Conservatives: Aim at the Heart, Talk about the Pocketbook!

The big problem for Republicans in the 2016 elections, as Arthur C. Brooks, president of the American Enterprise Institute, says in his new book, The Conservative Heart: How to Build a Fairer, Happier, and More Prosperous America (Broadside Books, 2015), is that the left has a monopoly on compassion and empathy.

The solution for conservatives, according to Brooks, is to speak less from the head and more from the heart, and aim more at the pocketbook.

Talk about fighting for the middle class, expanding incomes, increasing job opportunities, and unleashing free enterprise. Be seen as fighting for people rather than against policies.

This is easy to say, hard to do.

It does not lend itself to 30 second sound bites.

Here is my try at a 30 second sound bite.

“Are you happier than you were last year?"

“Do you feel America’s economic system is fair?”

“Are you having difficulty finding full-time job with health benefits?”

“Do you feel safe as you once did in America?”

With pauses, that is a 30 second sound bite, Not only that, it would fits nicely on 4 bumper stickers.