Subject: Conservatives
Date: Sun, Apr 27, 2014
Msg: 100947
About a month ago, someone commented that the transpartisan movement seemed to be dominated by left-leaning individuals and that this is a problem.
I would like to suggest a possible cause and two possible solutions.
I believe the cause of the problem is actually quite simple: conservative philosophy (with a few notable exceptions) is about limiting government and since government is currently dramatically beyond such limits, conservative philosophy is unavoidably a "no compromise" type of philosophy. A compromise to them, is a loss. So even a dialog is a loss -- or at least it feels like it to them. (A debate, on the other hand, they love, but that's different)
Left-leaning philosophy and moderate philosophy, on the other hand, is more about "let's come together and help each other" and this philosophy is more naturally transpartisan. In fact, this allows left-leaning people to claim the mantle of transpartisanship even if they truly aren't transpartisan -- because any dialog is a win, or at least it feels that way. Something to think about.
Here are two possible solutions...
SOLUTION #1: THE UNDERDOG STRATEGY
One way to get conservatives on board the transpartisan train is to look for places where conservatives are weakest -- e.g. San Francisco, the north east, or inner cities -- and focus on building dialog-structures there. To put it simply, conservatives in such areas benefit hugely from structured dialog since they effectively have no voice via the more formal political processes.
SOLUTION #2: CAP-AND-PRIORITIZE
If a right-leaning person is offered the limits they want in the context of a larger deal, you will find them willing to enter the dialog enthusiastically -- because they feel like they already won. This is the idea behind the cap-and-prioritize reform I keep talking about. (details at IncentiveReform.org)
Hope this helps.
- Rick Raddatz Founder, http://IncentiveReform.org 303-949-8075
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