Federal issues are important because our federal government has grown so large and intrusive that local and state governments often have to operate with a hand tied around their back due to federal regulations and funding from the feds that always come with strings.

At the same time, I agree with the article’s premise that conservatives would be wise to place a greater emphasis on local issues. All politics is local, and local races and issues have a huge hand in driving turnout. If conservatives can improve their ability to govern and sell small government ideas at the local level, then they will enjoy better turnout that will help elect more conservatives to Congress, the Senate, and the White House.

This is one of the reasons I started getting involved in local politics. Too often, in cities, Republicans just assume no one will listen and that they have no power, when they have far more than they know to influence public opinion and policy. Just look at the Monroe Mayoral election yesterday. Conservatives showed up to elect an independent mayor in a city that’s 65% black democrats with an incumbent black mayor.

Republicans need to show that they can govern at the local level, and in doing so, they will grow their bench of candidates, widen their coalition of voters, and increase their gains up the chain of federalism to more electoral victories at the federal level.

Finally, logic should inform your arguments, but it cannot be your only argument. Logic should form your philosophy and policies, but policies are sold with emotion. The logical side of the brain is not what makes decisions. Decision-making is made by the emotional part of the brain which houses the fight/flight decision center. Logic is used to inform, but emotion is how you sell. You don’t sell statistics, you sell safety and fear. You don’t sell process, you sell justice.

The left wins because they cannot use logic in an argument. They’re arguing for illogical policies with illogical outcomes, so they perfect the art of emotional manipulation. Republicans try too hard to sway people with logic without conveying any real feelings to graft it to. Because people feel a greater emotional connection to the left’s position, in the ballot box, even if the logic for the right seems more solid, more times than not, they will pull the lever for the side which gave them a greater emotional connection.

This post was edited on 7/12/20 at 3:16 pm