate: 

  1. Get better organized and unified. (Includes networking and collaboration.)
  2. Convert talk radio listeners into givers and doers. (Need help from the jocks.)
  3. Focus on popular messages of freedom, prosperity and suspicion of government.
  4. Create new constituencies resistant to government takeovers of their sector.
  5. Create media markets to further dilute the leftish MSM. Hasten the destruction of print.
  6. Tap, activate and integrate existing grassroots networks while creating new ones.
  7. Use mockery and satire to prick the Obama bubble. “What were we thinking?”
  8. Redirect resources from policy wonks to message-makers, writers and activists.
  9. Find and exploit joints and weak-points. (Attack from the side. A distracting swarm is better than a standing army.)
  10. Develop an “operating system” for distributed activism. “Embrace and extend” the left’s successful methodologies.
  11. Crowdsource investigation of key leaders. Dig Relentlessly.
  12. Use technology as a means to 5 primary ends—registering voters, organizing activists, changing minds, increasing transparency and crowdsourcing ideas.
  13. Make a continuous show out of dissatisfaction. Be creative. Create distractions.
  14. Plan carefully, but execute rapidly. Make media. Explosive media campaigns should make people do a double-take.
  15. Rebrand as a new breed with new ideas. (Use veterans/old guard sparingly.) Think: New Labour circa 1996.
  16. Turn the Left’s apparent strengths (brand, power, media adoration, momentum) into weaknesses, a la Sun Tzu.
  17. Create alternative funding channels, including micro-donations.
  18. Invite in a million ideas and create a filtration mechanism for the best ones.
  19. Take risks with policy messages and critiques. Simple and powerful.
  20. More meme machine, less policy argument. (Emotion, images, stories & sticky sayings.)

When you’re clinging to power and pushing your agenda, it’s hard to keep tabs on the enemy. It’s hard to continue innovating now that your foot-shoulders spend most of their days doe-eyed before O-TV, or making snarky comments on rightwing blogs. In 2008, the Left took all the best aspects of the free market – distributed systems, decentralization, collaboration and voluntary association – and out-organized the Right. Disillusionment with the war and the Obama emotion-bubble helped too. But those will soon fade. It’s time to turn the tables.

To be sure, the Left’s leadership will be busy tearing down what is right and good about the U.S., building up what is wrong and adding to a network of special interests and dependents whom they honestly believe will keep them around forever. They’ll make a good go of it. But take heart: Ireland, New Zealand and Britain all rebounded from the depths of socialism and its crony-capitalist variants. Ireland is now economically freer than the U.S. So is New Zealand. Britain is currently moving right. So there is hope. Let’s start innovating.

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Comments

You forgot one

Submitted by NextRightNando on Thu, 07/02/2009 - 08:13.

You forgot one:

21. Distribute anti-Viagra to all moralizing, hectoring, holier-than-thou Senators and Governors to prevent future Vitters, Ensigns, Sanfords.

It is interesting that your list is mostly about noise-making and muck-racking, but not a word about addressing the problems that face the nation.

But take heart: Ireland, New Zealand and Britain all rebounded from the depths of socialism and its crony-capitalist variants. Ireland is now economically freer than the U.S.

Maybe before you finish "the destruction of print" you should try picking up one of those newspapers and, you know, reading it. Becasue if you did you would see this is not exactly the time to be promoting Ireland as an economic model.

Irish economy is the sickest of them all, IMF study claims

Ireland is suffering the severest recession of any advanced economy, the International Monetary Fund said in its annual health check.

The country is in “the midst of an unprecedented economic correction” with losses at its banks predicted to swell to €35bn (£30bn) over the next two years.

“The stress exceeds that being faced currently by any other advanced economy and matches episodes of the most severe economic distress in post-World War II history,” the IMF said in its report. The lender forecast that Ireland's economy would contract by 13.5pc between 2008 and 2010, and start to grow around 1pc in 2011 before it stabilizes around 2.5pc for several years.

Despite the bleak view, the fund said Ireland was taking the right steps to counter the economic and financial “shocks”. Ashoka Mody, head of the IMF mission to Ireland, said there was “absolutely no reason” to think that the country will default on its debt.

