By Jonah Goldberg
Wednesday, September 04, 2013
It's no secret that the right is going through what some
call a healthy debate and what others see as an identity crisis.
For some, the solution to what ails conservatism requires
a sudden philosophical shift leftward to win back the last Rockefeller
Republicans, presumably hanging on in nursing homes like stranded Japanese
fighters who haven't gotten word World War II is over. Others argue that
Republicans must shake off the heresies of moderation and compromise and accept
the unalloyed true faith of 100 percent conservatism.
Those are hardly the only choices, of course. For
instance, some make a very good case for fighting fire with better fire and
offering a slew of superior policies and reforms than what the Democrats have
tacked up on the wall in recent years.
While I have my sympathies and positions in all of these
fights, I've long argued that regardless of what policies Republicans should
offer or what philosophical North Star they might follow, one thing the GOP
could definitely use is better politicians.
Ronald Reagan's cult of personality remains strong and
deep on the right, and I count myself a member of it. But what often gets lost
in all the talk of the Gipper's adamantine convictions and timeless principles
is the simple fact that he was also a really good politician. Barry Goldwater
was every bit as principled as Reagan, but Reagan was by far a better
politician. That's at least partly why Goldwater lost in a stunning landslide
in 1964 and why Reagan was a two-term political juggernaut. Reagan won votes
from moderates, independents and lots of Democrats.
To listen to many conservative activists today, we need a
candidate as principled as Reagan to save the country, but you rarely hear of
the need for a politician as good as Reagan.
Unfortunately, to paraphrase Donald Rumsfeld, you go into
elections with the politicians you have, not the politicians you want. So the
question isn't how to find better leaders but how to make the leaders we have
better.
One answer is really remarkably simple: Tell better
stories.
In July, Rod Dreher, the author of the memoir "The
Little Way of Ruthie Leming," wrote a deeply insightful essay for the
American Conservative on how the right has largely lost the ability to tell
stories. Worse, many of the stories we continue to tell "are exhausted and
have taken on the characteristics of brittle dogma."
This is a problem not just for Republican politicians but
for conservatives generally. For roughly 99.9 percent of human history, nearly
all of human wisdom was passed on in stories. We are a species that understands
things -- i.e. morality, politics, even religion -- in terms of tales of
heroism, sacrifice and adversity. And yet so much of what passes for conservative
rhetoric these days isn't storytelling but exhortation. Whatever the optimal
policy might be, if you can't talk to people in human terms they can relate to,
you can't sell any policy. The war on poverty, for instance, has been an
enormous failure in so many policy terms, but it stays alive because of the
stories liberals tell.
Consider immigration. There are reasonable arguments on
every side of the issue. But what is unquestionably and lamentably disastrous
for Republicans is the way they've allowed themselves to get on the wrong side
of this story. That is a tale most Americans love, even the ones who want to
slow or stop any further immigration, legal or illegal.
Go back and watch the video of Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.)
telling his family's story at the 2012 GOP convention, or Arnold
Schwarzenegger's speech at the 2004 convention. The same rank-and-file
activists who oppose "amnesty" swelled with pride and affection at
what this country means for the immigrant and what immigrants mean for the
country.
As Dreher noted, conservatives have largely abdicated
their role in "tending the moral imagination," which Russell Kirk
defined as "conservatism at its highest." Too many on the right don't
even claim what victories there are in the popular culture, which is far richer
and more rewarding than many older conservatives are comfortable acknowledging.
Many historians will tell you that the secret of Reagan's
political success was his gift for storytelling. By all means, Republicans, be
more like Reagan -- but don't tell his stories, tell your own.
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