Conservatives don't really understand elections

It was a painful week, wasn't it?

The pundits are all yakking about what went wrong--funny how hindsight does that--but here's something I was honestly thinking before election night, because it was hammered in by what I saw daily during the time running up to the vote.

Conservatives are brilliant on the issues. But I think they just don't "get it" when it comes to winning elections, pursuing activism, and getting out the vote.

The Obama people knocked on my door--twice. They were hanging around everywhere. Posters, flyers, signs, you name it.

I said before the election that the conservatives could win if we got out the vote. We made up 48% of the popular tally, so this wasn't a small minority by any means. It was about even--but the liberal half got the word out and got everyone off the couch (and some out of the grave, etc.) to get out there and vote. And they won.

Yes, Obama had a ton of money, but there's more to it. Liberals are making ideas mainstream today that represented only a small fringe radical minority in the past. A small activist portion of the population keeps guiding our culture and our country in their extreme direction, and as they do so, they make sure that their beliefs are adopted by a larger part of the people. Then they repeat the process.

Meanwhile, those with conservative values tend to be a marginalized majority, with various issues gradually shifting to minority status as liberals create culture change with their effective and ruthless tactics. We've had many advantages over the years, but too often we've let them slip by, as have our elected officials. There's no excuse for this, people!

If conservatives want to win in the current environment, they must learn to be activists.

(Of course, there's much more to learn from this election. Such as: the Republican Party leadership doesn't really understand conservatives.)