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Wednesday, March 27, 2013 - Volume 4, Number 3

© Copyright 2013, The Ultrapolis Project.  All Rights Reserved.

Will Republican ‘Re-Branding’ Do?

GOP Report on GOP Reformation, First Sign of a Possible New Future


ALSO IN THIS ISSUE:

·         President’s Words in Israel Aspire to Great Effect, and None

·         Dad Talk on Sons and Pornography

·         Lean In’s Feminist Totalitarian Fantasy Becoming Total Fact by Mark Eastman

·         Cartoon: Gay Marriage and Easter Optimism by Christopher Weyant

·         UWFR Reader Survey Results - Part 1

 

FROM PREVIOUS ISSUES, WITH READERS’ COMMENTS ADDED SINCE:

·         A Gay Defense of a Traditional View of Marriage

 

 

Republican Report on Self-Reformation

Growth and Opportunity Report Turns on a Light

 

Earnest Reasonableness

 

Much has been made of the 98-page Growth and Opportunity Project (GOP – get it?) Report commissioned by Republicans to provide recommendations for how the Republican Party can make its way back to electoral victory at the federal level (it has been doing quite well at the state level), and what the report has to say about the party’s “re-branding,’ especially as the release of this report follows the 40th annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) held this month, itself surrounded by public speculation on where the party is headed.

 

The report actually has only 73 pages of assessments and recommendations, with the other 25 pages being nothing more than a re-statement of the recommendations made in the first 73.  Most of them have to do with logistics, technology, organization, and other practical aspects of campaigning.  The rest addresses the more exciting and controversial subjects of ‘messaging’ and policy.  Overall, the report reads like a typical corporate report, and reading it, a fair-minded person would glean that it represents an honest and intelligent, if incomplete, attempt at self-reflection.

 

Reading the practical aspects of the report, one gets, with a slightly sinking feeling, just how vast and enormously costly is a national election campaign, and therefore, how much more the practical facts of logistics, infrastructure and money determine the electoral outcomes, versus the merits of any candidate or policy, than they might have fifty years ago.  It makes more obvious why new ideas originating outside of established structures may never get far.

 

What? No Harikari?

 

The messaging and policy sections of the report have caused the most commentary, much of it critical from the Right because it is viewed as attempting to appease pop culture sensitivities, and from the Left because it is not calling for ‘fundamental’ change of “values and beliefs” that the Left sees as outmoded and even ill-intended.  One typical such critique from the Left comes from an online Chicago Tribune post (too short to be called an article) by Jessica Reynolds, titled “Republican Rebranding,” posted Monday, March 18.

 

Like so many on the Left, Jessica Reynolds’ recommendations as to what Republicans should do center on her belief that it’s not how Republicans are messaging, it’s the message.  Here’s our Life Rule #1 (#1 within this essay, anyway), to anyone anywhere in any organization doing anything at all:  The last person you need to listen to is the person that shares none of your values, buys into the negative propaganda about you, and wants you to lose.  Obviously, following Ms. Reynolds' solipsistic pro-Democratic definitions of good and bad (e.g. what constitutes a "war" on women, immigrants, etc.) she of course finds that the answer is for Republicans to "fundamentally" change their "values and beliefs."  No doubt, the change should be in favor of the values she already supports through her votes that almost certainly already flow to the Democratic Party (after all, she would not be voting for a party she believes is at "war" with her).  Ms. Reynolds, and her ideological kindred spirits, will never vote for Republicans because she already has a Democratic Party to vote for.  And what could the Republican Party change in its self that would lead her, or any other liberal leftist, to vote for them - except to stop being Republican?

 

If Republicans took her advice, not only would they not get her vote, they would lose their entire core base, and would be left only with the dwindling number of moderate Republicans who are not activist, and are far less likely to volunteer for any grassroots vote-getting efforts.  Having re-made themselves more like Democrats, their very reason for existence would be put into question, and soon they would cease to exist at all.  And Ms. Reynolds, and all those others so earnestly helpful with their advice, would not shed a tear.  It was, after all, the racist, anti-women party.

