I’ve searched and searched the links of the Southern Republican Leadership Conference website and can’t seem to find a declaration of their platform. Nothing that states what their position is on anything. Evidently this is one of those brotherhoods bound together by emotion and not reason. Cultists and para-militiamen. Disenfranchised and disillusioned. Their stand is a slogan or a rallying cry. Do they truly believe that a laundromat or a government can run on a simple slogan? Do they expect that if chaos reigns they will at least get theirs in the looting that will follow? At this point it’s all emotion. And a lot of that emotion is hatred.
Of course we’ve seen this form of government play out before. The leader is a “big picture guy.” The way it works is we hire a leader and the development and implementation will be carried out by his/her staff. We don’t have to go back too far in history for an example. Our most recent CEO president, George W. Bush, a renowned, failed manager in a number of businesses, and one of the prime examples of political nepotism (at least among C students in our country's history), supposedly delegated his messy details to the specialists. Condy and Karl were his brains, remember? Unfortunately, as often happens, individuals elected as leaders often succumb to their own ego and disregard the data, research, and intelligence, choosing instead to rely on intuition or some religious imperative.
Of course movements like this don’t run themselves and don’t run for free. It will take bag loads of cynical dollars to bankroll the apparatus that makes this splinter group a viable contender or even a force in determining the platform of the major party. Along the way there will be slander and mischief of all sorts done in the name of returning our country to its rightful state in the world. That’s where we're at these days.
The word that keeps popping up when I see the smug face of Dick Cheney or any one of a number of Wall Street bankers is cynicism. Cynicism is always lurking in the background of a lot of our political, financial, and educational arguments today. Cynicism is about the backstory. Cynics buy and sell people. They use them like marionettes. Of course all is well until the Don calls in his favor. That’s usually when reality confronts ego. The current state of the GOP is testament to that. Bush betrayed all of the core values of conservatives and left them to the mercy of wingnuts and fringers. One would have expected him to be a keynote speaker at this event or others like it. At least as leader of the party in residence.
Article comments
1 - Glenn Contrarian
RB -
It's not often that I read an article about politics and history as eye-opening as yours. I'm not surprised by all of it; indeed, the theme is "It's not what you sell, but how you sell it." Political candidates, Snuggies, Pet Rocks - it's all the same. It's how VHS beat out Betamax all over again. But sometimes the good guys win out in the end - PC still dominates, but Apple is slowly, surely leapfrogging the Monolith from Redmond. Time will tell whether the DNC can convince the voting public that Obama's built a better mousetrap, that we might see the electorate beat a path through that forest of angry pundits to his very door.
But the behind-the-scenes story is what I really enjoyed. Thank you!
(I just found out that the "better mousetrap" is actually a misquotation).
2 - Baronius
Well, it's a Republican event, so wouldn't their platform be the GOP platform?
3 - roguebutterfly
They seem pretty adamant in being non-affiliated. Lots of independents in there. For those who are Republicans, it seems like they feel betrayed by a party acting contrary to their core beliefs and platform over the Bush, the younger, years.
4 - Baronius
Rogue, I'm pretty sure you're wrong. Could someone else jump in and confirm this?
5 - roguebutterfly
Although he Republican Party is cetainly courting the Tea Party members the polling from the Wall Street Journal seems to indicate they are closer to an independent party than the GOP. Here's a link: http://bit.ly/bwPJ42
6 - handyguy
The SRLC and the Tea Party are two different animals. Their supporters no doubt overlap.
7 - roguebutterfly
Baronius, Sorry about that. There's confusion because it was ostensibly a Republican meeting populated by Tea Party types. They seem to favor Ron Paul, a Libertarian, with Mitt Romney as the default GOP candidate. It does get confusing.
8 - Dave Nalle
Rogue, did you attend this event? Do you actually have any idea what went on? For the most part this was not a tea party oriented event, but more of a mainstream GOP event. Not friendly territory for Ron Paul, either, though they attempted to have some influence.
Interesting that you point the finger at Viguerie. I've always found him to be creepy and opportunistic. But what you overlook is that the Democratic party has plenty of Vigueries of its own, and they are just as influential and just as corrupt.
The professional marketing of politics is a pervasive phenomenon which is not limited to any particular party.
Dave
9 - roguebutterfly
Like most people I tried to interpret and understand what happened via a variety of reports. It sure seemed that the tone and message tilted seriously towards that of the so-called Tea Party. The reception for Sarah Palin, the lack of a keynote from the acknowledged front-runner Romney, missing party leaders such as George Bush and Dick Cheney mean something when solidarity prior to November elections is critical.
I also find Viguerie creepy and agree that he probably has Democratic imitators of equal creepiness. But he is the acknowledged master marketer. What is wrong with recognizing the origins of the phenomenon? On his website he states: "Richard A. Viguerie is known as the “Funding Father of the conservative movement, and helped build the modern conservative movement, mailing more than 3 billion letters and helping raise over $7 billion since 1965 for pro-freedom groups and causes." Check it out here: http://www.vmionline.com/rav
Depending on which side you are on he is either a villain or a hero. He shouldn't be marginalized because of technology or pervasiveness of his innovations. It used to make my cringe when I heard Howard Dean's guy Joe Trippi get credit for his innovative fund raising via the internet. To his credit he never sang his own praises, at least not that I heard him.
10 - roger nowosielski
There's a term for what you're describing, Rogue: it's called "commodification," in this case, commodification of politics.
The medium is the message - wrapped, sealed and delivered.
11 - Glenn Contrarian
'commodification' - as in 'it belongs in a commode'?
12 - roger nowosielski
Derives from "commodity," Glenn. But of course you knew that.
13 - Glenn Contrarian
Sorry - I'm a natural-born commedian.
14 - Andy Marsh
I would've read it, but I can tell by the title that it's gonna be slanted, so why bother?!
15 - Baronius
Andy, you’ve got to read it. It breaks all kinds of new ground. It says that Bush is stupid, and the Republican leadership is cynical and manipulative - all stuff you’ve never heard from the left before. Best of all, it uses the ultimate “I’m dating a hot girl who lives in Canada” move, referring to inside information that some guy told the author once.