Why do Republicans lose? Not a difficult question.
They are not decisive and energetic enough. Decades of vague lukewarm protests and quick surrenders to the aggressive enemy made it something of a traditional policy with them. Also, the party is not clear on their ideology and the program; a huge chunk of Republcans are RINOs, their spirit is eaten away by incessant propaganda and shaming demagogy of the Left. Now they think it is somehow a legitimate excuse that they are not aggressive like the Vulgar Marxist party, as if being "law-abiding" citizens - while laws are written by cheating charlatans - is their only sacred duty.
Argh, I can go on and on.
Simplifying tremendously, Republicans are losing because they are sissies.
They are too stiff-necked on unimportant issues, like abortion, meanwhile ignore the Left destroying the country. They let the enemy use their religious beliefs as a tool and a red herring.
As a woman (and one with experience outside of US), I don't think abortion should be an issue of primary importance. Referrals to religious tenets and moral purity are irrelevant while we believe in separation of church and state (are you?). A compromise on balance between civil rights, medical guideline, access to contraceptives, and societal morals is necessary. The sooner it'll be achieved the better, to clear the field for real job of defeating the Red Cancer.
More and more I am becoming a supporter of a National Divorce. I honestly don't believe that the Leftists can be reasoned with. I especially think that the Gen Z components are lost. I hate the culture and country that they see as ideal. I will not become their subject in a bastardized version of some totalitarian utopia that they envision. I won't.
So I wonder if we presented them with a complete menu of having their entire agenda implemented, and then all the "Right-wing Nazi's" would not be in their midst, would they take that deal? I kind of think they would. They viscerally hate us, and they are militant. They believe that we are the only thing stopping utopia, so if we give them that chance, why not?
The only dispute would be who gets what geography. The easiest solution to me seems to be that they get a kind of "northern" line, while we get the southern part. I don't currently live there, but I'd move if that were the case. The line would have to "squiggle" a bit, but it would be like Europe, but with two countries still easily traversed.
California could become its own, third country. They already act like it now.
The only other solution is to decentralize the federal government, which, frankly, is probably a bit easier. Disband a number of federal agencies and push that money into savings or down to the states. Keep only the military as national and then perhaps the currency. Get rid of the individual income tax and make the states pay a proportionate share to the federal government for security and defense. Let the states figure out how to raise revenue, based on their ideologies. Multi-state crimes would be solved by a reconstituted federal justice department that has a much more limited mission.
I will note, however, that it always seems like the Left opposes these things. Why is that? They hate us, but they won't let us go? Or is it, like you've said, that they know their ideology doesn't really work, and that it requires suckers like us to fund it? That rabbit hole is worth exploring a bit.
We have to think radically different about this, because the current direction of things is a failed republic. I believe it will be economically driven, but again, the mal-educated people will blame us for that, too. They have a remarkable ability to not take responsibility for their policies and to point the finger at everyone but themselves. A failed republic would be no different, and they will learn nothing from it.
Every time I read your insight, I say to myself: I'd love to sit and have a beer with you. You put into words what I think. This was outstanding.
A lot regarding election losses has to do w/turnout. Our district in SE Pa. is a good example. We lost our county by 600 votes. 104,000 registered Republicans didn't bother to vote during that election. Apathy is our biggest enemy.
We're in a Civil war right now, a cold one. It's the Marxists and everyone else. But most in the everyone else category don't realize it yet.
Apr 7, 2023·edited Apr 7, 2023Liked by Jeffrey Carter
Republicans lose because they don't do the work. Democrats win because they do. Republicans tend to be individualists. Democrats are group-oriented, people-oriented. They get together with other people and do stuff. Even though individually on average they are dumber and crazier than Republicans, the fact that they work together, as members of the species most adapted by evolution for working together in Earth's history, means yeah, they win.
This is not complicated, and it's not the "issues". Do you see lines out the door at Republican Club meetings? You do not. Not one registered Republican in a hundred can even tell you where their local meetings are. Republican voters want the Party to do it for them, and when the Party doesn't do that to their satisfaction, they sit home in a huff.