 

Truth to Self Can Be Risky

 

What if someone told her that to succeed in the journalistic world, she needed to fundamentally change her values and beliefs, to in effect, stop being who she is?  The thing is, it could be true that who she is, as a woman, or as a part of cultural minority with values antithetical to those of most journalists, might have been an obstacle.  The question would then be, should she listen to those successful in journalism that oppose everything she stands for, or should she double-down on making her case to the journalistic profession, knowing full well she may never be accepted?  Life Rule #2 (often ignored by young liberals): Nobody is obligated to make sure your life choices and beliefs are validated with success just because you are so sure of how morally and absolutely right you are.  Your choice then is to either act on what you firmly believe, or on what you think will bring you more profit.

 

The Republicans are failing. (No one except us here on these pages was saying so in the wake of the 2010 midterm elections, as we persistently predicted since then, despite the overwhelming Republican electoral success , that they were on a path to defeat in 2012.)  Sure, the reasons why are hard to prove.   It may be that there are no longer enough Americans that will ever buy into the Republican message of personal self-reliance and accountability for one’s own choices, economic freedom and autonomy, limited government, strong national defense, secure borders with legal immigration, and so on.  And, it is also a truth of life is that one can be absolutely right about something, say, being anti-slavery in the deep South of the 1840’s, and still be rejected by the world one inhabits.

 

Self-Shrinking Cycle

 

We do think the number of Americans receptive to the core Republican message is shrinking.  The force of pop culture driven by the alliance of huge, amoral, profit-hungry corporations that will promote any base desire and indulgence in exchange for another dollar, with the Hollywood Left that will take advantage of that greed, makes for a huge obstacle for Republican ‘messaging.’  Still, we don’t see that we have yet reached a point where that shrinkage is irreversible.

 

As we have been saying for years, the Republicans have fallen into a reactionary trap.  As with all reactionary movements, the signature feature is a failure to stop reacting defensively and evermore crudely to the opposition’s success and charges.  Our best example of this is the Republican Party’s re-doubled focus on entrepreneurs, at almost total exclusion of the concern of the majority of Americans, Republican or not, who work as employees of a company.  Not helping was the awkward Republican knee-jerk defense of major corporations’ decisions that have led to massive re-allocation of the nation’s income away from the middle class to the highest classes.  Moreover, they refused to even fully acknowledge the issue of stagnating wages for most Americans as one within the purview of public policy.

 

Just Say It

 

And yet, staying the Bush II course is not an option when it did not work!  As President Obama has correctly observed:  “we already did that.”  Life Rule #3 (often ignored by most conservatives): No rational, sane person is motivated, or even morally obligated, to support with votes or otherwise, an economic system that is not providing a fair economic path to prosperity –even if the entire economic pie is growing.  That Exxon and Apple are richer than ever, and making our economic pie larger, is of no value to a family if all the gains are going to a very few while that family’s welfare stagnates at best, or has its jobs outsourced at worst.

 

What is lost on so many Republican ‘free traders’ is that providing cheaper (and often inferior) products and services through outsourcing abroad not only reduces the quality and security of our wealth, it can reduce the size of our consumer base, and ultimately put the economy into cycle of decline – not to mention that cheaper prices are of little value to any people when that cheaper price was accomplished by lower wages for them, or their outright unemployment

 

Continued column 2 >

 

 

Ultrapolis World Forecast & Review

Ultrapolis Project – ultrapolisproject.com

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Editor: Marco Antonio Roberts

Copy Editor: Michael Alberts

Contributing Editors:

Mark Eastman

Mark Steele

 

contactproject@ultrapolisproject.com

 

 

 

The Chair of St. Peter, in St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City; symbolic throne of the first pope; and of the authority of his heirs as earthly representatives of God; as viewed by Catholics and, to lesser, varying degrees, by other Christians.  The 17th century sculpture of gilt bronze encloses an older wooden one from the 9th century.  For scale, imagine that a 10-story building could fit inside the nave before it.  The new Pope Francis I appears to prefer a more modest profile, but the demands of the office will soon force him to upgrade his image at least some.  People say they respect humility, but many only like to think they do.

