Blue Collar Conservatives: Recommitting to an America That Works (21 page)

This is not the first time America has faced a great challenge. There were times when our country faced a foreign threat and internal division, and we were saved by sacrifice on the battlefield. There were times of economic transformation—which always means disruption—when American enterprise surged to global leadership. In the present crisis, however, we risk abandoning the principles at the root of American greatness, the ideals set forth in the Declaration of Independence.

How is that happening? Have most Americans abandoned those ideals? Every poll in the last thirty years shows that roughly twice as many people identify themselves as “conservative” as identify themselves as “liberal.” So why is our country moving to the left? For the same reason an undermanned, underfunded collection of colonists defeated the British Empire in the American Revolution—because they were willing to give their lives, their fortune, and their sacred honor for the cause. In short, the Left wants it more than we do. Barack Obama promised to “fundamentally transform” the United States, and his record in the White House leaves no room for
doubt that he meant it. He and his party are determined to reshape the relationship between Washington and the American people.

The American people, however, have begun to understand what’s happening, and that is the beginning of a movement.

Traveling around Iowa for most of the 2012 campaign with my friend and advisor Chuck Laudner in his pickup—the “Chuck truck,” we called it—rather than a bus and private plane, I had the opportunity to get to know personally so many of the tireless volunteers who make or break a campaign’s success. One of them was Wendy Jensen, who epitomized how someone so small and so invisible to national political observers could make a difference.

Wendy volunteered for our campaign in August 2011. She was in her mid-fifties, stood just under five feet tall, and lived in Story County, Iowa, about twenty-five miles north of our headquarters in Urbandale. Because of a medical condition, Wendy couldn’t drive, but she was such a devoted worker for our campaign that we would send a member of our staff most mornings to pick her up, and we’d drop her back home at the end of the day.

It was not uncommon for Wendy to make four hundred to five hundred phone calls on our behalf each day. As Christmas approached, she had talked to nearly five thousand voters.
Wendy’s secret weapon was her sweetness. After talking with her, no one had the heart to say no to her. She probably was responsible for more converts to our campaign than any other member of our team—including me.

The last time I saw Wendy was at our campaign’s Christmas party in mid-December 2011. She was so excited about reaching the five-thousand-call plateau, but as in most of our encounters, all she wanted to talk with me about was my daughter Bella. Wendy had a special heart for others who, like her, struggled with a disabling condition. Over the next couple of days, we didn’t hear from Wendy, and we tried unsuccessfully to reach her. We soon learned that she had passed away at home, alone. I was not the only public official at her funeral. Dignitaries from across Iowa came to honor this little lady who selflessly made such a big difference for so many. A tribute to Wendy in the
Iowa Republican
put it best: “Clearly, God needed some extra help in heaven. He brought one of his angels home to help him reach as many hearts as possible. . . .”
¹

At the time of Wendy’s passing, the media were focused on pre-caucus polls. I had just received two major endorsements from Iowa officials, which made the front page of national papers and the scroll on the bottom of cable news. Wendy Jensen’s name never made the news, but she personified the commitment and devotion that makes a difference not just in politics but in life.

We too often underestimate the difference one person can make, but Wendy showed us what a serious mistake that is. She was not rich in worldly terms, but her gracious demeanor and her tireless commitment to a cause made all the difference in the world—not just for my campaign but for countless of other candidates and causes before me. People like Wendy are being left behind, but they’re not asking for help; they’re taking action instead.

I’m asked all the time, “I am only one person—what can I do?”

And my answer, with Wendy in mind, is always a single word: “Something.”

Do something good for your family, your church, your neighbor, your country, your school, your business, your coworker, the homeless person you pass on the street, or the neighborhood kid who went bad and ended up in prison. And just as important, don’t be afraid to stand up for what’s right—even if it’s uncomfortable, even if you have to pay a price.

One place to start is the public schools. They’re supposed to belong to
us
, the people, but we’ve let activist courts, liberal politicians, and bureaucrats turn them into hostile territory. What book is at the heart of Western civilization and at the heart of the American project? The Bible, of course. Yet it is forbidden to teach from it in most public schools in the land. The most frequently assigned history textbook in American public schools, on the other hand, was written by
an anti-American Marxist named Howard Zinn. Do you know if that text is used in your school? The liberal activists, the teachers’ unions, and the media do. If you don’t, you now have an idea of why they are transforming America right under our noses. I know getting involved is just one more thing that you don’t have time for. Got it, but America didn’t become unique in human history because our ancestors took the easy path. Self-government isn’t easy, and it’s not the default setting for human societies. That’s why dictators and tyrants have been running most countries for centuries. Real freedom, opportunity, justice, virtue, and security require that we make sacrifices every day to keep them.

Our opponents are revolutionaries. They will always push their agenda. We conservatives are inclined to leave things alone. But every now and then, a generation is asked to step up and fight tyranny. The greatest generation fought the secular statists (Nazis and fascists) across the oceans. Our fight is here at home against a foe whose threat is cleverly disguised and so, in many ways, more dangerous.

