Remember the 2008 election? Didn't it seem like a permanent game-changer at the time?
Dems and liberals tend to tragically underestimate Pubs and conservatives: They are clever and patient, and determined and persistent, and they play the long game, and know the difference between glory and power -- they can work in the dark when that is the best way to get things done, and let others have the spotlight. The movement-conservative network of grassroots and astroturf organizations dates back to the 1960s, and won a lot of real power by running for nonpartisan local elections candidates who concealed their radical conservatism; Dems never would have thought of that, but local governments do matter, and provide a bench of experienced talent for higher offices. The Koch brothers have been at work for decades trying to influence the course of public events through money alone. The American Legislative Exchange Council, turning out draft bills for state legislatures year after year, mostly flies under the radar. The Federalist Society of conservative lawyers meets in secret and will not disclose its membership roles, but you can be sure there are on it the names of many powerful people, including many who are invisible to press and public. And only a Pub would have thought of something like RedMap; it was sheer political negligence on the Dems' part that they never saw that coming or prepared defensive measures. And all of that will still be in place when Trump is gone.
We really need to do better. There has been far too much complacency on the left side of the aisle these several decades. We don't need a 50-state strategy, we need a 3,000-county strategy. Sitting around waiting for the GI and Silent generations to die and the Boomers to retire is no strategy; it will happen and it will make the general public less conservative, but you can be sure the Pubs even now are brainstorming ways to deal with that too.
Dems and liberals tend to tragically underestimate Pubs and conservatives: They are clever and patient, and determined and persistent, and they play the long game, and know the difference between glory and power -- they can work in the dark when that is the best way to get things done, and let others have the spotlight. The movement-conservative network of grassroots and astroturf organizations dates back to the 1960s, and won a lot of real power by running for nonpartisan local elections candidates who concealed their radical conservatism; Dems never would have thought of that, but local governments do matter, and provide a bench of experienced talent for higher offices. The Koch brothers have been at work for decades trying to influence the course of public events through money alone. The American Legislative Exchange Council, turning out draft bills for state legislatures year after year, mostly flies under the radar. The Federalist Society of conservative lawyers meets in secret and will not disclose its membership roles, but you can be sure there are on it the names of many powerful people, including many who are invisible to press and public. And only a Pub would have thought of something like RedMap; it was sheer political negligence on the Dems' part that they never saw that coming or prepared defensive measures. And all of that will still be in place when Trump is gone.
We really need to do better. There has been far too much complacency on the left side of the aisle these several decades. We don't need a 50-state strategy, we need a 3,000-county strategy. Sitting around waiting for the GI and Silent generations to die and the Boomers to retire is no strategy; it will happen and it will make the general public less conservative, but you can be sure the Pubs even now are brainstorming ways to deal with that too.