 

 

 

< From column 1

 

The report hints that some of this is finally being considered at least in terms of messaging, if not in policy.  One excerpt from the report:

 

We should speak out when CEOs receive tens of millions of dollars in retirement packages but middle-class workers have not had a meaningful raise in years.

 

At last, the obvious is acknowledged. 

 

The Pitfalls of a False Conversion

 

However, the Republican policies of immigration and women’s concerns, the only ones discussed in the GOP Report document as requiring new Republican policies, are actually the least of Republicans problems. They just seem unpopular because many anti-Republican voters have not heard a rational, balanced, measured, and non-hyperbolic defense of Republican positions in these areas.

 

There is an actual case that can be made to immigrant minorities in how border security and control of the illegal flow of people across the borders is actually economically and politically beneficial to them.  And no one really thinks that not wanting to pay for your neighbor’s use of condoms, no matter how poor that neighbor is, constitutes a “war” (read hatred, violence, anger, bigotry) against women.  No one, that is, that would ever even consider voting Republican.  The Republicans paraded women and minorities at their national convention, and it did not help. 

 

Lastly, a craven flip flop on fundamental values that is motivated only by the desire for more votes will lack a coherent foundation for public policy and public debates, and will readily be used by the opposition of proof of two things: 1) The Republicans admit they were bigots; and 2) The Republicans have no core beliefs.

 

There is no single focus group, no media star ideological purist, no reactionary circling of wagons, and certainly no Democratic leftist, that will point the way out for Republicans.

 

The Hard Slog Ahead

(At Least It’s There)

 

The only real answer for Republicans (not discussed in the report) is a serious reflection on what they believe (or should) – and why; and without defensiveness when looking at where their ideological purity has fallen short in benefiting the lives of most human beings living in this country.  They will have to make a sober assessment - without agitation and provocation by people who live by ratings or who want Republicans gone - about what is truly fundamental belief and what is merely ideological opinion or emotional backlash.  Then, they will have to go door to door, to neighborhoods many have never visited, and make their case forcefully, respectfully, and unapologetically - come hell or high water.

 

Will they do it? Not yet.  But this GOP report is the first tiny sign of the possibility for a Republican resurgence in the years ahead.  More certainly, though, it is the first sign of huge battles to come within the GOP (the party).  And, even if the wisest win, as our Life Rule #2 says, that is no guarantee of anything.

 

***

Yes, it would be a comfortable and easy existence if everything we thought was good and true was actually good and true, and was always readily accepted by everyone else without argument or defense.  But, it might also be an existence in which, never being tested, we believed in nothing deeply, and never really and fully understood why anything is true.

 

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Obama Words in Israel Aspire

President Employs His Talents to Great Effect – and None

 

On March 21, the President of the United States delivered a speech at the Jerusalem Convention center before an audience of 2,000 Israeli citizens in the hall, and the millions watching on television.  It was elegant, thoughtful, measured, kind, and brave in its honesty.  It was a familiar Barack Obama, but one we had not seen since before the presidential campaign began.  The speech offered words that should be said, and were true to the spirit of the Hebrew phrase ‘tikkun olam,’ among the last he spoke, which mean “repairing (or healing) the world.”

 

Yes, great and good words that we are glad he said.  They will lead nowhere.

 

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Dad Talk on Sons and Pornography

Modern Advice Always on Being ‘Safe’ Ignores All Else

 

A public letter (why public?) from a dad to his son, written after the dad discovered massive amounts of pornography in his son’s computer that likely had something to do with a computer virus, got lots of play in the Huffington Post last September.  The letter focused on how it was okay to look for porn, and offered help directing the boy to safe websites that would not harm the son’s computer.

