For the time being, the GOP nomination race is being led by two men: Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney.We've all had the opportunity to watch debates as they pontificate about Obama's shortcomings and each other's shortcomings. So and so did this bad thing and so and so's policies and programs failed here and so and so's ethics are lower than a cockroach.
Enough of that. That's not cutting it in the primaries and it won't cut it in the general election. No, that's just pushing hot buttons so that people will react with their guts rather than their heads. Of course, given the nature of the electorate, that's often a good strategy.
Regardless, it's time to carve a line in the concrete [never understood why drawing a line in shifting sands made sense as a metaphor]. It is time to get away from what others have done or not done and state specifically what you as a candidate see as:
- the top five issues facing the U.S. over the next four years [keep religion, beliefs, and law pertaining to such out of it]
- how you would address those top five issues [get specific]
- why your approach would be better than what is presently the case
- who benefits from your solutions [everyone is not an acceptable answer]
- who might not benefit from your solutions, why, and is that a problem
- what it would take to implement your plan [besides votes in Congress]
We don't need a 164-point GPS directions kit. We don't need broad generalizations that have little meaning [give America back to the people; free will; hard work; more jobs... everyone says that; save the environment; etc.]. We need a high-level structure against which specific proposals will be tested and either accepted or rejected. If you can't come up with your top five issues and solutions, you are just blowing smoke.
We will then be able to see which candidate has the vision and substance to set a meaningful direction for the next four years. We've already seen that "hope" and "change" sound good, but are absolutely meaningless. Let's not repeat that by substituting some other unactionable nouns... "liberty" and "individualism."
WHAT WE DON'T NEED:
...maybe even step one.
REQUIRED READING:
International Business Times