It is the Messaging

Last night I went to a town hall with my US Representative, Justin Amash. He's known for being a wild-card, disagrees with leadership frequently, and was in the news here lately on a couple of different occasions. Elected as part of the 2010 Tea Party wave that gave Republicans an overwhelming majority in the House of Representatives, he was nominated by a grass roots movement, and easily won re-election in 2012. I voted for him in 2012, but lived in WI in 2010.

What I found humorous last night, was that he gave an update to the full room (don't ask how many, all I know is that all the seats were taken, and people were left standing) on the sequestration and then took questions. I'm sure that with Obama touting how catastrophic these looming cuts would be if the sequestration went through, Representative Amash expected to be peppered with numerous questions on the topic. There was one:

"Do you feel that the cuts should happen?"

Amash said in summary: I do, because it was put forth as a bill, passed, signed into law. I did not vote for it. I don't think that it's the best way to balance the budget, but these cuts won't be catastrophic. In fact, they're not cuts in spending, they are a cut in the rate of GROWTH of spending.

So, in short, no one cares about the sequester. It's true. EVERYONE says we have a spending problem, even those getting free crap. They just aren't smart enough to realize that it isn't free and the money to give them free crap comes from people like you and me. I think it is funny that everyone was like "yeah, OK, more political theater, the US will shut down if we cut one penny, blah, blah, blah." I really do think Obama whining every time he doesn't get something he wants is getting old, and people, even the ones getting free crap, realize that their lives will go on.

He took on numerous questions, and even answered mine. Mine was as follows:

"Today, the Tea Party Patriots sent out an email wherein there were links to pictures and one of these pictures had Karl Rove photoshopped dressed in a Nazi uniform. There is open bickering between the moderates and conservatives in the Republican party. Because of your voting record, you were kicked off of committee [for this congress]. You, yourself, have gone on MSNBC and bashed fellow Republicans.

My question is this - when will Republicans unite behind a message, and can you guys ever come together and get the message out without fighting? I don't care what you do behind closed doors, but the media is killing you guys when you air it out in public."

His response was very good! He denounced the Tea Party Patriots' actions, and stated that he had never been on MSNBC, so that was false. I have to admit that I saw him say his remarks about the sequester and stating that it was wrong to just blame Obama for the sequester when everyone voted for it to become law. However, those remarks must have been taped at the time I viewed the clip. I'll cede that, and I do watch MSNBC from time to time to see how the enemy thinks. Representative Amash then let the room in on a little secret. He said that the unified message that leadership wants to pump out would be a mistruth to the people. He couldn't do that to his constituents, and he was elected to serve us, not lie to us.

So, herein lies the dilemma. We all know the Dems lie. They lie whenever they talk. They lie in their sleep. They lie when they're pondering how to lie while taking a nice pause during one of their recesses. But they lie together. They lie the same lie. The media reports the same lie for them. It is in the same tone, the same context, the same emphasis points. The same EVERYTHING!

Republicans, well, most of them, do have a conscience. Thus, they cannot compete with lying liars who lie about the lies they tell. The Republicans eat their own. The Republicans tell the truth (somewhat), and so, well, the truth has many variations. Therefore, poor messaging. The Republicans absolutely SUCK at messaging, and they need to step it up.

It was clear from Justin's answer that his convictions far outweigh the wants of the party. I can respect that, but for us to take back our country, I have to respectfully disagree. In my profession, teamwork is important. There are many key players to get a project through to completion. We may not agree all the time, but for the good of the business, to save money, time and make our customers happy, we have to deliver. We deliver the product, and then we address how to do it better the next time in lessons learned documentation.

We take on each other behind closed doors to air our dirty laundry. I have had many fingers pointed at me (literally), and I have had harsh words for many a consultant. But I've never directed that to them, nor they to me, in front of the customer. It's just bad business. We want to show a solid, finished product that the customer is happy with; not let them know what it took to get it for them. Because, in the end, it's the customer who decides whether or not they want to keep you around. They pay your salary, in essence, through buying your product.

So, respectfully, and as much as I like Representative Amash, I have to disagree with bashing each other on the open airwaves. Much like in business, we the people decide whether or not we like the product when it comes to politicians too. I do like Justin. I voted for him, and I would vote for him again. There are rumors here in MI that he is toying for a run for Senate. I would support him there too. But, and this is a BUT bigger than Michelle's (sorry, cheap pot shot...), we need to get a better product out of the Republican party's representatives. I don't know what it will take to get there, but it has to happen. And quickly. People just don't like the product anymore.