I mentioned this during our weekly internet radio talk show last week while I was attending a professional conference in San Diego. I work in advertising, in area called account planning. In short, account planners create the road maps that the creative personnel at an ad agency use to design advertising that follows a coherent overall strategy.
What was interesting about the conference was one of the overarching themes that I noticed that had nothing to do with advertising at all: Al Gore/Global Warming/the environment.
To be honest, it made me a bit uneasy since I know I’m in a minority as a politically conservative ad man and this wasn’t supposed to be a political rally. The first inkling I had about the how much this was going to be a central topic of discussion was when a speaker named Carisa Bianchi gleefully announced how powerful movements can be created and gave the banning of various products, such as bottled water and plastic bags, in parts of California and trans fats in New York as examples. I squirmed in my chair thinking that if we keep on banning products we’ll have nothing left to sell and we’ll all have to become screenplay writers or something else.
On and on it went. Several presentations showed or made references to Al Gore as speakers talked about “belief brands.” Those would be brands that are built around a single belief rather than a product. Apple Computer is an example that’s often given in these advertising conferences. You could say that their brand is built around a belief in creativity and self-expression rather than just computers or electronics.
The point is that we can expect many more companies to jump on the green bandwagon and we are going to be hearing a lot more, not less, from the likes of Gore and those who would ban products and take away consumer choice in the name of protecting the environment.
But on the last day one speech gave me cause for optimism. The speaker was Bruce Mau. His point of view was very refreshing. Rather than banning, Mau is into designing. Designing products people want, that are smarter. Making products that “do good” sexy.
This, in my humble opinion, is what we should be doing. Selling the solution by capitalizing on consumerism rather than selling the crisis as an excuse to introduce government intervention and kill consumerism. It just seems to me that people are more likely to do the right thing when it’s not shoved down their throats. But I could be wrong.
Mau tapped into a simple truth, the same human ingenuity that designed the automobile and the plane can design a clean automobile and more efficient plane. It was also refreshing to see that Mr. Mau is not caught up in the dogma of the traditional environmental and conservationist movement. For example his positive comments about nuclear power as as a viable power source and for urbanization as method to accommodate large numbers of people without destroying the world were very refreshing.
I believe that straight talking visionaries like Bruce Mau have the ability to unite people in doing what’s right. Leave the banning to the totalitarian states. Free people will choose the right thing when given a choice and the information.
25 thoughts on “Shelter from the coming storm”
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Henry:
I agree with you. They banned trans fats in resturants in Philly, too. Now they want to control what people eat? A warning on a menu would not be sufficient? This banning of things that only affect the consumer is just too much government interference in our lives and more evidence that taxpayers are paying for extraneous personnel who either need to find something better to do in the government or find a new job. (P.S. Before anyone thinks I am anti-health, I understand the restaurant smoking ban because of the second hand smoke issue, but is there a second hand trans fat issue, too?)
Claudia
What is far more dangerous to the health than second hand smoke is back handed government. Governments are just figuring out new creative ways to tax us free range slaves in such a fashion as we still feel like we’re free even as we struggle to make ends meet.
Amen.
Good Morning Henry,
Well we have something in common, I studied advertising and marketing at Syracuse University. Since you mention Al Gore and Democratas I would like to share a e mail sent to me by an old republican friend of mine. I and my dad have placed our republican card in the refrigerator once Bush Jr took power. My dad republican credentials goes back to the Bebo Rebozo-Nixon-Jorge Mas Canoza times in Florida. Anyhow, here it is:
From: GARCORP17@aol.com
To: undisclosed-recipients:
Sent: Wednesday, May 19, 2004 1:04 AM
Subject: Subject: It Is Tough Being a Republican – GUS GARCIA
Subject: It Is Tough Being a Republican
It is very tough to be a Republican in 2004, because somehow, you have to
believe concurrently that:
1. Jesus loves you, but shares your deep hatred of homosexuals and
Hillary Clinton.
2. The United States should get out of the United Nations, but our
highest national priority is enforcing UN resolutions against Iraq.
3. Standing Tall for America means firing your workers and moving
their jobs to India.
4. A woman cant be trusted with decisions about her own body, but
multinational corporations can make decisions affecting all humankind without
regulation.
5. Being a drug addict is a moral failing and a crime, unless youre a
conservative radio host. Then its an illness and you need our prayers for your
recovery.
6. The best way to improve military morale is to praise the troops in
speeches, while slashing veterans benefits and combat pay.
7. Group sex and drug use are degenerate sins, unless you someday run for
governor of California as a Republican.
8. If condoms are kept out of schools, adolescents wont have sex.
9. A good way to fight terrorism is to belittle our long-time allies, but
then demand their cooperation and money.
10. HMOs and insurance companies make huge profits and have the interest
of the public at heart.
11. Providing health care to all Iraqis is sound policy. Providing health
care to all Americans is socialism.
12. Global warming and tobaccos link to cancer are junk science, but
creationism should be taught in schools.
13. It is okay that the Bush familys Carlisle Group has done millions
of business with the Bin Laden family.