And that's the main reason why Republicans lose: they get out-worked, and out-played, by people who enjoy all this much more than Republicans do.
Apr 7, 2023·edited Apr 7, 2023Liked by Jeffrey Carter
Why do republicans lose? Because they are losers. Born in corruption, crony capitalism and imperialism, they have conserved nothing and they hate their own base, which is to say working-class heritage "americans". I despise the democrats but at least they are honest about their nefarious goals. The GOP lies through its collective teeth and seeks the same as the Dems, albeit at a slower pace - all the better to boil the frog. The idea that the republican party is the solution to anything is risible. As Robert Dabney said, they are progressivism's shadow, always scurrying to catch up. The republicans are not and have never been a conservative party.
You're definitely going in the correct (right!) direction here, Jeff. I personally like your Russ Roberts suggestion on a thought-leader.
In terms of issues - I'm much where you are on abortion. Roe was a bad judicial decision, I'm morally against abortion, but I can't ignore the practical realities of its political complexity. Stick to it as a state right and most states will probably come out somewhere with it being legal up to 12-20 weeks. I suspect states (even deep Red or Blue ones) will be punished over time for pushing too far in either direction.
I think you also hit - lightly - on another issue - the GOP needs to do a better job connecting with younger voters. Suburban moms/families are now half Millennials. Aside from abortion, you've got to connect your message to schools (choice should be an easy win for the GOP), jobs, and housing. Housing costs have skyrocketed and GOP politicians advocating for land-use reform and less regulation/red tape could speak to and solve those problems - certainly much more than the Dems just throwing money at the problem. Many of those same solutions would work for job-creation too.
Apr 6, 2023·edited Apr 6, 2023Liked by Jeffrey Carter
And by the way, it’s not about Abortion, per se. Every culture in human history has had some form of child sacrifice for material gain. It’s really just about instilling a sense of control over life itself. A sort of brainwashing that you are your own god, with power over life and death. That kind of power is intoxicating, really. And it can be used to manipulate peoples behavior so they aren’t devastated if they lose it. Keeping power is what abortion is really about. A means to an end. The truly Godly understand that they have no real power without Him. That’s why they also despise God and must kill him (see: Holy Week). God is an alternative to their power, which they cannon abide. The reason Trump was arraigned during Holy Week was to buck up the atheists and communists on their most depressing time of the year. When they have to hear about how their sworn enemy, Jesus, won victory over sin and death. For these are the things they love most. The Bible is correct: these battles are not material, but spiritual.
Its not abortion. Its ballot harvesting. Republicans just don't understand what is required to win. Just look who won to run the RNC and you will understand.
It didn't take much reading to answer the question posed in the Heading. "Morally, abortion is infanticide. You are snuffing out human life no matter how many weeks you engage in it." At least you added the word "Morally" to make it accurate. While I respect the moral argument, it is not where the large majority of Americans are (including me -- you're asking me to equate a single celled zygote with a full term baby; I can't get there). Further, the folks who campaign as pro-lifers also tend to be anti-gay marriage, want students praying in school, and so on. I am conservative because I am a live-and-let-live sort, the type who thinks a free society is one in which the government stays out people's private lives. As long as these are the folks winning GOP primaries, they will continue to also lose to Democrats. I vote GOP almost always, but sometimes the GOP candidate is so horrid, I cannot make myself do it.
Why do Republicans lose? I don't know the answer either but I believe that it is a multi-faceted problem, not a singular issue problem. Abortion clearly drives some portion of the electorate away, but is that because they are, as the Dems have become, supporters of abortion up to the point of conception, or is it more likely that they have bought hook, line, and sinker into the fable that the GOP wants to ban all abortions and put women in jail?
