What Libertarians Can Learn From the Failed McCain Campaign

If John McCain's campaign wasn't actually doomed from the outset, it was very close. The political climate, carefully nurtured for years by the leftist media machine, was overwhelmingly tilted against the Republican party. But whatever slim opportunity McCain might have snatched he squandered. How?

Negativity.

You see, John McCain spent the year, in public, talking endlessly about honor, patriotism, restoring respect to government, and so forth. But all along, and especially as October rolled on and it became increasingly clear that Barack Obama was far ahead and pulling away, the messaging of McCain's advertising was distinctly negative. Allow me to clarify what I mean. I don't mean that McCain was 'negative' in the sense that he spent a lot of his energy attacking Obama (though that is true). What I mean when I say McCain's campaign was 'negative' is that the message was never why I should vote for; it was always I should vote against. The Democratic party committed exactly the same blunder in 2004: They set up the election so that instead of George Bush vs. John Kerry (or whoever the Democrats wanted to nominate), the choice offered to the voters was George Bush vs. Not George Bush. The theme was never "vote for John Kerry, because he will do this, this and this"; it was "vote against George Bush, because he's doing this and this". And the Democrats--I am still to this day astonished by this--managed to lose that election.

In 2008, the Republican party fell into the same trap. Instead of Barack Obama vs. John McCain, the Republicans turned the election into Barack Obama vs. Not Barack Obama. Almost every day for a month before the election, my wife (a Republican) received glossy mailings from the McCain campaign, and every one of them ran the same theme: Barack Obama is not who he says he is. Barack Obama wants to steal astonishing amounts of your money. Barack Obama is secretly in league with Muslim elements. Barack Obama can't be trusted to lead the country in an age of terrorism.

Every day I read argument over argument for why I shouldn't vote for Obama. Almost never did I see any argument for why I should vote for John McCain. And you know what? It worked--I happen to think all the McCain campaign's arguments have merit, and I didn't vote for Obama.

I didn't vote for McCain either.

Why should I? He never told me why I should. Bob Barr offered many reasons why I should vote for him, and that's what I did. I know numerous Republicans who bought the McCain campaign's messaging. They didn't vote for Obama.

They didn't vote at all.

Why? They're disenchanted with the Bush administration--which, especially in the past two years, has stabbed its conservative support base in the back repeatedly--and they don't trust John McCain. They don't even know John McCain, because all McCain wanted to tell them was how dangerous Barack Obama is. McCain's relentless advertising attacks against Obama were intended to scare the tradiational, conservative Republican base into getting out and voting for McCain, to stop the terrorists from taking over the White House. It didn't work, and what's worse, it predictably didn't work, because--and the Obama campaign understood this from day one--that's not how you energize masses of people to vote for you (or better, to go out and convince other people to vote for you). You do that by giving them positive thinking. We can make a difference. We can work together on this. We can change the country for the better, yea, revolutionize our government. Let's work together to usher in a new, better age. That was the Obama campaign's message from the start, and that message enabled them to overwhelm the formidable Clinton political machine and stampede over the clueless Republican establishment like a herd of buffalo over a sand castle.

That brings us to what we, the Libertarian Party, can learn from this.

I believe we're standing on the brink of the best opportunity we've ever had to step up and become an impact force on the American political scene, because I believe the Republican party is on the brink of collapse, and many of its members are quietly looking around for an alternative.

But, friends, our messaging tends to be negative. Not always; I especially admire Bob Barr's penchant for making positive arguments (positive meaning a for argument rather than an against one, not upbeat or cheerful necessarily) during his limited airtime. But most of the time when I read Libertarian-themed writings or listen to Libertarians talk, publicly or privately, the arguments are negative. The government is enslaving us. Our politicans are corrupt. Our schools are cranking out drones and hacks like so many Model T's. Our gun and drug control policies are destructive and accomplish precisely the opposite of their stated intent (promoting safety).

I write and say these things all the time, because they're absolutely true. I'm not disputing that. But it's not what people want to hear. I'm not advocating telling pleasant lies, but I'm telling you that we need to take control of the discussion and frame it in such a way that we're presenting the public the many wonderful things we can do for them, and the greater good they can accomplish by joining us.

This article will soon be followed by another, "Why I Am a Libertarian," in which I hope to demonstrate what I mean. The public is dissatisfied with its government. That is very unlikely to change over the next few years; the economy is unlikely to improve and the federal government is only going to grow more oppressive under Democratic domination. But people already know this, even if they can't articulate it themselves, and they don't especially want to be reminded of it in so many words.

What people want is a clear alternative. That's what we're selling. It's always been what we've sold, but it's time to upgrade the packaging.

The Libertarian party, unlike the Democratic and Republican parties, thinks enough of your intelligence to let you run your own life, make your own choices, and spend or save your own money. You name a problem facing the country now, and we offer a solution. Gang violence? The end of Drug Prohibition would mean the end of gangs; it would yank the economic rug right out from under their feet. Education quality that straddles the line between the comedic and the tragic? That's an easy one--de-bureaucratize education and watch it improve. Public school students are vastly outperformed on knowledge tests by private school students, who themselves are absolutely blown away by homeschooled students. Struggling to make ends meet? Hey, we hear you -- how about we let you keep the 30% of your income the government takes from you? Would that help?

Collectively, we all need to make solutions the theme of our campaigning and our evangelizing. Liberty is the core value, of course, of Libertarianism, but let me be frank here--as a theme to sell, Liberty falls flat. The Democrats and Republicans talk about liberty, too. They either have no idea of the meaning of the word or are simply lying, but instead of constantly pointing that out, let it drop. Instead, explain to people why the Libertarian party is advancing their best interests--not why the Republicrats are out to screw them.

Many, many people out there--especially discouraged Republicans, and friends, there are many of those--are looking for an alterative. Let's give them one! They already know there's something seriously wrong with the Republicrats. So skip explaining it to them and give them solutions. They will come.

Just So You All Know...

I, for one, welcome our new Marxist overlords.

You'll note my use of the word 'new', so as to differentiate from the old ones.