Long Term Issue: Conservatives Don't Want to Talk and they are Hiding in the Process

Democrats seize any and every opportunity to elevate their message, keep themselves in the media, and generate wins for their agenda.
Republicans have not yet figured out what “Public Relations” is.

Yes, I am a Republican and this all hurts badly when your side just “doesn’t get it.”

​NOTE: For my Republican friends reading this - don’t be mad at me for saying the following. You know me. Please see the insight I’m shining a light on so that we can ALL benefit for our cause and our campaigns

DIFFERENCE IN VIEWPOINTS

Now before you get too hot and think I’m abandoning my party or our team, think again. I have been asking questions and attempting to draw attention to key reasons for what we should be doing and what we are not doing for months (years, really). And you review the following and tell me if anything I’m saying is wrong.

I almost want to laugh out loud at the reality of my heart: I just wish people would listen. I’m not a newby to this space. I’m telling you we could have huge successes if we would just up our message and PR approach.

It is the fool who knows truth and withholds it from their peers.
So allow me a moment to break down the Democrat vs Republican mindset.

The psychology behind the Democrats (or progressives) is the following:

• We (Democrats) are united.
• We have our eyes on one mission: to win, to obtain and keep power, to advance

NO MATTER THE COST.

• We keep our peers in line.
• We fall on the sword (we each sacrifice for the benefit of the collective win).
• We do not care about the outcome of the promise, or how the promise can be accomplished (aka process) — but we say the right thing to reach the right people to get US (not them) our ideal outcome
  (Example: think Governor Whitmer’s “I’ll fix the D*** roads!” promise — they are still a disaster years later. So much for that pledge.)
• We watch for any moment that we can push a story or message in the media that helps us and hurts our opponents.

This is the makeup of our opponents (Note: No matter what worldview, every life has value and I celebrate getting to know those that disagree with me but for the sake of this discussion I am putting them in terms of ‘them vs us’).

Republicans - or conservatives - don’t think like that. They think more in terms of:

• The individual. Me. My family. My property. My conscience. My cause. There is good to this as it emphasizes personal responsibility but if we are not careful it lands us in danger zone where the only thing that matters is “me” and not the team.
• Safety vs strength. We would rather be safe and secure vs making bold and courageous moves. We would rather stay quiet than put ourselves out there to do what is right or when we could get a win.
• This moment vs long term. In fact sometimes we care more about “history” and the happenings of yesterday and do not give our followers a vision to be inspired to follow.
• The internal message vs the outward message: We forget that the message that counts is not the one that is sent - but the one that is received. Silence is a message. Limited comments is a message. You can have the best strategy behind the scenes but if the public (your followers) are clueless it appears like you are failing on the job you are actually doing all you can to succeed with.
• We want people to like us and we do not know how to handle when people don’t like us. We crawl into our shells and we panic when it happens.
• We assume the best - of everyone, even the enemy in the opposition camp. We give them the benefit of the doubt, letting the fox into our homes even before we can think twice.

​Our Republican strategy - at the core of our hearts - may be the right thing but our approach as a whole hinges on something else.

SHORT TERM VS LONG TERM
Democrats see politics as a lifestyle and a way of survival for their agenda.
Republicans take it or leave it: they lose, they take their toys and go home and spend the next few years moaning about their peers and how they have been disappointed. They break off into more groups. They splinter. They gladly sacrifice the win for the sake of the principle, which ultimately hurts their principle survival long term but in the nano-second that is as far as they can see.

Too often Republicans don’t realize this is a war and they approach it with temporary commitment while the opposition is fighting to the death.

Too often Republicans do not live with a 40K view perspective - instead they only seek to survive the momentary skirmish and until Republicans can plan farther out and point people to a broader horizon we will fail again and again.

Truthfully, Republicans are in an ongoing struggle: They are overwhelmed by the individual needs of their family (remember, responsibility is key), they are working hard to build relationships (for those who are inside the political arena) and give patience to the process (what mature people do) and they are doing their best to serve their community well.

But they are overlooking the importance of the Public Relation game.
The longer we take to get ourselves on track with the current century and advance towards an inspiring mission the more the progressives win.
Democrats smell blood in the water and they are punching and preparing to pounce more.

A WAY FORWARD
So what to do?

1. Be aware. Be aware of the team you are on and how you are processing things.
2. Ask better questions.
3. YOU start leading and planning a better agenda and game plan.
4. Stop ignoring Public Relations.
5. Be aware of what others are saying and doing and how your brand is coming across.
6. Delegate more authority so you can accomplish more vs less.
7. And link arms with one another - no matter what.
8. Take advantage of any media opportunity.

If your ideas and policies really are the best then start living like it, start talking like it, start verbally sharing your mission and your cause.

Do not just allow yourselves to be the victims of the Democrats’ brilliant moves and message. Push back. Speak up. Smile. Repeat. Make the communication arm of your movement significant and big.

Because you can do everything right but if the story is not being told and it is not being told in the right way with the right consistency and aggressiveness all the other good things don’t matter.

We can do better but the way we are going it is going to be a dismal next few months.

• AJH

P.S. Weigh in below and let me know how I can help!