I think one of the primary drivers of GOP loses is demoralization of the GOP voter. This is due to a slew of mutually reinforcing tactics the Left has fostered:
(1) Tacit approval of the Leftist big government agenda by a large segment of GOP leadership
(2) Complicity by that same segment of the GOP leadership in punishing upstart, energetic segments of the GOP electorate
(3) Decades of demonization by Leftists controlling ever growing segments of our society, from the media to education to corporations to even now the military
(4) A feeling that we are losing the war even when we win a battle; this is reinforced when those we elect become cogs in the machine rather than the forces for change that we elected
(5) A political system that discourages participation by the types of people we really want to participate, including a fund raising mechanism that hounds the few people willing to put their money where their mouth is (ever spend months staving off PACs and campaigns because you gave money to one campaign you supported and your info got sold off to every grifter in the USA???)
(6) COVID -- frankly our response to COVID broke many, many people, including the small businesses that tend to be more conservative, and gave great power to the worst elements of our society, especially those most power hungry and those most fearful
(7) In-fighting -- far too many on our side are willing to turn on anyone who gets targeted by the Left, providing implicit evidence to the undecided/neutral parties of the (false) truth to the Left's accusation(s). This is doubly compounded by the fifth column RINO segment of the GOP (see 1 & 2).
(8) Money -- the majority, and I think it's a significant majority, of those with money in the country are Leftist in ideology and willing to shovel vast amounts of it into various Leftist organizations working against the USA
(9) Lawlessness -- Not only does the Left foster lawlessness in our cities to create a fearful populace that they can manipulate, but the Left is very willing to bend and break every law to their purposes...thus the 2020 election and other corrupt election systems like Chicago. Our side has not been willing to do the same, in part because the unequal application of the law which is now common will likely mean our side will go to jail while their side will not for the same crimes
(10) Ruthlessness -- The Left will stop at nothing to win. We will not. But worse, we often won't even play the margins because of "principles". A good example of that is the TN "insurrection" and the attempts to expel and/or imprison those who participated. Many on our side say we should not take those actions because we need to take the higher ground. But if we refuse to make our opponents pay for their actions, we will always be on the defensive and most likely we will lose.
There are more reasons, but these are probably the main ones. We are perilously close to losing this country. And there's no real haven for us to go to, unlike those who fled the Nazis, Communists, Iranian fundamentalists, etc over the last 200+ years to come to the USA for shelter.
I'm more bullish on Trump, currently. Maybe he is the way forward (give or take) given the cards that we have been dealt?
Mr. Trump could sprout wings, resurrect people from the dead, do miraculous healings and he would still end up in a Manhattan courthouse persecuted. With great hair, BTW, he looked good.
Trump is a super-hero to me now. What other character could be so on point for what is now the holy grail of crazy?
34 felony counts re: a 130k payment to your gal friend in 2006? How many accounting entries does it take exactly to turn one payment into 34 felonies?
He may not be presidential material again, but he's been given the chance to spin "the 1st president to be indicted" narrative to elevate his status.
He will make them all go endlessly batshit crazy until the day he dies. He's one in a million, and then some. and an ex-president who will leverage this for max pain going forward (until the day he dies, of course).
Great read Mr Carter. The country is in such a state and there aren't enough Jason Whitlocks out there speaking unvarnished truth. I fear for my country and what will be left for our children. I read somewhere that the Republican "Elite" are too much like the old Washington Generals, always getting creamed by the Harlem Globetrotters! We need to change our paradigm.
No compromise. As Reagan said, "we win, they lose!"
Wish I had a good answer for you. If history is any guide, once they have power (“F-15’s and nukes” as Biden has helpfully reminded AR-15 owners - though they couldn’t even trans groom a bunch of middle eastern goatherders in 20 years) the Marxists have no real problem with committing massive genocide to get their way. And the fascist Oligarchs that use the Marxist hoards to keep the despised middle class in check are largely in agreement that there are too many people on the planet. Buckle up. It’s gonna be a bumpy few decades. All these things must come to pass…
Why do Republicans lose? Not a difficult question.
