Takeover (37 page)

He blames us.

There are thousands and thousands, probably hundreds of thousands, of Americans who are now active in the Tea Party movement and other conservative grassroots organizations, who want the Constitution to be followed, who by their mere existence demonstrate we have the
numbers
to take back the Republican Party.

This strategy is not rocket science. Just good, old-fashioned, basic American civics. What Tea Partiers and limited-government constitutional conservatives seem to lack is the basic civics information on how to become precinct committeemen and women—and the curiosity to dig it out.

Start by asking around. If you don’t know who your Republican precinct committeeman is, chances are the office is vacant or he or she is a do-nothing RINO who is holding down the job merely for the “honor” of the title, not to restore constitutional government to America.

If you can’t find the Republican Party rules for your state online,
which should set forth the rules for electing precinct committeemen, you should be able to get the necessary forms from your local election official, such as the county clerk or supervisor of elections.

In some counties your interest will be welcome—in others, not so much.

You may be seen as a threat to the establishment, so you need to be the judge of how public you want to make your efforts. If you get the cold shoulder from your local Republican organization, don’t be surprised, but don’t be dissuaded—in most states precinct committeeman is an elected office, and you have just as much right to run as any other person who meets the qualifications.

You can go to our website at
www.goptakeover.org
for information to supplement what Dan Schultz and Phyllis Schlafly have compiled.

What’s Dan Schultz’s plan for conservatives to take over the Republican Party and govern America according to conservative principles by 2017?

In its simplest form it is this:
Elect a majority of Republican precinct committeemen who subscribe to limited-government constitutional conservative principles in every county in America.

Can such an audacious plan be accomplished?

Yes, if YOU file and run for precinct committeeman or woman in your precinct.

E
arlier in this book I told you about “Viguerie’s Four Horsemen of Marketing,” which are:

• Position (a hole in the marketplace)

• Differentiation

• Benefit

• Brand (what makes you singular or unique)

The Republican establishment is losing elections because they have failed utterly to apply my four principles to politics.

As Democrats-lite they occupy no unique position or hole in the marketplace of ideas; Democrats own the position of the party that delivers ever-increasing services and “benefits” of Big Government to “clients,” and Republicans are never going to be able to outbid the Democrats for those votes, nor should they want to.

As progressives, “me too” Big Government Republicans have little or no way of positively differentiating themselves from Big Government Democrats. They long ago surrendered any claim to being the party of good government and joined, and then exceeded, the Democrats in their pay-to-play cronyism and special interest–driven corruption.

The benefit of electing an establishment Republican eludes most voters, but it appears to be framed by the GOP’s Capitol Hill establishment as something along the lines of “vote for us, and socialism will creep over America a little slower,” and we run a more efficient Big Government.

Brand is really defined by a combination of the other three elements; it is what makes Republicans unique and stand apart from Democrats. So it is little wonder that in the hands of the current Republican establishment leadership, the Republican Party’s brand has been diluted to the point that it is seen by conservatives and conservative-leaning independents as little better, and maybe, because it is so hypocritical, even worse than the Democrats.

To help you understand how to apply my Four Horsemen of Marketing, I’ve selected an organization and a politician to illustrate by example how to apply these marketing concepts to you or your organization.

Rand Paul,
Kentucky’s junior senator, elected to the United States Senate in 2010.

Position (hole in the marketplace)

Limited government, constitutional conservative with significant libertarian leanings.

Differentiation

Rand Paul consistently approaches public policy from a strongly libertarian perspective, making him the only libertarian-leaning US senator. That, combined with his close association with his libertarian father, differentiates Rand Paul from all other US senators.

Benefits

Paul appeals to important parts of the voting public that Republicans need and have trouble reaching—Libertarians and young people. He inherits much of his father’s political base (supporters and donors), but not the negatives.

Brand (what makes Rand Paul singular/unique)

Articulate, attractive, and ambitious libertarian leaning in domestic, foreign policy, and social issues, popular with the Tea Party movement, but still remains in the mainstream of Republican and independent voters.

Students for Life (SFL)
Is a large pro-life organization, headquartered in Manassas, Virginia, led by a dynamic young wife and mother, Kristan Hawkins.

There are numerous good pro-life organizations, but it’s hard to tell how most differ from the others. And if you want to be effective, you’ll need lots of members, money, and media attention. But it will be difficult for this to happen unless you positively separate your organization from your competition in the public’s mind.

Position (hole in the marketplace)

SFL starts with a strong advantage because their name separates them from all other pro-life groups.

Differentiation

SFL differs from all other pro-life organizations because their leadership is young and their audience is exclusively students, and a youth organization is seen as being best equipped to communicate with other youth.

Benefit

Supporters, and potential supporters of the pro-life cause, as well as the media, can easily and quickly grasp the importance and effectiveness of young people counseling other young people.

Brand (what makes SFL singular/unique)

This is a combination of the other three, plus what SFL has done with the stories they tell, graphics, social media, website, etc., to stand apart from all the other pro-life groups.

In the words of America’s best-known marketer, Seth Godin, in a field of cows that all look alike, you can’t tell one from another; however, if one is a purple cow, it stands out. Students for Life is a purple cow standing apart from all other pro-life groups.

