Willie Lawson
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TAMPA, March 22, 2013 – Jack Kemp use to say, “No one care what you know until they know how much you care.” The word on the street is that the Republicans don’t care about regular people. The narrative is that Republicans only care about the wealthy and they actually hate middle class and poor people. The main stream media would have you beleive that people that are Republican and not rich, are just useful idiots carrying the water for the master that hates them too.
Over the past fifty years or so, the Democrats with the help of the media have formed the narrative that liberals and Democrats are the people that care about the middle class and, the poor. They have been very successful pushing that narrative to the point that people are teaching their children that is the difference between Republicans and Democrats. So, portions of the Growth and Opportunity Plan are a good start.
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Now I know that some of you are ready to unfriend, unfollow, and unsubscribe but before you do please hear me out.
In an exit poll from the 2012 presidential election there are some very telling numbers.
Which ONE of these four candidate qualities mattered most in deciding how you voted for president?
| Category | Obama | Romney | %Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shares my values | 42 | 55 | 27 |
| Is a strong leader | 38 | 61 | 18 |
| Cares about people like me | 81 | 18 | 21 |
| Has a vision for the future | 45 | 54 |
29 |
21 percent of voters are looking for a candidate that they think cares about people like them. Of that group, 81 percent of them voted for president Obama. The report mentions that Democrats and liberals tend to personalize the effects of policy. The are very good at putting a face on legislation. Because they have become experts at this personalization of politics, the impression is that they “care” more about people.
Republicans and conservatives are experts about presenting charts and graphs. We are champions of over arching concepts. Conservative have become great teachers of history. But what we have not noticed is that Republicans and conservatives spend most, if not all of their time and energy talking to each other. The only time there is any interfacing with others is in the form of debate. Winning the intellectual arguments have not translated in winning national elections.
A very good friend of mine, Ned Ryun, of American Majority said “Politics is policy. Those that win elections, are the ones that get to set policies.” This simple statement struck in me like thunder. This has to be the way forward for Republicans and conservatives, I thought.
So can Republicans and conservatives learn to personalize the benefits of their policies? Is it possible to for Republicans to translate not change the conservative message for those is diverse communnites? This is one the challenges that the “Growth and Opportunity Plan” faces.
The other challenge is coming from the land of conservative “purity.”
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