They are not decisive and energetic enough. Decades of vague lukewarm protests and quick surrenders to the aggressive enemy made it something of a traditional policy with them. Also, the party is not clear on their ideology and the program; a huge chunk of Republcans are RINOs, their spirit is eaten away by incessant propaganda and shaming demagogy of the Left. Now they think it is somehow a legitimate excuse that they are not aggressive like the Vulgar Marxist party, as if being "law-abiding" citizens - while laws are written by cheating charlatans - is their only sacred duty.
Argh, I can go on and on.
Simplifying tremendously, Republicans are losing because they are sissies.
They are too stiff-necked on unimportant issues, like abortion, meanwhile ignore the Left destroying the country. They let the enemy use their religious beliefs as a tool and a red herring.
As a woman (and one with experience outside of US), I don't think abortion should be an issue of primary importance. Referrals to religious tenets and moral purity are irrelevant while we believe in separation of church and state (are you?). A compromise on balance between civil rights, medical guideline, access to contraceptives, and societal morals is necessary. The sooner it'll be achieved the better, to clear the field for real job of defeating the Red Cancer.
More and more I am becoming a supporter of a National Divorce. I honestly don't believe that the Leftists can be reasoned with. I especially think that the Gen Z components are lost. I hate the culture and country that they see as ideal. I will not become their subject in a bastardized version of some totalitarian utopia that they envision. I won't.
So I wonder if we presented them with a complete menu of having their entire agenda implemented, and then all the "Right-wing Nazi's" would not be in their midst, would they take that deal? I kind of think they would. They viscerally hate us, and they are militant. They believe that we are the only thing stopping utopia, so if we give them that chance, why not?
The only dispute would be who gets what geography. The easiest solution to me seems to be that they get a kind of "northern" line, while we get the southern part. I don't currently live there, but I'd move if that were the case. The line would have to "squiggle" a bit, but it would be like Europe, but with two countries still easily traversed.
California could become its own, third country. They already act like it now.
The only other solution is to decentralize the federal government, which, frankly, is probably a bit easier. Disband a number of federal agencies and push that money into savings or down to the states. Keep only the military as national and then perhaps the currency. Get rid of the individual income tax and make the states pay a proportionate share to the federal government for security and defense. Let the states figure out how to raise revenue, based on their ideologies. Multi-state crimes would be solved by a reconstituted federal justice department that has a much more limited mission.
I will note, however, that it always seems like the Left opposes these things. Why is that? They hate us, but they won't let us go? Or is it, like you've said, that they know their ideology doesn't really work, and that it requires suckers like us to fund it? That rabbit hole is worth exploring a bit.
We have to think radically different about this, because the current direction of things is a failed republic. I believe it will be economically driven, but again, the mal-educated people will blame us for that, too. They have a remarkable ability to not take responsibility for their policies and to point the finger at everyone but themselves. A failed republic would be no different, and they will learn nothing from it.
Every time I read your insight, I say to myself: I'd love to sit and have a beer with you. You put into words what I think. This was outstanding.
A lot regarding election losses has to do w/turnout. Our district in SE Pa. is a good example. We lost our county by 600 votes. 104,000 registered Republicans didn't bother to vote during that election. Apathy is our biggest enemy.
We're in a Civil war right now, a cold one. It's the Marxists and everyone else. But most in the everyone else category don't realize it yet.
Republicans lose because they don't do the work. Democrats win because they do. Republicans tend to be individualists. Democrats are group-oriented, people-oriented. They get together with other people and do stuff. Even though individually on average they are dumber and crazier than Republicans, the fact that they work together, as members of the species most adapted by evolution for working together in Earth's history, means yeah, they win.
This is not complicated, and it's not the "issues". Do you see lines out the door at Republican Club meetings? You do not. Not one registered Republican in a hundred can even tell you where their local meetings are. Republican voters want the Party to do it for them, and when the Party doesn't do that to their satisfaction, they sit home in a huff.
And that's the main reason why Republicans lose: they get out-worked, and out-played, by people who enjoy all this much more than Republicans do.