The collapse of the Irish property markets has led to mounting bad debts at Irish lenders, led by Bank of Ireland and Allied Irish Banks.

Home loans are expected to soar further over the next few years as the recession deepens and the IMF said the losses faced by the banks are equivalent to about 20pc of GDP.

Brian Lenihan, the Finance Minister, has proposed creating a "bad bank", known as the National Asset Management Agency, to buy up such loans as a step toward restoring lending and reviving the economy.

 “We must ensure we have a viable banking system to protect jobs and our economy,” Mr Lenihan said after the publication of the IMF report. “The one way of doing that is to clean up the balance sheets of the banks by removing the impaired assets and returning them to normal functionality.”

The IMF expects Irish GDP to shrink a cumulative 13.5pc in the three years to 2010. It also forecast that Ireland’s budget deficit may widen to 12pc of GDP this year, four times the European Union limit and above the government’s 10.75pc projection. The state will only bring the deficit back to the EU limit in 2014, a year behind target, it said.

Ireland had its credit rating lowered to AA from AA+ this month by S&P, which cited the nation’s rising bill for propping up its banks. Fitch Ratings in April downgraded the country to AA+ from AAA.

Standard & Poor’s expects Irish house prices to fall 13pc in 2009 and a further 10pc in 2010. Prices have already dropped 20pc from their peak in early 2007 after almost quadrupling over the previous decade.

 

Hmmmm...

Submitted by Max Borders on Thu, 07/02/2009 - 09:23.

1. Somehow I don't think you get the UK Telegraph in print.

2. Ireland suffers from a) banking issues and b) over-investment in the tech sector (lack of diversity) by virtue of government policy. Otherwise their fundamentals are pretty sound. If you want to use one historical blip to dispute the celtic tiger phenomenon lasting more than a decade (which is about getting your fundamentals right), then proceed with intellectual dishonesty.  The question for the Irish model (and ours) is: how quickly will they rebound from the recession if they lapse into our dumb Keynesian policies? Or will the distributed processes of the market allow for quick self-correction?

3. Noise-making and muck-raking may be more effective than policy analysis when it comes to gaining support. But I have discussed policy elsewhere, which you'll find linked under "risk" above. And please, tell me, did Obama get elected on incisive policy analysis and problem solving? No. (To claim to be a problem solver doesn't count. "Solving problems" through statist policies doesn't count either.)

4. A question: is it possible for anonymous comment lurkers to critique without being sarcastic? 

What's good for the goose is not good for the gander?

Submitted by NextRightNando on Thu, 07/02/2009 - 10:07.

How great that you go from advocating the use mockery and satire to -  well, complaining about the use of mockery and satire.

Also, you first hold up Ireland as a model of economic freedom and then, when it is pointed out that their economy is going down the toilet, you claim that the problem is government policy - well, which is it? Can't be both.

To say that Ireland's "fundamentals are pretty sound" is to say something that makes John McCain's similar statement on the campaign trail almost make sense by comparison. Ireland's government debt is now the riskiest in all of Europe. People will buy Greece's bonds before Ireland's.

To answer your question about how quickly will they rebound, all I can say is I don't know and neither do you. Which just further points out the foolishness of praising a country that might require an IMF bailout as an economic model we should emulate.

They are looking at three consecutive years of economic contraction - possibly double digit. That is one hell of a "blip".

So yes, I am happy to go on record to "dispute the Celtic tiger phenomenon". It was a bubble, plain and simple.

 

 

 

Nothing Wrong With Borrowing

Submitted by caringwhiteguy on Thu, 07/02/2009 - 10:57.

Nothing wrong with borrowing from Saul Alinsky's "Rules for Radicals" .  His tactics worked nicely for the Obama crowd these past few years.  I'd particularly recommend Alinsky rule 5.

#5 --  "Ridicule is man's most potent weapon. It is almost impossible to counteract ridicule. Also it infuriates the opposition, which then reacts to your advantage."  This seems a lot like Max's #7 . . . and that's good!

After all if there's a weak link in the Messiah's armor, it's his sensitivity to criticism.  From Iran to his big ears, he's not a happy camper when someone pokes and prods. 