 

The 'don't condemn anything sexual' view that has been heavily and quite successfully promoted since the 1960's,

 

Continued column 3 >

 

< From column 2

 

through schools, television shows, movies, and just about any other medium available to kids, was obviously going to be further expounded on by the Huffington Post.  Fact is, though, just because something is 'natural' does not make it 'good' within a civilized and moral society. 

 

In a natural state, many things are normal for animals or humans without cultural education. We learn to restrain our natural urges in order to attain, hopefully, a higher level of existence.  It is not an accident that most porno ‘actors’ (as if they are not merely doing what they are supposedly acting) are people from very humble and broken homes lacking in a strong, educated parental presence.  As humans, we have to be taught to be monogamous and judicious in our sexuality.  And, there is something unsavory about helping feed a market that preys on the lost and the clueless.

 

Having said that, a wise father does recognize that there are normal urges, and just having them is not cause for condemnation; but neither is it cause for indulgence.  We would say "My dear son, it is natural to have animal urges - we all have them to one degree or another, and none of us are perfect at keeping them in check. But, you don’t have to be just a collection of animal urges.   You can be a civilized man, doing his best to subsume his sexual self to the road that with dignity maintains his honor as a gentleman, and with love leads to the one that will be with him for life."

 

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Lean In’s Feminist Totalitarian Fantasy

Come Total Fact

Sheryl Sandberg’s Vision:

Eradicate All Difference -

by Law if Necessary

 

By Mark Eastman

 

The feminist-friendly media regularly flood the airwaves and transmission cables with all manner of feminist messages and initiatives.  Although usually originating from a far Left that claims to base its truth on science, that is one thing that is routinely ignored in favor of worthless anecdotes that aim to pass for proof of something.  Sheryl Sandberg’s new book – and initiative - has recently ratcheted up the volume on hyper-feminist speech to the point of becoming an ever-present hum in our daily lives.  Like the air, it’s just there all the time.  And, like Houston’s air, you just get used to it after awhile, or deal with it with medication as best you can.

 

I’m sure Ms. Sandberg is a nice woman.  But many nice people can do harmful things to freedom when they are so sure of the sanctity of their truth.  In an interview on the Diane Rehm show on National Public Radio, as on other occasions, Ms. Sandberg made clear that only a representation of 51% of women among top executives can be considered acceptable and not requiring further laws to ensure that outcome.  This, after she admitted in that same interview that in Europe, where they have already implemented most of what she would like done in the U.S. in terms of laws and education, the proportion of women in top executive positions is only 1%, versus 15% for the U.S. 

 

For this reason, many of Sandberg’s advocates have made clear their sympathy for quotas in employment at all levels, in every profession, and even in reserving elected positions for women (women are just not volunteering to run for office enough to suit Ms. Sandberg and her allies).   

 

Did you know that when you factor for professions and time in service, the gender wage gap that you hear talked about constantly by the mainstream media almost disappears?  In other words, men and women working in the same professions and the same length of time, make about the same.  But, more women freely choose professions that don’t pay as much.

 

Did you also know that when you factor unemployed people, men are actually worse of, due to higher unemployment among men?  If you did, you certainly did not learn that from any fawning interview with Ms. Sandberg.  No hard questions are asked at all.

 

Ms. Sandberg’s vision can only be achieved by forcing the result through measures that heavily intrude into people’s individual decision-making: by pushing women and men to make different choices than they would otherwise make if left to their own considerations, and by requiring ‘woman-friendly’ policies that are in actuality ‘Sandberg women-friendly’ policies. In time, they will get them, even if it means forcing companies to re-write every job description, and creating different standards for men and women (as they already have in the military, law-enforcement, and firehouses). 

 

Woman once made equal to man, becomes his superior.

-Plato

 

As a young man I used to wonder what that meant.  Seems clearer now.

 

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Easter Optimism

 

 

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