Why do republicans lose? Because they are losers. Born in corruption, crony capitalism and imperialism, they have conserved nothing and they hate their own base, which is to say working-class heritage "americans". I despise the democrats but at least they are honest about their nefarious goals. The GOP lies through its collective teeth and seeks the same as the Dems, albeit at a slower pace - all the better to boil the frog. The idea that the republican party is the solution to anything is risible. As Robert Dabney said, they are progressivism's shadow, always scurrying to catch up. The republicans are not and have never been a conservative party.
You're definitely going in the correct (right!) direction here, Jeff. I personally like your Russ Roberts suggestion on a thought-leader.
In terms of issues - I'm much where you are on abortion. Roe was a bad judicial decision, I'm morally against abortion, but I can't ignore the practical realities of its political complexity. Stick to it as a state right and most states will probably come out somewhere with it being legal up to 12-20 weeks. I suspect states (even deep Red or Blue ones) will be punished over time for pushing too far in either direction.
I think you also hit - lightly - on another issue - the GOP needs to do a better job connecting with younger voters. Suburban moms/families are now half Millennials. Aside from abortion, you've got to connect your message to schools (choice should be an easy win for the GOP), jobs, and housing. Housing costs have skyrocketed and GOP politicians advocating for land-use reform and less regulation/red tape could speak to and solve those problems - certainly much more than the Dems just throwing money at the problem. Many of those same solutions would work for job-creation too.
And by the way, it’s not about Abortion, per se. Every culture in human history has had some form of child sacrifice for material gain. It’s really just about instilling a sense of control over life itself. A sort of brainwashing that you are your own god, with power over life and death. That kind of power is intoxicating, really. And it can be used to manipulate peoples behavior so they aren’t devastated if they lose it. Keeping power is what abortion is really about. A means to an end. The truly Godly understand that they have no real power without Him. That’s why they also despise God and must kill him (see: Holy Week). God is an alternative to their power, which they cannon abide. The reason Trump was arraigned during Holy Week was to buck up the atheists and communists on their most depressing time of the year. When they have to hear about how their sworn enemy, Jesus, won victory over sin and death. For these are the things they love most. The Bible is correct: these battles are not material, but spiritual.
Its not abortion. Its ballot harvesting. Republicans just don't understand what is required to win. Just look who won to run the RNC and you will understand.
It didn't take much reading to answer the question posed in the Heading. "Morally, abortion is infanticide. You are snuffing out human life no matter how many weeks you engage in it." At least you added the word "Morally" to make it accurate. While I respect the moral argument, it is not where the large majority of Americans are (including me -- you're asking me to equate a single celled zygote with a full term baby; I can't get there). Further, the folks who campaign as pro-lifers also tend to be anti-gay marriage, want students praying in school, and so on. I am conservative because I am a live-and-let-live sort, the type who thinks a free society is one in which the government stays out people's private lives. As long as these are the folks winning GOP primaries, they will continue to also lose to Democrats. I vote GOP almost always, but sometimes the GOP candidate is so horrid, I cannot make myself do it.
Why do Republicans lose? I don't know the answer either but I believe that it is a multi-faceted problem, not a singular issue problem. Abortion clearly drives some portion of the electorate away, but is that because they are, as the Dems have become, supporters of abortion up to the point of conception, or is it more likely that they have bought hook, line, and sinker into the fable that the GOP wants to ban all abortions and put women in jail?
I think one of the primary drivers of GOP loses is demoralization of the GOP voter. This is due to a slew of mutually reinforcing tactics the Left has fostered:
(1) Tacit approval of the Leftist big government agenda by a large segment of GOP leadership
(2) Complicity by that same segment of the GOP leadership in punishing upstart, energetic segments of the GOP electorate
(3) Decades of demonization by Leftists controlling ever growing segments of our society, from the media to education to corporations to even now the military
(4) A feeling that we are losing the war even when we win a battle; this is reinforced when those we elect become cogs in the machine rather than the forces for change that we elected
(5) A political system that discourages participation by the types of people we really want to participate, including a fund raising mechanism that hounds the few people willing to put their money where their mouth is (ever spend months staving off PACs and campaigns because you gave money to one campaign you supported and your info got sold off to every grifter in the USA???)