14. Saddam was a good guy when Reagan armed him and Rumsfeld reassured
him he was our buddy, a bad guy when Bushs daddy made war on him, a good guy
when Cheney did business with him, but then a bad guy again when Bush junior
needed a prop for his re-election campaign as the war president.
15. A president lying about an extramarital affair is an impeachable
offense. A president lying about WMD existence to enlist support for an
unprovoked, undeclared war and occupation, in which thousands soldiers and civilians
die, is, somehow, solid defense policy in a War against Terrorism.
16. Government should limit itself to the powers named in the
Constitution, which should include banning gay marriages and censoring the Internet.
17. The public has a right to know about Hillarys cattle trades, but
George Bushs Harken Oil stock trade should be sealed in his Daddys library,
and is none of our business.
18. What Bill Clinton or John Kerry did in the 1960s was of vital
national interest but what Bush did in the 80s is irrelevant.
19. Trade with Cuba is wrong because the country is communist, but trade
with China and Vietnam is vital to a spirit of international harmony.
20. Affirmative Action is wrong, but it is OK for your Daddy and his
friends (here and in Saudi Arabia) to get you to graduate from Yale without
studying much, to dodge the draft in the Texas Air National Guard, to bail out your
companies (Harken Oil and the Texas Rangers), to get the Governorship of Texas
and then to have the Supreme Court appoint you President of the USA.
21. You are a conservative, but it is OK to spend like there is no
tomorrow and run up deficits that your grandchildren will have to pay, while at the
same refunding as much tax money as possible to rich people who do not need
it.
Oh brother. I’m not even going to waste my time with this garbage.
I think Wisnton Churchill said that when some individuals do not have the intellect to counter an argument, they respond with insults. I hope, Henry that you do not fall into Mr Churchill´s group.
By the way, be ready to have a Democratic Party president in 2009.
Yours truly,
Jorge
If some cheap slogans from the donkey party are enough to get you to abandon the GOP, I hardly think it will be worth it for me spend an hour refuting the above which I have accurately described as garbage.
The card is in the refrigerator, and yes, my reaction is based on morality. By the way, I would like to share with you something:
¿Del error? Pues del error dí el antro, dí las veredas oscuras; dí cuanto puedas del tirano y del error.
José Martí
I have made my displeasure with the president clear on this blog and others many times but the source of my dissatisfaction is his abandonment of conservative principles not his failure to embrace liberal ones.
If you’re not a conservative then you did the right thing by abandoning the party. There’s too many people masquerading.
What is a conservative Val? Someone who imposes his views on others no matter what. In this case Raul Castro is a conservative and the disidents are liberals.
Conservatives were once guided by the moral principles undergirding economic liberty, free markets, private property, and limited government. If a government program violated those principles, conservatives would ardently oppose it.
Consider the crown jewel of the socialistic welfare state – Social Security. Here’s a government program that is the absolute embodiment of the socialist dictum “From each according to his ability; to each according to his need.” By now, everyone should know that there is no Social Security fund and that there never has been one. Social Security is a straight transfer program. The IRS collects taxes from the young and productive, and the Social Security Administration administers the welfare to the elderly. The system is based on taking what belongs to one person and giving it to someone to whom it does not belong.
Let’s not forget the roots of Social Security.
When Roosevelt proposed Social Security as part of his New Deal for America, conservatives ardently opposed the program. They emphasized that it was morally wrong for a person to take what didn’t belong to him, even when it was being accomplished through the collective action of the state; that Social Security would constitute an assault on family values; and that government had no business taking care of people.
So Val, tell your mom and dad to return the social security checks and the medicare benefits, because if you, had been alive in the 1930s you will had been opposed to such a program which your family is benefeting from.
Tango
Was Goldwater a conservative?
Please spare me.
tango
Sorry, I keep bring in Val. Its Henry, or Enrique?
The nine most terrifying words in the English language are, ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help.'”
–Ronald Reagan
A government that is big enough to give you all you want is big enough to take it all away.”
–Barry Goldwater
Bush has acted as a happy socialist who has yet to veto a single spending bill. He has maintained a massive post-Clinton bureaucracy without even giving lip service to reducing the size and scope of federal government. Bush has greatly expanded the government’s role in our lives. He has thrown tidal waves of money at education, medicare, and farm subsidies. He has monstrously inflated the government’s police powers, in complete contravention to the Bill of Rights. He has racked up the biggest deficit in American history. A small tax cut or two, perched decoratively atop a towering mountain of free spending and federal expansionism, does not make the mountain into a conservative one.
Oye Val:
Love the article and for us here in Cal it’s tough being a Republican.
I think the Right can win the glowarm debate easily. Why? Because it is developing as a traditional Jesse Jackson shake down. The enviromental religion is shaking the big corporations to charge more for their products at the expense of the poor, WHILE at the SAME TIME arguing for higher taxes.
It’s all about TAXES… the left thinks glowarm can bring in an additional 2 to 10% of GDP in higher taxes. In case anyone is counting; GDP at 13 trillion, 2% is around 260Billion dollars or around $1500 per family filing taxes, at 10% it’s 1.3 trillion or HALF the present federal budget. The right can win this argument if it just forces the enviromental lobby to focus on science and keep it away from taxation and pricing. However the government is currently funding pro-glowarm research to the tune of around 10 to one over anti-GW research, the writing is on the wall. It’s only a matter of time before the first excise taxes show up on our fuel bills.
