THE BIG IDEA: A new conservative self-help manifesto from the head of AEI
— Arthur Brooks, president of the American Enterprise Institute, is positioning his think tank to play a bigger role in 2016, offering more issue briefings and debate preparation for candidates. His new book out this week, “The Conservative Heart,” can be read as a communications manual of sorts. It also prods GOP leaders to outline a conservative social justice agenda. “Forget the scapegoats,”Brooks writes. “When the vast majority of Americans agree that conservatives are not compassionate, the time has come for a little introspection. The central problem is not what others say about us. It is what we say about ourselves.”
Brooks, who told The Daily 202 that Jeb Bush has already read the book, is upset by the extent to which Republicans have run against Barack Obama in recent elections, rather than outlining their own vision. He thinks the GOP must become less “oppositional” to become a majority party. “Our politics have to be joyful, optimistic and in the service of people,” he explained in an interview. “Right now, the left and right are offering two negative, pessimistic, dividing options
Arthur Brooks concludes his book with “Seven Habits of Highly Effective Conservatives,” a 38-page self-help manifesto for how lawmakers should talk so that real people will listen. Here is a summary of his key points—
1. Be a moralist. “Instead of championing low-wage Americans, conservatives sound like tax accountants to billionaires,” Brooks writes. “When we cheerlead entrepreneurship, for example, we usually heap praise on rags-to-riches outliers who are now multinational executives.” In explaining their opposition to a higher minimum wage, he urges conservatives to “stop laboring to explain inflation cycles, consumption patterns, and the laws of supply and demand.” Instead, he says, “lead with your heart and offer a statement of principle.” 2. Fight for people, not against things. Using a word cloud from Ronald Reagan’s 1980 RNC convention speech in Detroit, Brooks points out that “people” appeared more than anything else. He argues that the Great Communicator never got bogged down in wonky specifics. Brooks writes. “Economics runs quietly in the background, like your computer’s operating system … Republicans today have become like a bunch of computer geeks talking about ‘bits,’ ‘algorithms,’ and ‘binary values.’ Most people don’t understand that stuff or much care about it.” 3. Get happy. “How often did you see Ronald Reagan truly angry? … His jokes were more devastating than any fire-and-brimstone words could have been,” Brooks recalls. “Thin skin and a hair trigger make us look like an angry political minority.” 4. Steal all the best arguments. “Make the arguments for empathy and compassion,” he writes. “Trait-trespassing is the right thing to do and it’s the only way to win nationwide.”
This reminds me of G W Bush's compassionate conservatism in his 2000 campaigns, much to the credit of Karl Rove. Bush certainly had pushed the right button. a stark comparison to the political utopia of some of our Chinese "conservatives",!who have been very active of late. In their world everything is a zero-sum game.
@三国 “Yesterday was the second biggest day in ActBlue history ($4.6 million raised for Democrats and progressives!), and a huge win for small-dollar donors. But Republicans emailed their supporters saying that we're "flaunting it."” 给Lindy捐完款就上了Actblue mail list了。不知这些捐款都是谁捐的？大款就直接写支票了
