Vision

I see an American electorate split into three groups. We are the first. We are called conservatives, right wingers, the right, sometimes libertarians.

Secondly, the left. Called socialists, lefties, libtards, moonbats, etc.

These two groups share one feature, Vision. They don't share a vision, they both have a vision. Thomas Sowell elucidates in Conflict of Visions.

The left has an unconstrained vision, the right a constrained vision. That is, the left sees human nature as malleable and perfectable and we can perfect human nature and society if only we have the right program or institution. The right sees human nature as fallen or flawed and unchanging but if we set up simple constraints, people can thrive. This is why we have a balance of powers in our constitution, and this is why the left has always been uncomfortable with the constraints of power designed into our constitution. (Libertarians can fall for this vision and can say that mankind can be perfected if we only get rid of government.)

In the middle we have a group without vision. Not comfortable with the socialists and misunderstanding the constraints that lead to our liberty and prosperity they can swing from side to side as one group errs or successfully hides its agenda.

We need more conservatives. In order to obtain more, we need to communicate our vision to people without a vision and to people whose vision is in conflict with our own. In order to communicate our vision we must understand our own vision.

This is our fundamental problem. We take positions which seem heartless and stupid to our opponents because they don't share our vision. But when we debate on the matter we can't communicate our vision because we don't understand our vision. WIthout communicating the vision which leads to our conclusion there is no way we can convince our opponents or the middle because we never get to the heart of the issue.

I would suggest starting with Thomas Sowell's book Conflict of Visions and learning our own core principles over again. Then we can communicate our vision without getting mired in hopeless debates over policy points. We can have the advantage in this battle, because our opponent doesn't understand their vision either. But make no mistake it will be a battle.

As a movement, we need to better understand our vision, better communicate our vision, and then select leaders and candidates who best expresses our vision in order to have lasting impact and restore our nation to the principles which made us great.