The troubles surrounding the “National Tea Party Convention” present yet another example of why conservatives must be very careful in whom they lay their trust. I am someone who loves the idea of the Tea Parties, of grassroots organizing, online organizing, you name it. The more “organized” and active we can be, the better positioned we are to win. With that said, if I have one piece of advice for all conservatives moving forward it is this, don’t build things.
For a century now progressives have been building a vast money laundering network capable of subverting the Constitution and changing mass perception of issues. Raising millions of dollars while infiltrating and expanding their influence on education and the media, the left is a model for what not to do. They have combined unions including the SEIU, on the ground soldiering through ACORN, education warping through PIRG’s funded through mandatory fees, foreign policy defining and media warping through the Council on Foreign Relations, legal wrangling through the ACLU and so on.
There are thousands upon thousands of splinter organizations all of which seem self-contained but are really fronts for these larger entities to launder money and take larger control. Rather than create open and transparent operations that seek to shape public opinion through Democratic debate, the left pushes an extreme agenda subversively, rallying public opinion against things rather than for policy.
The powerful machinery they have created has been successful in demonizing our way of life and giving a minority of thought greater influence over our government. We are already living in a nation structured around a reliance on central planning and government intervention, social welfare programs and outright collectivism. Describe socialism to the public and the vast majority would reject it. Yet many of these same people are reliant on socialist programs and support politicians who are fighting hard to dismantle capitalism. The machinery has made us so gradually accustomed to socialism that few of our citizens recognize the difference between it and capitalism.
The counter to this is not to build an equally subversive and in many ways coercive machine on the right. Temporary alliance and some stable organizations are needed to achieve short term objectives that will build to long-term strength for our nation. For example we needed Tea Parties a year ago to organize. A year from now they may entirely lose their effectiveness or meaning. A year ago we needed Top Conservatives on Twitter to connect conservatives online. Today a conservative starting out with the service can easily find like-minded people and begin connecting without it. Both have lead to internal squabbles, power grabs, wealth generating schemes and other undesirable outcomes.
Conservatism, as we know it today, is about individual liberty and personal responsibility. Each of us wishes to dismantle massive government intervention. We can do this by cleansing ourselves of our reliance, reaching out to our neighbors, reforming our communities and seeking positions in society where our individual voices will join with others. We can also do it by rising and running for public office. We can create immediate and lasting progress by changing ourselves and rising as examples for others.
There are many voices I hear advocating an alternative way forward. They wish to consolidate power and raise money, to build organizations for fundraising and take control of local campaigns. They talk about grand goals, visions, an ever-lasting agenda and of course they see themselves as the central figures moving forward. Some of these people truly have the best intentions, many don’t.
We need true leaders to become politicians and change our system from within. We need conservatives to hold themselves up to the highest standards in their labor and act as towering examples in their trade. We need vigorous defenders of liberty. We do not need to emulate the corrupt and subversive system created by progressives.
Conservatism succeeds in the light, not in the dark. Progressives must pursue their goals while cloaked because the people would reject them otherwise. A conservative living a life steeped in and advocating for the pursuit of individual liberty, limited government, personal responsibility and a strong defense, will more often than not win the support of the public. When conservatives create walls between themselves and the public, when they build a hierarchy that needs to be fed to be sustained, they almost always fail. Mortals are fallible and when organizations of men are given too much power and influence, they fall because they seek self preservation through corruption rather than limitations on power for the benefit of the greater good.
Avoid the desire to build competing and lasting organizations. Take time to pursue and support individual leaders who express the conservative message and follow conservative action when given power. Building machinery similar to the Democrats will only lead to corruption, stagnation and counter our cause.
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