We won’t win every battle, but fighting for what’s right can be its own reward. I have lost many a skirmish only to find out later that the effort was necessary to win a more important battle later. Sometimes my losses were actually victories, but I couldn’t see it at the time. Mother Teresa of Calcutta always said, “God has not called me to be successful. He called me to be faithful.”

Blue collar conservatives across this country are faithful to a vision that has always defined America but that has been obscured in recent years. We Americans believe in liberty and equal opportunity for all. We believe our leaders should represent 100 percent of Americans. They should not make targets of the wealthy or victims of the poor. We don’t believe in economic classes, we believe in economic opportunity, which creates social mobility. We believe that a limited government can help create an environment for all people to prosper morally and economically, thanks to the security provided by the rule of law and balance of powers.

We believe that virtue and civil society are the pillars of freedom. We believe that respecting and honoring faith and family is foundational to freedom. We believe that we are our brother’s keeper. We believe in a safety net for people who are struggling, but we don’t define compassion by government largesse. We believe compassion is helping another in need. We believe caring should be local, not federal, whenever possible, and temporary, not permanent, or it becomes something that holds people down instead of lifting them up. We believe in upward mobility, not dependency.

We believe that all human beings are created in the image of God and that all life has dignity. We believe that life begins at conception. We believe in justice and fairness. We oppose corruption, cronyism, oppression, and injustice. We believe
that work and the ability to provide for one’s family through a job is a source of human dignity. We don’t look down on any job. America was built by immigrants, and we are for legal immigration. America is a beacon to the world for a reason. We look at every job as a rung on the opportunity ladder.

We believe that we can be self-sufficient in energy. We believe that we can regain our global leadership as a manufacturer. We believe that creativity is key, and that Americans are the most ingenious, resourceful people on earth.

We also believe that elections matter. We believe that people matter and that policies matter. Some policies make it harder to prosper in America, and some policies promote freedom and opportunity and give people a better shot at fulfilling the American Dream. We need to raise our voices and work together so that our policies work for America.

We believe that a healthy family is necessary for a flourishing society. Family is the foundation, the first economy, not something to be tinkered with or redefined by government. Parents, not government, know what’s best for children. Faith communities know the best way to practice their faith, and the government should not interfere. Our foundational freedom is religious freedom, freedom of conscience. Entrepreneurs, not government, know how to start businesses and create jobs. Doctors, not government, know what’s best for
patients. Hardworking taxpayers, not government, know the value of money and how to invest in their future. Parents and teachers, not government or teachers’ unions, know the unique learning needs of children.

We believe that America has a future, and we believe it is in our and God’s hands.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

T
wo days after I ended my campaign for president in 2012, my media consultant and I met with two senior members of the Romney campaign. When we walked into the meeting, Romney’s pollster, Neil Newhouse, handed us a polling presentation and a separate single sheet of paper. He had prepared a PowerPoint summary of their internal polling from Iowa through the final contest in Wisconsin to share with us. It was a kind gesture, since they knew that we had never hired a pollster and so had no internal polling numbers of our own. My calculation was that even if we could
afford the poll, we had no money to take advantage of the information, so why bother?

Before Neil got into the full presentation, he was excited to explain what was on that single sheet of paper first. It was the responses to a question from a poll taken four days earlier in Pennsylvania, the next state to hold its primary. Neil had noticed that after February 7, when I swept the Colorado and Minnesota caucuses and the Missouri primary, the afternoon exit polls were consistently underestimating my vote. In fact, before the polls closed in the Alabama and Mississippi primaries, the Drudge Report, among others, ran a story based on afternoon exit polling declaring Romney the winner in Mississippi and running a close second to Newt Gingrich in Alabama. I appeared to be coming in third in both races. That night I won Alabama by 5 percent and Mississippi by 2. So Neil began to ask an additional question in his polling that he had never asked before: “What time are you planning to vote?”

According to the Pennsylvania poll in my hand, people planning to vote before noon favored me by 5 points; those planning to vote between noon and five favored Romney by 4 points; and those who weren’t going to vote till after five favored me by 21 points! Working Americans and busy mothers who couldn’t get to the polls during the day were voting for me in a big way, making all of the prognosticators look bad on election night.

Although the media never reported it, I knew I had connected with working Americans during the campaign, and not because I had talked about “social issues.” The media love to put candidates, particularly culturally conservative candidates, into a box and never under any circumstances let them out. Well, I knew our message was the right message not only to win in November, but to get our country back on the right track.

As I walked back to my car from that meeting with Neil Newhouse, the idea for
Blue Collar Conservatives
began to take shape in my mind. I want to thank Marji Ross and her staff at Regnery for seeing what the media refused to see and asking me to work with them on this project. Thanks in particular to my editors, Tom Spence and Harry Crocker, for their excellent assistance and counsel, and to Katharine Mancuso and Maria Ruhl for their tireless work that kept this project on schedule.

Melissa Anderson and Mark Rodgers, the writing team who have worked on so many projects with me over the years, were extremely helpful in framing the book as well as providing me with tremendous support throughout the research and writing of the text. Thanks also to Ben Kafferlin, who was a great assistant to us all.