Monday, January 19, 2009

Sorry, Republicans [pro-lifers], there is no magic Internet button.

I could not agree more with Andrew Breitbart:

Sorry, Republicans, there is no magic Internet button.

The Democratic Party resonates on the Internet because it resonates in pop culture. The Democratic Party resonates in pop culture because it has been committed to dominating it for over a generation.

(...)

Democrats throw parties, get models to show up, and Red Bull and Stoli pick up the tab. Republicans feature a no-host bar hoping an astronaut from the Mercury mission stops by.


I think that we have to be more plugged in through the internet.

But what he said of Republicans is even more true of Canadian pro-lifers.

But how to start?

Here's the thing.

Democrats did not come to dominate American culture in one fell swoop.

Part of the reason why they dominate is because they developed a counter-culture to begin with.

They talked amongst themselves. They were creative. They produce art and other cultural products.

We pro-lifers have no culture.

Pro-lifers used to think it was a matter of educating people and getting people to vote for pro-life MP's, and we would get legislation banning abortion.

Although it's still true that we need to do that, we can't think in terms of tactics to achieve a legislative goal, but in terms of forming a movement to change the culture and creating momentum.

Think of successful movements in the past. The feminist movement. The gay rights movement. The peace movement. And so on.

They were successful because they transformed the culture through the words they said and the cultural products they created.

They started by talking amongst themselves.

The problem with pro-lifers, as I see it, is that they're too busy to bother.

They're too busy with their spouse and kids to do anything, let alone engage in cultural transformation.

One of the advantages that left-wing movements have is that they have a large number of single people dedicated to ideology.

When you have kids and a mortgage, you have far less time. Or energy.

Or so we think.

We have to stop thinking that way.

I have three kids and a mortgage.

I blog about the pro-life movement just about every single day. It is my most heartfelt passion, my dearest wish, to see fetal rights established in this country, and I will not rest until that dream comes true. I will work towards this goal every single day until I see it become a reality. And should I die before that reality comes true, I will pray for an end to abortion in heaven.

I know other activists feel the same.

But there are too few of us.

We have to start asking ourselves: how badly do we want fetal rights established in this country?

Do pro-lifers want to limit their pro-life involvement to 40 Days for Life and voting for a pro-life politician once every four years (as laudable as these things are...)

You reap what you sow. Pro-lifers will get the results that they work for.

And so far, the results are null.

If we do not change hearts and minds, we will not get fetal rights legislation.

If we do not coalesce into a movement, into a community, and build off the momentum, the energy of being together and working towards a common cause, nothing will happen.

Think about the last forty years. That's pretty much what happened and we have nothing to show for it.

It is this creation of a community and an identity, of an enjoyable culture that we will attract people to our cause.

Even if we managed to convert every Canadian to Jesus, if we do not make our cause a source something that creates emotional resonance, we'll still have a tough time passing pro-life legislation, because if we don't care enough to build our own culture of life, why should the rest of the world?

I don't have any magic solutions. I just know that this is what must be done. If we do not accomplish this, we will not succeed.

Andrew Breitbart was 100% correct.

H/T: Adam's Blog.