Looking for purpose.
Posted: June 27th, 2009 | Author: mberg | Filed under: General | 1 Comment »Now that I’m here, the question becomes why I’m here. Writing is inherently presumptuous; doing so in an already crowded field doubly so. With a wealth of informed and intelligable political commentary available perhaps my only likely audience is among those that know me. Perhaps that should be discouraging, but it’s not.
In the wake of the election there was a barrage of commentary on the state of the party and the direction necessary to lead it “out of the wilderness”. Most of it was tiresome, projections of ambition rather than any serious rumination, but it wasn’t all chaff. I disagree with Karl Rove on a great number of things, but he does have atypically astute political instincts, and on this matter I think he offered sound suggestions.
That said, the one thing that stood out was his assertion that “our party’s face is our congressional leadership”. This may be true for political junkies, but how many people would recognize even their own representatives? Most people ignore congress unless there’s a juicy scandal going on.
When it comes down to it, there is no consistent face to the party. Some see Rush Limbaugh. Some can’t shake the image of George Bush or Dick Cheney. Those living under a Republican governor might treat them as standard bearer. Each individual regards us through the lens of their personal experience, their priorities, and their preconceptions.
Far too often I bear witness to unfair and sometimes bizarre stereotypes about Republicans and, more broadly, conservatives. Perhaps by providing a counterpoint I can inspire some to rethink their assumptions and reshape the countenance of the party in their mind.
The divisions within the GOP run deep, no doubt. Anything more than minor victories will likely depend on the healing of those divisions, or the agreement to co-operate despite them.
To the outside observer, it appears as though the party is largely divided between those who believe it is moving too far from the base and those who believe it is moving too far from the center.
The party’s standard-bearer, who will no doubt emerge in time, will have to be a person willing and able to work with both factions. It’s walking a tightrope, and a thin one at that.
Perhaps the party could benefit from applying some of the principles of group therapy – engaging in intra-party dialogue in order to better establish their common ground and using that as a basis for further building.
Certainly the stereotypes which are floating around out there are harmful, and can only serve to foster further divisiveness. I have known a number of conservatives and Republicans (overlapping in many but not all cases) who are among the most kind-hearted, intelligent and decent people out there, and to hear those stereotypes applied to such people is distressing.
That said, stereotypes are typically born of observation, and overthrowing them is going to require that all the high-profile Republicans/conservatives out there start walking the walk.