Vision Casting
I was on the phone with my friend Gary Gross the other day, when the conversation took us to one of my more “favorite” subjects…the Republican Party’s attempts to win elections by frightening us. I’ve written about this in the past. This “tactic” that the state party and several of our candidates have been using tell us all the reasons why their opponent is someone to be afraid of. It doesn’t provide what the electorate is looking for…a positive vision for the future…something to vote for, as opposed someone to vote against.
Regardless of party we have all gotten the calls…”you don’t want to vote for ______. He/she will be a rubber stamp vote for President Bush” and “you don’t want ____ as Governor…he’s too liberal!” What do these calls really tell us? They tell us that both parties are bankrupt of ideas and have nothing more to hang their hats on than petty partisanship. Neither side has a “vision” of where this country can or will go.
Think about some of the “great” politicians of the past. John F. Kennedy had a vision…that one day man would walk on the moon! Franklin Delano Roosevelt saw a day when paralytics could walk again and he founded the organization that came to be known as the March of Dimes. His cousin Theodore is the founder of the National Park system. Ronald Reagan was able to paint a vision of America as the “Shining City on a Hill” – a beacon of freedom that soon lead to the fall of the Iron Curtain! These men had one thing in common…they were vision casters! They had a forward vision of America and they articulated it in such a way that the American people were willing to follow! These great leaders didn’t demonize their opponent (that’s not to say they didn’t have surrogates do it for them), they laid out their vision to the country and the country followed.
Pessimism did not build this country! An attitude of “fear and loathing” does not win the hearts and minds of the American voter…the “can do” attitude of our Founding Fathers and the early English, Dutch, Spanish and Swedish settlers did! Tell us what you want to accomplish – or if you are already in office…tell us what you accomplished. A lot of our incumbents do have accomplishments – why are we not talking about them (Chairman Carey – I hope you are listening!) You have ideas…tell us about them. Tell us how you want to make this country (and Minnesota) a better place to live in. I guarantee that will resonate more with the public than “____ is a bitter, angry ex-comic”!
We need a vision caster today to lead the Republican Party out of the doldrums that it is in…someone who can remind the country that our greatest days are ahead of us, not behind us. We need someone who has a plan to take this country (and this state) in a forward direction.
We don’t need anymore “politics of fear”. Instead, let’s try the politics of hope! It works every time.
Regardless of party we have all gotten the calls…”you don’t want to vote for ______. He/she will be a rubber stamp vote for President Bush” and “you don’t want ____ as Governor…he’s too liberal!” What do these calls really tell us? They tell us that both parties are bankrupt of ideas and have nothing more to hang their hats on than petty partisanship. Neither side has a “vision” of where this country can or will go.
Think about some of the “great” politicians of the past. John F. Kennedy had a vision…that one day man would walk on the moon! Franklin Delano Roosevelt saw a day when paralytics could walk again and he founded the organization that came to be known as the March of Dimes. His cousin Theodore is the founder of the National Park system. Ronald Reagan was able to paint a vision of America as the “Shining City on a Hill” – a beacon of freedom that soon lead to the fall of the Iron Curtain! These men had one thing in common…they were vision casters! They had a forward vision of America and they articulated it in such a way that the American people were willing to follow! These great leaders didn’t demonize their opponent (that’s not to say they didn’t have surrogates do it for them), they laid out their vision to the country and the country followed.
Pessimism did not build this country! An attitude of “fear and loathing” does not win the hearts and minds of the American voter…the “can do” attitude of our Founding Fathers and the early English, Dutch, Spanish and Swedish settlers did! Tell us what you want to accomplish – or if you are already in office…tell us what you accomplished. A lot of our incumbents do have accomplishments – why are we not talking about them (Chairman Carey – I hope you are listening!) You have ideas…tell us about them. Tell us how you want to make this country (and Minnesota) a better place to live in. I guarantee that will resonate more with the public than “____ is a bitter, angry ex-comic”!
We need a vision caster today to lead the Republican Party out of the doldrums that it is in…someone who can remind the country that our greatest days are ahead of us, not behind us. We need someone who has a plan to take this country (and this state) in a forward direction.
We don’t need anymore “politics of fear”. Instead, let’s try the politics of hope! It works every time.
Labels: 2008
posted by The Lady Logician at
7:50 AM
1 Comments:
Ronald Reagan excepted, affable candidates are often the most dangerous of all, like Bush 41 and Pawlenty.
Drawing contrasts with your opponents is expected and a hard reality. But it can be done with class, criticizing their positions, not their personas.
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R-Five, at 11:52 PM
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