What We Can Learn From Each Other

Anyone who has ever worked a job has run into what I call “that guy” before.  You know the type.  He gets hired and comes in like a bull in a china shop, leveraging his vast knowledge of how the company should be in run (derived almost exclusively from the company’s website) and confident that he is the key cog to what’s going to put his company over the top.  He’s confident, he’s eager – he’s a newbie.

Of course, most of us have been “that guy” at some point in our life before.  We came into a new job, opportunity and situation with guns blazing and ready to do our part only to be stifled by “the stalwart.”  This guy is easily recognizable.  He’s probably been with the company for more than a decade.  The closest thing to a smile you can get out of him is an amused grimace.  He says next to nothing, that is, until you have violated some rule unbeknownst to you that’s buried on page 172, subsection CZ of the employee handbook or remotely hinted at some new way of doing something.  Nevertheless, he shows up for work every day and can be counted on to get the job done.

Yet, across America each day, “that guy” and “the stalwart” must find some way to co-exist.  One of the challenges of any company or movement is how to balance the enthusiasm and determination of new members with the wisdom and experience of veteran members.  Particularly with the rapid induction of the tea party movement into the American political arena, the conservative movement continues to deal with this challenge.

Throughout the mid 1990s to the mid 2000s, conservatives enjoyed a string of electoral victories.  Winning the House of Representatives for the first time in decades in 1994, six years later conservatives elected their man to the presidency.  After Election Day 2004, pundits were openly questioning whether statists would be anything more than a perpetual minority.  How quickly things change.  As scandal after scandal hit conservatives and some of those who had run as conservatives showed their true colors, the statists were able to convince the conservative-leaning electorate to elect the most liberal Congress and President in several decades, while consistently conservative voters stayed home.

The 2008 election was a wake-up call not only for those who stayed home, but those who had never been meaningfully engaged in the political process.  Suddenly it was no longer a given that everything would turn out ok.  Within a few months, citizens who had not even voted for more than a decade were organizing tea parties, forming conservative action groups and immersing themselves in the study our nation’s founding and its most cherished document, the Constitution.

It was only a matter of time that the efforts of these grassroots efforts would run into veteran activists and organizations who had been in engaged when times were good and when times were not so good.

Like “that guy” at the office, in 2009, the tea party movement was full of energy and enthusiasm and not afraid to take on the status quo.  They cared less about what had been done and more about what it was going to take to win their country back.  They kept a wary eye of those who claimed to be veterans in the political process, particularly because of massive recent losses.

Those veteran activists and organizations, like “the stalwart,” in 2009 had suspicions of their own.  They asked where these people were when they warned of such outcomes.  While they appreciated the enthusiasm, they cringed at the inexperience and the unfamiliarity with the political arena and could not understand why their wisdom and expertise was being ignored.

As the tea party movement has grown in experience and veteran activists and organizations have grasped that the tea party movement and those involved are as genuinely concerned about their country as they are, coupled together with a shared goal of removing statists from all levels of elected office, cohesion has followed.  In short, “that guy” and “the stalwart” began appreciating what both can offer.  Some of these principles are contained below.

10 Things Newcomers to the Conservative Movement can Learn from Veterans.

1. Veterans can help newcomers minimize mistakes.
2. Veterans have a wealth of experience and knowledge of the political process.
3. Veterans have a better understanding of what does work and what doesn’t in the political arena.
4. Veterans can be counted on to get the job done.
5. Veterans can be a necessary check and balance to unfocused enthusiasm.
6. Veterans may not have all of the answers, but they’re probably connected to someone who does.
7. Veterans can provide wise leadership and oversight.
8. Veterans keep working whether they win or lose.
9. Veterans can mentor, train, and equip newcomers.
10. Veterans love their country and want to see it succeed.

10 Things Veterans to the Conservative Movement can Learn from Newcomers.

1. Newcomers bring a necessary vitality to the movement.
2. Newcomers are willing and eager to do whatever it takes to succeed.
3. Newcomers are voracious learners and appreciate insight and training.
4. Newcomers have connections to often untapped resources.
5. Newcomers can bring fresh perspective into methodologies and leadership practices.
6. Newcomers can inspire others to join the movement.
7. Newcomers can remind veterans of why they became involved in the first place.
8. Newcomers are not newcomers for very long.
9. Newcomers consider no task beneath their status.
10. Newcomers love their country and want to see it succeed.

For the conservative movement to succeed in the long term, newcomers and veterans need to understand these principles and that there is always something we can learn from someone else.