Monday, June 30, 2014

Should Republicans urge people to vote out of ideologically pure motives, or out of their own self interest?

Jim Geraghty writes today that the Mississippi Republican primary was an example of Al Davis's "Just Win, Baby" strategy that the hated (in Colorado) Oakland Raiders employed for so many years. One candidate, Thad Cochran, ran on his record of bringing pork home to Mississippi, while the other candidate, Chris McDaniel, ran on cutting pork. Cochran won.

Proving once again what Saul Alinsky advocated: If you want to have a successful boycott, for example, choose to boycott something people rarely eat, like maraschino cherries. People act out of self interest, not out of ideological purity.

Geraghty wants people to vote out of ideologically pure conservative principles. Cochran, however, knows what has worked for him for six terms in Congress: bring home the bacon.

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