Conservatives Must Learn the Dark Arts of Image Manipulation

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American Thinker:

 

 

November 28, 2012

 

Conservatives Must Learn the Dark Arts of Image Manipulation

 

 

By J.R. Dunn

Okay, we've had the End of the Republic, the degenerate electorate thesis, and the ritual beating of Mitt Romney. I hope everybody has had their catharsis, because it's time to get serious.

 

It's typical in an election lost by the right for every last factor is poked at, examined, and raked over the coals except for the single most important element, always and forever overlooked: conservatism itself.

 

 

I contend that much of the problem with current right-of-center electoral efforts involves conservatism as currently practiced. This has nothing to do with conservative principles, or any public preference for moderation in politics. It has to do with how conservatism is expressed, and can be summed up as conservatism's failure to sell itself.

 

Romney ran a fine campaign. No one in the current GOP lineup -- certainly not those who opposed him in the primaries -- could have done better. He deserved to win. That he did not win is something that historians in years to come will be scratching their heads over, particularly in light of the inevitable disasters that will follow the reelection of the Chicago Moses.

 

Romney was also unable, as anyone else would have been unable, to overcome the drag created by conservatism's failure to examine and correct its longstanding flaws. Even as tunnel-visioned a group as the left has been