(6) COVID -- frankly our response to COVID broke many, many people, including the small businesses that tend to be more conservative, and gave great power to the worst elements of our society, especially those most power hungry and those most fearful
(7) In-fighting -- far too many on our side are willing to turn on anyone who gets targeted by the Left, providing implicit evidence to the undecided/neutral parties of the (false) truth to the Left's accusation(s). This is doubly compounded by the fifth column RINO segment of the GOP (see 1 & 2).
(8) Money -- the majority, and I think it's a significant majority, of those with money in the country are Leftist in ideology and willing to shovel vast amounts of it into various Leftist organizations working against the USA
(9) Lawlessness -- Not only does the Left foster lawlessness in our cities to create a fearful populace that they can manipulate, but the Left is very willing to bend and break every law to their purposes...thus the 2020 election and other corrupt election systems like Chicago. Our side has not been willing to do the same, in part because the unequal application of the law which is now common will likely mean our side will go to jail while their side will not for the same crimes
(10) Ruthlessness -- The Left will stop at nothing to win. We will not. But worse, we often won't even play the margins because of "principles". A good example of that is the TN "insurrection" and the attempts to expel and/or imprison those who participated. Many on our side say we should not take those actions because we need to take the higher ground. But if we refuse to make our opponents pay for their actions, we will always be on the defensive and most likely we will lose.
There are more reasons, but these are probably the main ones. We are perilously close to losing this country. And there's no real haven for us to go to, unlike those who fled the Nazis, Communists, Iranian fundamentalists, etc over the last 200+ years to come to the USA for shelter.
Can you say DeSantis?
I'm more bullish on Trump, currently. Maybe he is the way forward (give or take) given the cards that we have been dealt?
Mr. Trump could sprout wings, resurrect people from the dead, do miraculous healings and he would still end up in a Manhattan courthouse persecuted. With great hair, BTW, he looked good.
Trump is a super-hero to me now. What other character could be so on point for what is now the holy grail of crazy?
34 felony counts re: a 130k payment to your gal friend in 2006? How many accounting entries does it take exactly to turn one payment into 34 felonies?
He may not be presidential material again, but he's been given the chance to spin "the 1st president to be indicted" narrative to elevate his status.
He will make them all go endlessly batshit crazy until the day he dies. He's one in a million, and then some. and an ex-president who will leverage this for max pain going forward (until the day he dies, of course).
Oh, Mr. Bragg is a miserable little bitch.
Great read Mr Carter. The country is in such a state and there aren't enough Jason Whitlocks out there speaking unvarnished truth. I fear for my country and what will be left for our children. I read somewhere that the Republican "Elite" are too much like the old Washington Generals, always getting creamed by the Harlem Globetrotters! We need to change our paradigm.
No compromise. As Reagan said, "we win, they lose!"
I am waiting for one conservative candidate to come out with a "progressive lefty cultists can kill their babies and we wont stop them" platform.
interesting column on how this country is now a “surface democracy” and managed by a bureaucracy … https://thepsmiths.substack.com/p/review-miti-and-the-japanese-miracle
Also check out smith’s sub stack on South Africa. Chicago is headed in same direction … https://thepsmiths.substack.com/p/review-south-africas-brave-new-world
Wish I had a good answer for you. If history is any guide, once they have power (“F-15’s and nukes” as Biden has helpfully reminded AR-15 owners - though they couldn’t even trans groom a bunch of middle eastern goatherders in 20 years) the Marxists have no real problem with committing massive genocide to get their way. And the fascist Oligarchs that use the Marxist hoards to keep the despised middle class in check are largely in agreement that there are too many people on the planet. Buckle up. It’s gonna be a bumpy few decades. All these things must come to pass…