Sunday, June 21, 2009

Where we are today, how we got here, and where we're going tomorrow

America’s Right Turn
by Richard Viguerie and David Franke (2004)

Conclusion: Where we are today, how we got here, and where we're going tomorrow

* Alternative media are: direct mail, talk radio, cable news TV, and the Internet
* An elitist clique cannot control the news today. "The death of big media."
* Unlike the liberals who receive billions of dollars each year from America's taxpayers, the conservatives use the free market to finance their below-the-radar and alternative media

Threats: Liberal attempts to shut down, regulate, and control competition in the arena of public discourse.

Alternative media and the future of liberalism:

* Muddled message of balance, dignity, and decency. Liberal's nuanced approach sends a mixed message to the audience (but black and white sells)
* Fear of long-term commitment toward building an alternative media and a new movement
* Inadequate capitalization--lack of either broad public support or long-term commitment from billionaire investors
* No mass ideological movement to sustain the effort of projects like Air America.
* Democrat-Republican wars are not a movement.


Robert Reich said, in a 2004 op-ed for the New York Times:

* There is a distinction between party and movement.
* It is crucial to build a political movement that will endure after particular electoral contests
* In order for a presidency to be effective, it needs a movement that mobilizes Americans behind it
* Any political movement derives durability from the clarity of its convictions. There's no better way to clarify convictions that to hone them [over time] in political combat.

The Left's real problem:

* Lack of clear-cut, coherent ideas
* Failure to think in long-term and formulate a long-term business plan
* Failure to understand and use free-market principles

Alternative media and the future of conservatism:
Two key issues:
1. The liberals' head start in utilizing the Internet as a fundraising and movement-building tool.

* The advantage of the Internet is that it involves people.
* A disadvantage of direct mail is the lack of real involvement on the part of both sender and recipient. It doesn't, for example, convince people to get involved as a precinct worker or in organizing a rally.

2. The surrender of the conservative movement to the Republican Party, resulting in the corruption of the conservative message into a merely GOP message.

* [Conservatives are selling out the conservative message to the self-serving agenda of the Republican establishment.]
* A movement does not depend upon the Party for its existence; it does not look to elected officials for leadership.
* Politicians are necessary to organize votes, but they do not provide the leadership on key issues.

Stirrings on the Right:

* Problems with a George Bush second term:
* Second GOP terms are always more liberal than the first
* This will mean a massive Republican defeat in 2006 congressional elections (i.e., growing conservative dissatisfaction with Republican Party establishment--conservatives will not vote Republican. Again, the Party is not the movement.)

Moral of the Story: Unhappy Conservatives should be taken seriously.

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