Tuesday, December 31, Steve Deace
This is the day for tactics, called “Ten Commandments for
Political Warfare.” Deace has written these in a book called Rules for
Patriots, as an antidote to Saul Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals. Deace
doesn’t believe we should be using the opposition’s tactics, which require a
fair amount of deception and just plain evil. He’s not worried about sharing his
strategies openly. He’s certain that these positive ideas won’t work for them
opposition, because they preclude relativism.
As he says, we conservatives need to know what we believe.
And then we need to know how to conserve those things. Tactics help us do that.
He spent the entire first hour on rule 1.
1.
Never trust Republicrats.
He’s referring to
those who are actually uncomfortable with conservative principles—saying what
they have to to get elected, and then getting away with being like the rest of
Washington once they get there. The way to tell is by which hills a person is
willing to die on. He gives the “liberty score,” taken from the last 50 votes
taken, of various legislators. These include people who sometimes get praised
as conservative heroes: Devon Nunes 33%.
Lindsay Graham 30%. Elise
Stefanik 24% (not even for tax cuts).
Doug Collins 48% (in deep red Georgia). Some Republicans elected in deep
blue districts vote as they would if they were Democrat—more than 90% of the time. These are enemies
within the gates. I think we're allowed to praise them when we conservatives approve of what they do, but don't be fooled into trusting them to regularly do what we would approve of.
2.
Never attack what you’re not willing to kill.
Example was Donald Trump,Jr. on The View recently. It’s hard to do. But if you’re going to take
the hit anyway, then don’t be gentle. They’re going to treat you like the
Covington kids anyway, so why be nice in hopes of avoiding getting hit? Go
ahead and lay waste. With truth and reason of course.
3.
Never accept the premise of your opponent’s
argument.
Never means never.
Fear of getting banned on social media is real, but don’t give in. There’s an
example headline from RedState recently—"A Lesbian Couple Identifying as Neither a Straight Nor Gay Couple Has a 'Miracle Baby'—With the Sperm of a Man Identifying as a Woman, Thanks to a Transgender Doctor." Not biologically possible, so why
pretend? To translate, a woman pretending to be a man got a sperm donation from a man pretending to be a woman, and then gave birth not exactly miraculously. If you verbalize your opponent’s talking points, you help promote
them. Whoever’s premise is accepted in an argument always wins. Just go, “I’m not using your talking points.
You wouldn’t use mine. Why would I use yours?” Don’t use the word “abortion”; say “baby killing.” Don’t use their
terms. Why sanitize for them? (I still frequently use the clinical term abortion, and sometimes say baby killing. But I do not use the term pro-choice, which is so inaccurate that it is simply a lie.)
4.
Never surrender the moral high ground.
Again, never means never. Example: Obamacare debate, the most
anti-constitutional policy in American history. Not just unconstitutional, but anti-constitutional—intentionally
attempting to undermine. Republican politicians didn’t argue the wrongness;
they argued, “We can’t afford that.” So, it would have been OK if we’d had a
budget surplus? We’ve suffered from decade(s)
of being conditioned to think everything’s doable by government if it’s just
expedient enough. Republicans missed an opportunity by playing “nice” when courts ruled against late-term
abortion, or baby killing, based on cruelty to the baby. If it’s a baby, why
didn’t we go ahead and at least ban all abortions after 20 weeks like all but seven other nations have done? Clue:
If France is to your right on something, you’re wrong.
5.
Reverse the premise of your opponent’s
argument and use it against him.
Ronald Reagan offered
many examples. Asked if he was to blame
for nation’s economic misery, before his reforms made the difference, he said, “Well,
you’re right. I used to be a Democrat, so I do share some of the blame.” When
confronted on the campaign about his age, he said he wouldn’t use his
opponent’s youth and inexperience against him. Hoist them from their own petard. This is especially when done with
humor or winsomeness. How to use it: When they say the only reason you dislike
Obama’s policies is that you’re racist? Hold them to their own premise: The only
reason Detroit doesn’t allow school choice, or that we had more on food stamps
under Obama than the total population of Spain, then, it's because you’re a
racist. Make the other side live by standards they force you onto you.
6.
Never abandon your base unless they’re
morally wrong.
Even the Republicrats
believe this. In 2016 the base cared about judges. Those who cared about
getting conservative judges voted for Trump by 16+ points. If we had let Obama seat
Antonin Scalia’s successor, all the base would have been lost. So the Senate had to fight Merrick Garland. Trump doesn’t
abandon his base. He won’t throw you under the bus on an issue you care about. This
demonstrates how powerful you are, even with a Republican hierarchy that
hates you; they have to do what is important to their base.
7.
Define your opponent before they define
themselves, and define yourself before your opponent defines you.
Example: the word
“liberal” was annihilated—by Reagan, then Bush in 1988. That’s why the
opposition uses the term “progressive” now. Liberal is still used in conservative
media, though. Glenn Beck transitioned early to talking about Wilsonian
progressives and Fabian socialists. Deace uses the term leftist (which, if
you’ve read anything about the Spherical Model, you’ll understand why I don’t
go with that). There may be a lot of “liberals” among our friends and family,
but none in Washington. The opponents change the language. And they use the
full coercive power of government to compel you. That’s who they are, so let
that be known.
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| Steve Deace image from Amazon.com |
8.
Always make your opponent defend their record
and belief system.
Example: During his
presidential campaign, Rand Paul insisted that personhood begins at conception,
and used phrases from the Constitution to support the rights of persons: “No
person shall be denied…” “Equal protection for all persons under the law.” He
was attacked by Debbie Wasserman Schultz with a question about when a zygote
becomes a person. He answered, essentially, “I’ll answer your question about zygotes if you
answer when you considered the children you carried to term to be children.” A
couple of reporters actually asked her that question. She couldn’t get out of
that fast enough. Christians—we should always have a reason (apologia) for what
we believe. That doesn’t mean to always be on the defensive. Having a defense
is not the same as letting yourself get cornered. When they say, “That’s offensive,” say, “The
truth is often offensive.” Do not feel like you have to constantly be the one on
the witness stand. Make them defend what they believe, at least for a change.
9.
Stay on message.
When you have a
winning message, play the hits. This is not the time to play your new stuff. When
you go to see Elton John in concert, you want to hear some “Tiny Dancer,” some “Candle
in the Wind.”
10.
Play offense.
Nothing inspires your
base more than that.
As Deace says in closing on New Year’s Eve, “2020 is going
to be nuts. You need to be equipped for it.”
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