“Republicans can win again if they become Democrats…”

(The Reagan Record)

Even after the 1964 election loss, Ronald Reagan never gave up in the continuing war for freedom.
Marathon Pundit found this uplifting piece.
Ronald Reagan wrote for the National Review after Barry Goldwater was crushed by Lyndon Johnson in 1964:

Yes, we did; we lost a battle in the continuing war for freedom, but our position is not untenable. First of all, there are 26 million of us and we can’t be explained away as diehard party faithfuls. We cross party lines in our dedication to a philosophy.

There are no plans for retreating from our present positions, but we can’t advance without reinforcements. Are reinforcements available? The answer is an unhesitating — “Yes!” They are to be found in the millions of so-called Republican defectors — those people who didn’t really want LBJ, but who were scared of what they thought we represented. Read that sentence very carefully because in my opinion it tells the story. All of the landslide majority did not vote against the conservative philosophy; they voted against a false image our Liberal opponents successfully mounted. Indeed it was a double false image. Not only did they portray us as advancing a kind of radical departure from the status quo, but they took for themselves a costume of comfortable conservatism.

Read the rest here.

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Doug Ross reminds us, “The message of liberty and opportunity, well articulated, is one that embraces all races, all religions, all ethnicities, all backgrounds.”

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After the catastrophe on Tuesday several of you have written to offer advice, hope and suggestions.
Reader Mark Gordon sent this list of ideas to expand the conservative base.
He gave me permission to post the list here.

10 Conservative Ideas to Expand the Base

Conservatives were beaten in this election so we must improve to win in 2014 and 2016. We need to add another 6-12 million voters to our side. The reason I am writing is to suggest 10 ideas to expand our base rather without surrendering our principles:

1. Hispanic Blogs – The Conservative blogs (Instapundit, Gateway Pundit, etc.) do a great job for much of America’s online readers but we’re missing 70% of the Hispanic voters who supported Democrats. Our team needs to seed and link to Hispanic blogs of all types: Spanish language, Cuban, Catholic, and even Pro-amnesty but otherwise Conservative (as many Conservatives do support this Bush/Rove stance). Similarly, we could support Portuguese (Brazilian) blogs. Most blogs have a “Favorites” section linking to other blogs but not a “Hispanic Favorites.” I’d suggest going further and listing “Diversity Favorites” toappropriate the language of the left.

2. Cartoons – These are the single best way to influence disconnected voters and to skewer liberals. Many people send cartoon chains via e-mail or post them on Facebook. Occasionally, Powerlineblog publishes a Michael Ramirez cartoon. Hugh Hewitt has cartoons at his Townhall http://townhall.com/political-cartoons/. Our blogs should highlight the best cartoon daily by linking to a database of Conservative cartoonists, perhaps Hewitt’s site.

3. Hispanic Talk Radio - Conservatives have a stronghold on AM Talk Radio but Rush and Hannity don’t speak Spanish. As I was finalizing this e-mail, listening to Rush, he said he always thought we should have a Spanish translation of Rush. That’s partly the point but we must incubate a dozen other Conservative Spanish/Portuguese speakers and sponsorSpanish-speaking, Conservative Talk Radio stations. Better yet, sponsor Diversity Talk Radio and include Black and Asian Conservatives. Ronald Reagan further honed ideas on Talk Radio in the 70′s; why not Mia Love or Allen West doing the same?

4. Partisan TV – Fox is derided as Faux News but is really closer to the middle than the other channels. The intent isn’t to abandon Fox but to augment it and have Democrats attack the partisan TV channel while they describe Fox as the more sober alternative. I don’t know anyone at Charter Communications but MSNBC would be an ideal partisan vehicle if they aired 50% Rachel Maddow’s and 50% Glenn Beck’s. Besides, Fox News as a Conservative-leaning station may not last much beyond Murdoch’s death and Roger Ailes’ retirement; let’s not risk it.

5. Facebook – “Best of the Web” is on FB with robust discussions but not Instapundit or Powerlineblog. I joined Facebook to understand how well liberals advocated for Obama in 2008 via social media. There was more pushback from our side on Facebook this time but not enough. Again, a daily cartoon or humorous picture on a Powerlineblog Facebook page could be “shared” by your readers to spread the message.