But the establishment Republican Party is no purple cow—like the Democratic Party, it is merely another vehicle for advancing Big Government and the spending, deficit, debt, and loss of liberty that goes with Big Government.

The only way for the Republican Party to reestablish its brand, and start governing America is for it to become differentiated from the Democrats. And the only way for Republicans to do that is for the GOP to become the political home of limited-government constitutional conservatives, and then to field candidates who will actually
articulate, campaign on, and govern according to those principles.

Too often we conservatives have gone to bed after a hard-fought campaign, such as the 2010 congressional elections, thinking our candidates had won and conservative governance was just over the horizon. However, even though our candidates defeated both the Democrats and Republican establishment candidates, the push for conservative governance stalled because the leadership of the Republican Party remained firmly in the hands of establishment insiders.

That means limited-government constitutional conservatives must not only run in and win Republican primary elections; they must also run for and win Republican Party leadership positions.

Or to put it in a way that even teenage kids can understand; we need to (politically) walk and chew gum at the same time.

I wish I could hand you a plan that was guaranteed to accomplish that goal, but I can’t. Formulating such a plan, given the vast number of precincts and counties in this country and the state-specific rules and regulations governing elections for public and Republican Party office, is beyond the scope of any book or the powers of any individual.

What I can do is give you a plan for a plan, a road map of how to formulate your own specific plan for winning your local precinct committeeman campaign or your campaign for public office, be it city council or United States Senate, and for rebuilding the Republican Party’s brand in the process.

Don’t be intimidated by the notion that you have to go through the process of planning to accomplish your vision and goals—you do the same thing every day. For example:

Vision
: enjoy quality time this evening with the family

Goals
: eat together and play a game after

Strategy
: have everyone participate either by cooking, setting the table, or cleaning-up

Tactic
: fix family’s favorite food and choose a board game that the children will enjoy

See, it’s not so hard after all.

So, I invite you to gather your friends, family, Tea Partiers, and limited-government constitutional conservatives around your kitchen table or living room. Set up the whiteboard or a scratch pad, as we did at my home when the leaders of the New Right planned the strategy and tactics we used to help put the Reagan Revolution in motion.

Start by writing Vision, Goals, Strategy, and Tactics on that blank sheet of paper, and then with the wisdom and input of your team, identify the activities necessary to accomplish your vision, and the names, dates, and dollars needed to accomplish your plan.

It doesn’t matter if your vision is as simple as running for precinct committeeman in your precinct or as complex as Ted Cruz’s decision to run for the Senate; this model can work for you, because it worked for those of us who helped build the conservative coalition that elected Ronald Reagan.

For limited constitutional government, liberty, and freedom under God’s laws to be the guiding principles governing America by 2017:

1. Elect 300+ new principled conservatives to the state legislatures

2. Elect 30+ new principled conservatives to the US House of Representatives

3. Elect 8+ new principled conservatives to the US Senate

4. Defeat 8+ establishment Republican members of the US House of Representatives

5. Defeat 2+ establishment Republican members of the US Senate (Alexander, TN; Cochran, MS; Cornyn, TX; Graham, SC; McConnell, KY, Roberts, KS)

6. Elect 100,000 principled conservative Republican precinct committeemen in the approximately 186,000 precincts in America

7. Have conservatives take control of a majority of the GOP state committees

8. Elect a majority (85+) of principled conservatives to the 162-member Republican National Committee, giving conservatives control of the RNC

9. Have conservatives’ top three or four issues dominate the public policy debate

10. Celebrate for no more than one day; then get to work on 2015 goals

1. Continue working on any unachieved 2014 goals

2. Replace the chairman of the RNC, Reince Priebus, with a principled conservative

3. Have conservatives’ top three or four issues dominate the public policy debate

1. Continue working on any unachieved 2014 and 2015 goals

2. By February, unite conservatives behind a principled conservative Republican candidate for president

3. Nominate a principled conservative for president

4. Nominate a vice presidential nominee who will unite the four main voting blocs of the twenty-first-century
Republican base: social conservatives, economic conservatives, Tea Partiers, and libertarians

5. Focus the 2016 election on conservatives’ top three to four issues so that when we win we will have a mandate to govern

6. Elect a principled conservative as president

7. Celebrate Election Night, perhaps all the following day (after all, how often do we elect a conservative president and Congress?), then get to work on 2017 goals

1. Demand that in the first 100 days Congress pass major elements of the agenda we campaigned on in 2016

2. Demand replacement of all executive branch political appointees with principled, limited-government constitutional conservatives

3. Demand the new Congress launch government-wide investigations of abuses of the Obama administration, including, but not limited to the IRS, NSA, NLRB, ATF, EPA, and the attorney general and leadership of the Department of Justice

4. Demand that the president and Congress repeal all unconstitutional and illegal executive orders issued by President Obama

1. Before the filing date for elective office in your state, including precinct committeeman and all Republican Party offices, gather like-minded individuals together to use this model to formulate a plan to field limited-government constitutional conservative candidates and
take over the Republican Party at the level at which you operate in politics and public life. If you are involved in politics in your county, gather your Tea Party and other limited-government constitutional conservatives to develop a Vision, Goals, Strategy, and Tactics plan for your county. If you are a state leader of a conservative organization, bring together your peers to do the same.