Keep on message. That’s the way for the Paul campaign to get through.
There need to be new messages. They cannot only be the old ones of cutting taxes, say, or ending inflation. These have far too many associations with political hot wires that turn off various voters.
There need to be new over-arching themes that resonate. The content ultimately may be the same in terms of actions, but the packaging is different. That is what political leadership is about.
Bring all (or many) queries back around to this costly, futile, and dangerous war. Pakistan? Iraq shows us we should stay out. The domestic economy? Iraq has fueled sky-high oil costs and borrowing. It has weaskened the private sector.
Attack the Democratic Party for its unswerving support of war-funding and its efforts to bring us more war in central Asia. Attack Clinton on this. Root out Obama’s support for this and attack him.
By all means, attack McCain and other warmongers among the Republicans.
Who funded this war? Who sponsored this war? Democrats and war-making Republicans.
Stay on message and attack strongly and repeatedly and consistently. Here is a stream of possible thematic material:
War-making has weakened the dollar, the domestic economy, and America’s standing in the world.
We need to repair all three. The war industries, the war media, and the war politicians are constantly stimulating harmful reflexes: interventions, wars, higher taxes, inflation, debt, and foreign interference. We must reject these special interests who are destroying our money, our home economy, and our country. We must reject the twentieth-century politics and politicians who have chosen to keep us in endless warfare. We must look ahead to a period of rebuilding.
Only by rebuilding America at home can America restore its traditional role as a peaceful economic and moral leader. Only by ending extravagant government at home and abroad can America repair its domestic economy. Only then can it engage in constructive trade and social relations with the rest of the world rather than warlike dominance.
We want a strong America that minds its own business. The world is full of trouble spots. If we scratch at every one that itches, we will end up bleeding to death. We will weaken ourselves, not strengthen ourselves.
We must engage in watchful and patient non-intervention, all the while building our own strengths and solving our own many problems. Medicare faces bankruptcy, for example, and only a change in the way our health care sector is governed can result in the medical resources and advances that will service our aging population. An America with a far smaller government will be an America that will rapidly advance into the 21st century and solve its urgent domestic problems. An America with a far smaller government will be a far stronger, more prosperous, and defensible America.
An America that disengages from the politics of other nations will be a more neutral and fair America. This America will not take sides in 100 other countries by choosing favorites. And this disengagement from the domestic politics of other nations will defuse anti-American sentiment and give it no fuel to burn and threaten us with its flames. America will become a safer and stronger America.
America must lead, really lead. America needs twenty-first century leadership. That means serious change. It means downsizing the role of our federal government abroad and at home. And by disengaging overseas, our domestic economy will be put on a far more stable and secure basis.
11:50 am on January 4, 2008