#21 - Be everywhere you can

Submitted by Freedoms Truth on Thu, 07/02/2009 - 11:36.

#21 - Be everywhere you can

Politics is local and personal, so create the maximum number of 'touchpoints' and you increase your mind-share with people.

#22 - Integrate, integrate, integrate

People who are active on one issue should be connected with activists on other issues.

Run slates of candidates thatshare resources and messaging to make it more powerful.

#23 - Reuse and OPEN-SOURCE campaigns, ideas and capaign/activism infrastructure and technology

Get candidates to share the underlying technology for activism. Voter database management, website technology. This increases the 'diffusion' of technology.

#24 - Ignore/diffuse/deflate the trolls

Stupid NextRightNando wants to bet it all on calling Ireland a bubble...

Idiot, Ireland was 4th fastest growing country in the world in 1990-2000:

http://globalis.gvu.unu.edu/indicator.cfm?IndicatorID=45&country=IE#rowIE

They kept it up from 2000-2008:

http://www.tradingeconomics.com/Economics/GDP-Growth.aspx?Symbol=IEP

 Fastest OECD grower from 2004-2006:

http://www.conferenceboard.ca/HCP/Details/Economy/gdp-growth.aspx

25 years of growth above 5% has made Ireland much more prosperous than 25 years ago. Ireland since the mid-1980s went from poorest of European countries to one of the richest:

http://www.globalpropertyguide.com/Europe/Ireland/gdp-per-capita

The current global recession, even a severe one, does not negate or undo this quarter century of progress in Ireland, which has more than doubled its standard of living.

Note all the past tenses in your defense of Ireland

Submitted by NextRightNando on Thu, 07/02/2009 - 12:02.

Note all the past tenses in your defense of Ireland as an economic model. You can do the same with any country - cherry pick your start date and your end date, and hey presto! it is perfection.

Well how about we think about what the future holds for Ireland now that the bubble has burst? From that noted liberal rag, The Economist:

Outlook for 2009-10

  • The extent of downside risk to the Irish economy is without precedent. Even the Economist Intelligence Unit's current forecast, of four successive years of negative economic growth, may prove optimistic.

  • Our central forecast is that the coalition government will remain in office, but the risks to this forecast are rising fast.

  • We expect the economy to suffer depression-type conditions in 2009-10, because of the collapse in the construction sector, depressed private consumption and falling exports.

  • The budget deficit is estimated to exceed 12% in 2009-10. The risk of default is small but real.

  • The Irish banking system is in a precarious state despite liability guarantees and public recapitalisation. In April the government announced a plan to buy from the banks non-performing loans with a book value of up to€90bn.

  • The rejection of the EU's Lisbon treaty by voters in June 2008 has generated a crisis in Ireland's relations with the EU. We expect acceptance in a second vote in October 2009, although this is far from certain.

  •  

  • Politics has been dominated by local and European Parliament elections, to be held at the beginning of June. The senior coalition partner, Fianna Fail, is braced for its worst election in eight decades.

  • The junior partner in the coalition, the Green Party, has demanded a review of the programme for government. Combined with criticism of Fianna Fail by a senior Green, the possibility of withdrawal from government is increasing.

  • Michael Somers, the head of the National Treasury Management Agency under whose auspices a"bad bank"is to be set up, raised doubts about the plan when questioned by a parliamentary committee.

  • The tax advantages for US corporations operating in Ireland are likely to be considerably diminished owing to changes proposed by that country's president. This will reduce Ireland’s attractiveness as an investment location.

  • In May the minister of finance, Brian Lenihan, travelled to a number of European financial centres to market Irish government debt. This is likely to have helped ensure that a€1bn issuance later in the month was successful.

  • In the first quarter of 2009 overall sales volumes fell by 21.6% year on year. When the motor trade is stripped out of the data, the first-quarter decline of sales volumes narrows to 7.8%.

 

Ireland 2X RICHER TODAY than 25 years ago

Submitted by Freedoms Truth on Thu, 07/02/2009 - 13:06.

There is no cherry-picking nor past tense. Ireland 2X RICHER TODAY  than 25 years ago. SImple long-range growth measurement.

