Thursday, November 13, 2008

An Appeal To The Other Side

Erick obviously chose his side some time ago. Today, he obliquely responds to calls for moderation in the Republican Party.
Remember: moderates and independents do not have a governing set of principles to guide them. They look at each issue on its own. There are plenty of issues out there that would bring the conservative coalition and add to it those it needs from the pool of unaffiliated voters.

My Appeal To Moderates may seem to re-inforce this statement, however as "so called conservatives" are wont to do, Erick takes a very narrow and mostly unflattering view of the issue.

Yes, moderates do tend to look at issues individually but what Erick fails to acknowledge is they tend to look at all issues. While he and other hardliners look to build coalitions of all or nothing single issue fanatics who for the purpose of winning tolerate a thin slice of those who mildly disagree, moderates wish to build coalitions based on the elements where everyone has a part of the conversation.

One of the battlelines in the war is the differing philosophies of principles. One believes principle is governed by single minded passion. One believes it is governed by reason.

One side also wishes to create a fog of war so that you believe the other side no longer exists. Fogs only blind those who remain still. Those who walk forward soon find the new and wondrous as well as the old and familiar.

2 comments:

rptrcub said...

Could they at least stop attacking gay people as part of a strategy to get voters? Thank you.

Unknown said...

Ever had a conversation where everyione is "having a say"? Not much gets done.

Having principals and leading on those principles attracts supporters.

That is the problem for both parties. The first one to discover a set of principals not driven by focus groups and something-for-everyone group-think will win a landslide.