California Conservative

After the election, I wrote a number of articles about the need for a radical transformation of GOP politics. Many of these articles highlighted the work of the people at RebuildtheParty.com. This morning, I read a post by Redstate’s Leon Wolf that puts things in their proper perspective. Here’s what Leon said that most caught my attention:

In the wake of Barack Obama’s astounding fundraising success in 2007-2008, which was largely fueled by an unprecedented web operation that collected millions of active donors and volunteers, many Republican strategists have begun to realize that the current state of web operations on the right is simply not acceptable if the GOP is going to be competitive in elections going forward. New websites are springing up left and right in an attempt to solve this problem, and established web sites and online activists have dedicated countless hours, posts, and emails in the last several weeks to navelgazing over this issue. I tend to think that much of this misses the point entirely.

Don’t get me wrong; our web operation is clearly and unacceptably behind the left’s, and these discussions need to be had or we risk perpetual minority status. However, I am sorry to say that our enfeebled efforts are not going to reach the needed levels just because our candidates master the use of Twitter. You see, an effective web operation only links people as they are; it does not change people into something they are not. And the bottom line is that, more than having been beaten by a superior operation, we were beaten by people who were more motivated and willing to get involved and donate than we were. Obama’s web operation was just a tool by which he took advantage of a pre-existing resource.

Now, as any farmer will tell you, it’s impossible to run a modern successful farm without a lot of the modern fancy farming equipment that makes operating a 3,000 acre farm with less than 10 farmhands possible. However, all the modern equipment in the world is useless if the dirt you’re planting your crop in isn’t good for growing that crop. My point, at long last, is that our primary focus ought to be on cultivating a need and desire in people to get involved in GOP election efforts.

I’m not trying to start a fight between the people advocating a more extensive use of high-tech tools and the people that focus on sharpening the GOP’s message. Instead, it’s my goal to help ensure these people work together.

I didn’t write this post believing that there’s a deep divide between people like Patrick Ruffini, who wants to drag the RNC into the 21st Century, and people who focus almost solely on message. I think there’s a far greater divide between RNC ‘leadership’ and rank-and-file conservatives.

One of the great challenges facing the GOP is sharpening our message and regaining our credibility on fiscal restraint issues. It’s been apparent that many inside-the-Beltway GOP strategists don’t see that as a priority. If these strategists don’t start paying attention to GOP activists who communicate via facebook, Twitter teh blogs & their iPhones, then they’ll stay inside their Beltway echochamber.

One of the reasons I have high hopes for the GOP, especially in the House, is because there’s an increasing number of politicians blogging and using Twitter. I thoroughly enjoyed the spontaneous nature of the House Oil Party last August. I loved how the House GOP drove the agenda during August.

It’s important to note, though, that Twitter, Facebook, the politicians’ blogs & YouTube were just the vehicle by which the House GOP got their message out. What killed it were GOP senators abandoning their House colleagues and joining the Gang of 20 when we had the ability to end the ban on offshore drilling.

That, along with McCain’s voting for the earmark-laden bailout bill, ended Republicans’ chances this election cycle. Had the Gang of 20 insisted on ending the offshore drilling ban AND McCain returned to Washington and said that the Gingrich Plan was the only plan he’s support, it would’ve increased his chances of winning the presidential election.

Our first priority is to establish a conservative, pro-growth, reformist agenda. Our next highest priority is to use technology to getting that message out, sending out action alerts and fundraising. Finally, we must offer a sharp contrast between the Democrats’ culture of corruption and our reformist agenda.

If we sharpen our message and use technology to get that message out swiftly and efficiently, we can regain our majority party status. That’s the goal we all should have.

Technorati Tags: Twitter, Facebook, Blogs, House Oil Party, Gang Of 20, Fundraising, RNC, Strategists, Activists, Conservatism, John McCain, Election 2008

Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 1st, 2009 at 10:09 pm and is filed under Activism, Author: Gary Gross, Election 2008, Energy, McCain, Technology, Washington, DC. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.