6. Database/Wiki-type site – We need a Wiki-like database of information on subjects of concern to which only Conservative blogs and trusted readers own the keys. Currently, each blog “tags” stories in their database. I’m suggesting a master database that accumulates in an organized fashion all the best, pertinent posts. It wouldn’t list every burp or sniffle posted, just the best information and blog posts. These are some possible topics:

• · Reporters/Organizations – this would have tabs on each of the liberal reporters and organizations such as Reuters with explanations of their bias. Every new story we discuss with their byline would include a link to their database where readers can peruse/ridicule/mock them for previous examples of bias.
• · Democrat leaders – keep a list of their shameful acts sorted by type of vice.
• · Racism – There are a staggering number of examples of Democratic racism. The reason Democrats prattle incessantly about racism is because their history is indefensibly racist and they are masking that fact while they reach out to minorities. Let’s organize the data and relentlessly explain that the Democratic Party is the party of the KKK, Jim Crow, Slavery, anti-Civil Rights, and racist quotas today whenever they try to tag the Republican Party with that slur. It would include, of course, a List of KKK members and party affiliation throughout history.
• · List of Minority Republicans – This would include leaders who were/are Black, Female, Hispanic, Asian, Indian, etc. It would be another way to refute the Democrat’s false charge every time they made it. The first minority VP was an American Indian for Republican Hoover; few know it because the left-wing doesn’t advertise it and the right-wing doesn’t care about skin color; however, we need to fight on their turf with these issues.
• · Anti-Semitism
• · Misogyny – This includes attacks on Sarah Palin and others
• · Homophobic behavior – There are plenty of liberal examples plus liberal support of anti-gay states like Palestine that torture and execute homosexuals.
• · Wasteful spending
• · Global warming
• · Examples of anti-science beliefs by liberals
• · Attacks on Conservatives – Misogyny is just a subset here.
• · Voting Fraud
• · Historical explanations of the Democratic Party (Bill Whittle filmed an excellent video on Democratic racism for PJ Media; that is the type of information needed).
• · Tutorials – Links, videos, reading material on Taxes, Spending, etc.
• · Sources for Conservative media – Referrals could include online web courses, fiction and non-fiction recommendations for movies, books, music. Also, some effective political ads by subject.)
• · Lists of the 50 most partisan newspapers – The implicit suggestion would be for our side to cancel their subscriptions
• · Lists of the most partisan Universities – This would be the top 50 partisans Universities ranked by highest percentage of liberal professors plus the 50 most intellectually-diverse Universities. Blogs could regularly remind their readers not to donate to these liberal institutions even alma maters but to support a local university from the list that is intellectually diverse.
• · Lists of the most liberal companies – Want to avoid giving your money to liberal institutions? List the worst offenders.

The intent of a Wiki database would be to provide a clearinghouse for quickly accessible information to combat the Democrats’ smear machine in a Breitbart-type fashion. When a Republican is falsely attacked as racist or misogynist or whatever, respond with a link to scores of Democratic examples of the same issue. Democrats have spent years searing into the culture false or inflated examples of conservatives as hypocrites, Luddites, sexists, racists, etc. We need a quick response database to provide the same and fight on their territory. The intent would not be a balanced or separate view; it would be a partisan database to quickly react to attacks by the left.

7. Jewish Blogs – Link to Conservative sites whether they’re pro-abortion or not (when I speak to staunch Republican women, they often hasten to add that they support a woman’s right to choose. We have to change minds, not ostracize them). We made solid gains in the Jewish vote but must expand. Also, we could support Muslim Blogs as moderate Muslims Conservatives are little different from other Conservatives.

8. Asian Blogs – Asians upped their support of Democrats dramatically. We need to get the Conservative message to the various groups and link to them from our Conservative blogs.

9. Women Blogs - They can be pro-abortion, pro-gay marriage, whatever as long as they primarily advocate Conservative positions. Ann Althouse is an example.

10. Jr. Achievement – This is just an idea for the Youth Vote, which increased its share of voters from 18% to 19%. They’re being indoctrinated by union teachers, liberal culture, and pseudo-news on the Comedy Channel. How do the experienced adults reach out to them and help educate them? Jr. Achievement, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Big Brothers Big Sisters, Comedy?

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Thanks to everyone for sending in their ideas. This is a long battle and we need everyone engaged.
I salute your patriotism.