The only thing that has stopped is growth due to recession, but Ireland is in no deeper trouble than we are, or the UK. Ireland grew 5% per year for 25 years. Well from the Civil War to1929, USA grew 7% per year. Your arugment is like jumping in during 1906 and claiming US prosperity was bogus because of the 1906 panic.

lesson for today is to go with what works - and it aint Obama's keynesian big Govt spending:

Ireland slashed government spending by more than 7 percent of GDP in 1986-89, and economic growth from 1989 to 2001 averaged 7.2 percent per year. Japan spent hundreds of billions on Keynesian public works schemes after 1991, and economic growth averaged only 1.1 percent.

http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=3581

The Irish economy has grown rapidly over the past decade, far outstripping the growth performance of its European neighbours. Since 1993 the economy has grown at annual rates in excess of 8 per cent. This exceptional growth has entailed high employment intensity, with the result that employment grew by about 25 percent between 1993 and 1998.

http://conservativehome.blogs.com/torydiary/files/george_osborne_speech.pdf

Go ahead, cherry-pick away a socialist countrythat increased growth from increased govt control - you cant find one because they dont exist.

 

Today - or 2002? or 2006?

Submitted by NextRightNando on Thu, 07/02/2009 - 17:51.

So when you shout TODAY, do you mean TODAY as is in 2002, the date of your first link, or 2006, the date of your second link?

Newflash - it is the nature of bubbles, which is what I way the Celtic Tiger economy was, to create the appearance of prosperity for a time; but that cannot be sustained. You present two snapshots from inside the bubble. Now that it has burst, the picture is much different.

Go ask anyone who is currently underwater on their mortgage to explain that to you.

The government of Ireland is telling it citizens to brace for the fact that their standards of living are going to decline - for years.

 

You claim:

Ireland is in no deeper trouble than we are, or the UK.

This is demonstrably false. Irish Independent, earlier today:

We've never had it so bad, ESRI warns

Recession worst since the 1930s, think-tank reveals

Ireland is suffering the worst recession of any advanced country since the 1930s, the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) warns in a grim analysis of the economy.

Unemployment could rise above 500,000 as national income (GNP) is forecast to fall by 14pc over the three years from 2008 to 2010.

The fall in national income beats the 11pc decline in the Finnish crisis of 1990 to 1993, when the collapse of the Soviet Union suddenly deprived Finland of its main market.

Britain's GDP contracted 4.9 per cent in the first quarter; Ireland's economy shrank 8.5 per cent. Noted liberal rag The Wall Street Journal reports that Irish shoppers are day tripping to Northern Ireland becasue the shopping is BETTER on the British side.

It is absolute insanity to hold up Ireland as a model, and anyone who does so is economically ignorant

 

More of "the cart before the horse"....

Submitted by Darvin Dowdy on Thu, 07/02/2009 - 11:46.

Most of these tactics will work great "after" the GOP 1st makes amends and reestablishes solid trust between themselves and a massive segment of the GOP voting Base.  The "stay at home" crowd.  Or those that protest voted for another candidate simply wanting to throw the rino bums out.  In other words, those that have become exasperated and simply dropped out of the process. 

This massive block could have given McCain a very comfortable victory had he been correct on the issues and also could have been trusted to follow through once elected. 

The GOP Hierarchy  burnt the bridge between themselves and the Base.  And they had fun doing it, too!  But now they're paying the price.   This sizeable segment of the Base will continue to punish the GOP until they get righted again. The GOP should forget about any sort of victory until this is done.  Darvin Dowdy

 

The Stay At Home Myth

Submitted by ToddLuvsLounging on Thu, 07/02/2009 - 20:11.

Liberal ToddLuvsLounging Says:

I have not seen any reports of Republicans staying home in 2008. In fact, if McCain pulled in the same number of votes as Bush did in 2004, McCain would still have lost the popular vote by ~5.3 million votes.

Instead of coddling conservatives, the better tact would be re-making the Republican party more attractive to moderates and independents. However, re-making the party would require self-examination of some pilars of conservatism which failed them so spectacularly: deregulation, supply side economics, etc. The real myths of 2008 election is believing ACORN stole the election  or McCain was not conservative enough or the MSM liberal bias dooms conservative electoral hopes.

