Part Two: Group And Identity Politics

Conservatives must address American voters as individuals and put an immediate end to attempting to reach them as members of a group.

This is difficult work, because the politics of buying votes in bulk the way Statists/Democrats do it is extremely effective and the temptation to try doing that as a Republican (I will associate conservatives with the GOP only because the Republican Party currently serves as the only hope of achieving conservative governance, though I will make no judgement at this time whether that is an acceptable circumstance) is very strong. But while appealing to people as members of special-interest groups might work for Democrats, who don’t give a hoot in hell for the rights and liberties of the individual, it falls completely flat when Republicans/conservatives attempt to conduct themselves on that basis.

Conservative philosophy is rooted in the principle that the individual possessed with God-given rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That principle doesn’t give a rat’s rear end what race the individual is a member of – nor should it.

What this means is an all-out assault on identity politics, the race hustlers and the giveaways and set-asides. Voters need to make the choices that are right for them as individuals. We should no longer be interested in appealing to blacks, union members, gays, trial lawyers or the military – or any other group as a group. Throw that aside.

The message must be that THESE are our principles, and they are superior to those of the other side for every American regardless of race, color or creed. And we will not insult the American public by pigeonholing them into demographic groups. Wal-Mart voters, soccer moms. Whoever came up with that garbage ought to be horsewhipped.
I fully expect comments from people invested in the current Republican system saying this is “unrealistic” and that I don’t understand how politics works. To which my response is, how well are you doing now? We’ve seen eight years of a GOP which has attempted to pander to Hispanics, which is currently attempting to pander to the black community, which has treated the “religious right” as a bloc of voters easily pocketed, and more. And at the end, the party’s brand has been exploded. It has no credibility and it is out of intellectual gas.

Why? Because the GOP has for eight years attempted to practice politics the same way the Democrats do, when the GOP’s voter base is made up of free and productive individuals rather than slaves to a demographic norm. You’re never going to practice Democrat politics as well as Democrats do; don’t try. Ours is an individualist philosophy, and it must be sold to individuals. If the electorate has been poisoned by collectivist thinking inculcated in our cultural institutions, then by all means it’s time to work on improving the electorate.

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