Introduction.
This article originally appeared in 2001, and describes American campaigns. Nevertheless, the message is
universal. To get our policies implemented, we must get elected. To
get candidates elected, we must all get
involved.
How to Advance Your Beliefs By Helping a
Candidate
Conservatives forever complain about their
political leaders. But they donıt do a lot about it.
Liberals (or more precisely, Leftists) are quite different.
Coming as
they do mostly from distinct interest groups possessing activist political
cultures and a sense of victimization (be they unionized workers, civil
rights activists, feminists or whomever), leftists grow up on a steady diet
not only of ideas, but of the strategies and tactics necessary to win.
From
cradle to grave, they look to the state as a sort of political savior, and
they learn early how to get from it what they want.
By contrast, conservatives do not and never have thought in
these terms.
Generally, conservatives just want to be left alone, and see government as a
necessary evil, nothing more. Their lives focus elsewhere: business,
church, family, civic groups, almost anywhere but politics. They see
political activity not as a perpetual opportunity to gain advantages, but as
an arena where (every so often) they must defend themselves from the latest
government encroachment.
This difference in culture is staggering, and accounts for
much of the
Leftıs success in the 20th Century. Conservatives do not think
politically;
Liberals do. And while the Left hones its strategies and tactics year
after
year spread across millions of individual people and thousands of
institutions conservatives wake up periodically, notice thereıs an
election, expend a little half-hearted effort, and go back to sleep.
Because of this relative detachment, conservatives
demonstrate a
remarkably persistent naiveté. Not only do they rarely understand the
system (or what the Left has done and continues to do to them); they also
subscribe year after year to the Sir Galahad theory of politics: "our
ideas
will win because our hearts are pure." This foolishness costs their
movement not only elections but innumerable volunteers (and donors) every
year, good men and women who cannot understand why their sheer rightness has
not persuaded and conquered all. Meanwhile, the Left marches on.
The hard truth is, however wonderful our ideas may be, it is
not those
ideas but the actions they inspire which have consequences in the real
world.1 And all those whiney conservatives, waiting for Trent Lott
(or
whomever) to effortlessly give them their heartsı desires, are getting
exactly what they deserve. The concept is as old as the Bible: those
who
do not work, shall not eat.
INFLUENCE AND POWER
At times almost despite themselves, conservatives over the
past
generation have come to hold tremendous influence. They have also held
some
power. The confusion of these concepts has lead to much needless
consternation.
In Morton Blackwellıs words, "Power means you can make
things happen.
Influence means that those with power will return your telephone calls and
seriously consider what you suggest. Only those with power govern."
The aim of any political movement is power, power for the
purpose of
implementing the movementıs beliefs. All the influence in the world will
not replace this power. In the 1990s, many conservatives became highly
disillusioned with their leaders, who seemed to constantly compromise.
They
failed to understand that though Republicans held the Congress,
conservatives were still a minority. They had gained tremendous influence,
but only a share of the power. Having a seat at the table, they could
dicker, but they could not dictate. They needed numbers.
Thereıs only one way they will ever get those numbers:
they must elect
more conservatives. Not Republicans; conservatives. This is no slap
at the
Republican Party: it is simply a recognition that the two ideas are not
synonymous, however much overlap there may be, and that if conservatives
want that to change, theyıll have to work for that too. Furthermore, itıs
a
statement that the party primary often matters a great deal; and that as
the Left has always known the political cycle is year-round, every year.
In that never-ending fight, it is the candidates who go out to do battle,
who bleed and sweat and die for your beliefs. And at the end of the day,
they and only they will have a chance to make and execute the laws.
Most people will never be candidates. At most they will
only have
influence (which is certainly not to be despised), and many wonıt even have
that. But they can give their ideas power and exercise a measure of
power
themselves by working hard for a candidate who shares their views. In
fact, there is absolutely no more effective way than this by which the
average person may bring about meaningful political change.
SO WHAT CAN I DO?
The question for many, therefore, becomes: "So
what can I do? And what
could I possibly offer." The answer is, "Quite a lot!"
For all the talk of
big money in politics, the truth is that most campaigns are run on
shoestrings, with the lionıs share of what cash there might be going to
television ads at the very end, leaving all the real work to be done on
almost nothing. Nowhere is this more true than in a challenger race, where
a (usually semi-unknown) candidate tries to make headway against everything
the other party can throw at him, and often everything his own party can
throw at him too (this is not a criticism: parties shouldnıt just give
away
their nomination, after all). This is usually your candidate (weıre
trying
to gain seats, after all): tired, broke and pummeled from all sides.
Yes, thereıs quite a lot you can do for this candidate.
Even a handful
of truly faithful people could change his world, and the outcome of the
election.
Speaking as a former (and future) candidate for the U.S.
House, I submit
the following items you can and should do for the standard-bearer of your
choice. The list is not exhaustive, but it will keep you both busy and
effective.
1. PICK A CANDIDATE. With all due respect to those wonderful men and
women
who yearly work in support of every candidate in sight, there remains great
wisdom in Christıs words that no one can serve two masters. The average
volunteer has neither time nor mental energy for more than one race, at
least not beyond a superficial level. Hence, if you donıt pick one
candidate on whom to focus, you will do a bad job for everyone, and advance
the cause very little.
Picking a candidate is a matter of taste: who excites
you, who believes
most like you, who is running for an office you care about, who is running
against someone you really want defeated. The issue is not whether you
throw yourself wholeheartedly into a campaign for Congress or for Justice of
the Peace; rather, the issue is whether you pick one and follow through.
