{"id":24769,"date":"2011-12-08T06:49:38","date_gmt":"2011-12-08T12:49:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/?p=24769"},"modified":"2011-12-08T06:49:38","modified_gmt":"2011-12-08T12:49:38","slug":"what-the-hell-do-we-do-about-the-mngop-now-part-iii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/?p=24769","title":{"rendered":"What The Hell Do We Do About The MNGOP Now, Part III"},"content":{"rendered":"

OK – so we’ve established that the MNGOP needs to fix its finances, and knock off the circular firing squads. \u00a0That’s all fairly obvious – although seemingly inscrutable to some in the party.<\/p>\n

But where do we go from here when it comes to leadership?<\/p>\n

Derek Brigham at Freedom Dogs and True North wrote up the spec sheet<\/a>:<\/p>\n

My ideal chair would be a person who:<\/p>\n

\u2014Relates VERY WELL with the grassroots without alienating the establishment. Working the other way around has been the norm since I have been involved, but this will no longer work\u2014honestly it never did. The numbers are with the grassroots, the leader should reflect this.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This is a tough one. \u00a0The “Grassroots” include a lot of people who come to their first meetings full of whiz and vinegar for an issue – who peter out as the reality of the long-term slog of party politics sets in. \u00a0And that’s where most of the energy comes from. \u00a0It’s a tough row to hoe.<\/p>\n

\u2014Envisions the MNGOP massively simplifying its tasks. As I wrote on Twitter a few days ago: “New agenda for party: do less, simplify, keep on track, let go of what you suck at, kick ass at what you do well”. The MNGOP at least for some time to come can not be all things to all people.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And it’s here that the DFL may have one of its few right ideas. \u00a0As I noted a few weeks back, the DFL is really just a holding company<\/a> that outsources a good chunk of its organizing,media and policy work to outside groups with an interest in the subjects (where “subject” is something like, say, “running a toxic sleaze campaign against Tom Emmer” or some such). It’s not the dumbest idea they’ve had.<\/p>\n

\u2014Can pull in BIG Money players, and have several routes to bring in small (read: a buck at a time) donations.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Goes without saying. But it’s good Derek said it.<\/p>\n

\u2014Operates with transparency and honesty. People loathe the last many years of bad bookkeeping. Conservatives pride themselves on financial efficiency.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The next party chair is going to face very angry party electorate demanding a very high standard.<\/p>\n

\u2014Would not push morality issues. The world is in economic collapse, this should be easy. Get with the basics: Small government, Individual liberty and responsibility, Create an environment for prosperity.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Y’see, that should be a gimme. \u00a0The party isn’t supposed to push policy. \u00a0It’s a fund-raising, communications and logistics organization (I’m oversimplifying, but not much).<\/p>\n

\u2014Become THE friendly oasis for businesses with our message. The DFL and Dayton are an absolute cancer to business and productivity in this state. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

While that’s the candidates’ job, the party does need to make sure it’s clear on its message. \u00a0The 2010 elections showed that we can <\/em>do it.<\/p>\n

\u2014Wants to take the bloated party platform down to fewer words than the Gettysburg address. Again, keep the principles strong and the words few.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Derek and I have been working on that for a while<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Another Twitter post I put up was this: “Want a party? Musts: Unite around core principles, Focus on opponents, Appeal to the Big money players, Avoid morality issues” Yes I do repeat myself a bit, but key in that statement was: Focus on opponents. There is a reason we play pin the tail on the donkey and not the other way around. You want to excel at in-fighting, go to a family reunion.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Let me sum it up: Win Elections For Our Principles.<\/p>\n

And that’s gonna be an interesting order to fill.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

OK – so we’ve established that the MNGOP needs to fix its finances, and knock off the circular firing squads. \u00a0That’s all fairly obvious – although seemingly inscrutable to some in the party. But where do we go from here when it comes to leadership? Derek Brigham at Freedom Dogs and True North wrote up […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[101],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24769","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-what-the-hell"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24769","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24769"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24769\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24780,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24769\/revisions\/24780"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24769"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24769"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24769"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}