Post-Election Musings Part II

Now that the election results have shown that there is definitely an anti-status quo mindset among much of the electorate, what's the next step?  I mentioned in my last post that there seems to also be some cognitive dissonance going on with people that will vote down taxes, but will also vote for the same people that want to raise taxes.  Some might argue that people just want something for nothing. There are probably a few votes that can be explained that way, but not many.  People know on one hand that high taxes hurt family budgets.  However, they also seem to think that voting to cut government programs, no matter how wasteful, inefficient and demanding of ever higher levels of taxation they are, isn't "nice," and so they vote for people that are going to keep these programs running and either raise taxes or run deficits to pay for them.  In order to change this, conservatives need to tailor their message to this reaction.  They need to communicate this message (more effectively than I will here):

1.  The taxpayers, which includes your neighbors, family and friends, already give the government huge amounts of money.  It isn't "nice" of you to vote for people that want to be more generous with their money. 
2.   Government agencies with "nice" names often don't do what their names imply.  The Department of Education has little to do with the successful education of children.  The EPA does little to protect the environment.  These are mainly political organizations for implementing controversial policies without a public vote.
3.  It isn't "nice" to give people just enough public money and/or services to maintain them as the "working poor", when those people might get out of poverty if that money were left in the private sector.
4.  If we don't make serious and immediate government cuts, the level of taxation and restrictions on freedom that will be required in the future will ensure that the lifestyles of our children and grandchildren won't be "nice."

Post-Election Musings

I haven't posted much in the last couple months, and I would love to tell you that I was hard at work on election campaigns, but that depends on your perspective.  I did a little sign-waving and wrote some checks to candidates, but that's about all I could do in terms of "traditional" campaigning as the mother of as small child that needs a lot of my personal attention (and rightfully so).  What I also did is talk to my co-workers and some friends (that aren't already conservative) about how they were voting and why (and how I could change their minds if need be).  I found that while most of them were willing (and did) vote to repeal recent tax hikes and reject new ones, they also voted for the same elected officials (all Democrats) that gave them those tax hikes and supported new levels of taxation!  I am still trying to understand why this happens.  Why vote for someone today that you are going to have to overrule tomorrow? This will require some more thought and (I hope) it will lead to some interesting discussions.