Libs like Todd know...

Submitted by Darvin Dowdy on Fri, 07/03/2009 - 00:29.

...that this massive, dormant block of conservative voters is out there.  And they fear them. But they have extreme confidence that the deficient bungling Republican Party will continue to move in the wrong direction.  Another item causing lib's to have sleepless nights is that they know that only 129 million voted in 2008 w/less than a 10 mil spread between the 2 candidates.  They ask, "shouldn't there be more eligible voters what w/300+ million people in the country? Where are they? There should be at least another 10 million or so."  And the harsh reality, too is that they know that millions and millions of folks that voted for Obama now wish they hadn't.  (and that number is growing) They see the colossal opportunity that the Repub's have before them but again, take comfort in the fact that the GOP is too stupid to see and pick up the gold and precious gems all over the ground in front of them. 

So libs like Todd continue to give the GOP advice that, if taken, will continue to put more of a gulf between the Conservative Base and the GOP Hierarchy, keeping them in the loss column.   And, sadly,  the GOP seems to be taking that advice.  DD

Little stories that you tell yourself to make you feel better.

Submitted by NextRightNando on Fri, 07/03/2009 - 09:28.

And the harsh reality, too is that they know that millions and millions of folks that voted for Obama now wish they hadn't.  (and that number is growing)

Let's see: Barack Obama won the election with 53% of the vote, to John McCain's 46%. According to pollster.com, his composite approval rating is 57%, with a disapproval rating of 37.1%.

So I call bullshit - the line quoted above is just a little story that you've made up to console yourself.

But, somehow I don't feel better...

Submitted by Darvin Dowdy on Fri, 07/03/2009 - 10:16.

...because I know that the clueless GOP and Movement Conservatives are not going to exploit this breach in the democrat wall.  They'll sit back like the 3 monkeys - see/hear/speak no evil - and do very little while BarryO continues to destroy our economy and neatly dispose of a half million jobs per month.  DD

Libs like Todd know..

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Another Karl Rove Wannabe needs to shut up

Submitted by superdestroyer on Fri, 07/03/2009 - 03:48.

Will conservatives ever be rid of the Karl Rove wannabes who believe that everything can be solved with campaign gimmicks and niche marketing. 

Does the list of ideas overcome the legacy of imcompetence and stupdity of the Bush Administraiotn?  Does it produce better leaders?  Does it create a consistent conservative world view?  Does it lead to competent policy proposals and competence implementation?  Does it overcome the demographic problems?

Until the Republicans rid themsleves of every Karl Rove wannabe there are no long term solutions.

One quibble.

Submitted by JackinMichigan on Sun, 07/05/2009 - 20:13.

"Crowdsource investigation of key leaders. Dig Relentlessly."

Here's the reality: Amateurs won't do the work. Trying to get grassroots bloggers to file a foia is like pulling teeth.

No, if you want real investigations you need real journalists, which means paid ones.

OK, now combine that with this one: "Redirect resources from policy wonks to message-makers, writers and activists."

There is a superb network of free market, limited government think tanks, and no reason that they can't direct more resources to investigations. Being scholarly, non-partisan and ideologically principled they are very well positioned to do this authoritatively and with credibility.

problem is...

Submitted by jhaygood on Mon, 07/06/2009 - 21:44.

problem is you want to get outreach and activism and contributions from a group you've attracted by selling a platform of 'i got mine'. 

good luck with that... your supporters are viscerally opposed to any such thing.

a platform based around being our brother's keepers brings in people who will sacrifice for others - the ideas go together. 

this is a not rebranding problem for the GOP, it's an ideology problem.

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About #11 & #12

Submitted by cheetah70 on Wed, 07/22/2009 - 01:43.

When I saw that you mention crowdsourcing twice, I remember that I read a good article about it quite recently. Apparently, there's this application called "Idea Scale" to crowdsource ideas, and US government is using it, too. Check out the full article here, it was very informative with regards to how to crowdsource innovations,

Top 5 applications to “crowdsource” personal & small business innovations

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