On post above I meant to say Oye Henry not Val. Sorry
Orlando
Here ya go. You owe my employer for 30 minutes of my time. My billing rate is $200 and hour.
1. Jesus loves you, but shares your deep hatred of homosexuals and Hillary Clinton.
Just because some people are against gay marriage doesn’t mean they hate gays. That’s demagoguery.
2. The United States should get out of the United Nations, but our highest national priority is enforcing UN resolutions against Iraq.
Even a blind squirrel finds a nut every once in a while. The UN on the whole has been a disgrace. Besides, beyond enforcing the UN resolutions Saddam also defied the terms of the surrender at the end of the gulf war. History has taught us to beware of those who do no live up to surrender treaties.
3. Standing Tall for America means firing your workers and moving their jobs to India.
Because I suppose that people in India aren’t entitled to jobs. The idea that American workers should be paid more to do jobs that require very little skill is a protectionist idea that will only result in the loss of any competitive advantage we have in the world.
4. A woman cant be trusted with decisions about her own body, but multinational corporations can make decisions affecting all humankind without regulation.
Obviously you’ve never worked in compliance at a corporation. In that woman’s body by the way is another body. My wife is 32 weeks pregant with twins and you call them a fetus or wwhatever else you want but in the 3D ultrasound they sure look like babies to me.
5. Being a drug addict is a moral failing and a crime, unless youre a conservative radio host. Then its an illness and you need our prayers for your recovery.
Ugh. The obligatory attack on Rush Limbaugh. For being liberals you guys sure are judgmental.
6. The best way to improve military morale is to praise the troops in speeches, while slashing veterans benefits and combat pay.
Or you could say the war is lost while we’re still fighting it.
7. Group sex and drug use are degenerate sins, unless you someday run for governor of California as a Republican.
Arnold has been a relatively liberal governor for a Republican but still he doesn’t escape the wrath of liberals. Further proof that for democrats it’s a blood sport not ideology.
8. If condoms are kept out of schools, adolescents wont have sex.
Why don’t the parents give the condoms to their kids if it’s so necessary? Why would anyone want their child sexualized at an early age?
9. A good way to fight terrorism is to belittle our long-time allies, butthen demand their cooperation and money.
Long time allies like the french who were doing dirty deals with Saddam while sanctions were supposedly in place?
10. HMOs and insurance companies make huge profits and have the interest of the public at heart.
In the search for profits the company that provides the best services will win. But democrats somehow believe that government bureaucrats will do a better job.
11. Providing health care to all Iraqis is sound policy. Providing health care to all Americans is socialism.
?????
People from around the world abandon their “better” healthcare systems to come to the US where we have an “inferior” one.
12. Global warming and tobaccos link to cancer are junk science, but creationism should be taught in schools.
Global warming is real. It’s been happening since the end of the last age, well before the industrial revolution. The earth is 4.5 billion years old and has had wild swings in temperature. And are you saying that conservatives are the only supporters of big tobacco? That can’t be right. There are plenty of democrats in tobacco country. Besides, what happened to doing whatever you want with your body?
13. It is okay that the Bush familys Carlisle Group has done millions of business with the Bin Laden family.
Because there’s only one bin laden. Besides, thousands of people invest their money with the carlisle group including the Weinsteins of Miramax who distribute Michael Moore’s films.
14. Saddam was a good guy when Reagan armed him and Rumsfeld reassured him he was our buddy, a bad guy when Bushs daddy made war on him, a good guy when Cheney did business with him, but then a bad guy again when Bush junior
needed a prop for his re-election campaign as the war president.
Liberals criticized both. There’s no pleasing them.
15. A president lying about an extramarital affair is an impeachable offense. A president lying about WMD existence to enlist support for an unprovoked, undeclared war and occupation, in which thousands soldiers and civilians
die, is, somehow, solid defense policy in a War against Terrorism.
A president that lied under oath during a civil lawsuit vs. one who believed what government agencies were telling him. Saddam maybe didn’t have WMD but he sure acted like he did. Tango I’m beginning to see that you have a soft spot for Saddam. Your slogan should be “Kill the babies, save Saddam!”
16. Government should limit itself to the powers named in the Constitution, which should include banning gay marriages and censoring the Internet.
Where’s that amendment in the constitution that explains the “right” to gay marriage? The constitution does say that states reserve the rights not expressly given to the federal government. Liberals would have the rights of states to make their own laws on this and other matters taken away. As far as censoring the internet goes I thought it was the democrats that are trying to re-implement the fairness doctrine. It’s mainly liberals that supported a campaign finance act that limits the kind of speech of that is expressly protected by the first amendment: political speech.
17. The public has a right to know about Hillarys cattle trades, but George Bushs Harken Oil stock trade should be sealed in his Daddys library, and is none of our business.
I don’t know that GWB held any public office at the time of business deals. Is the same true of Bill Clinton?
18. What Bill Clinton or John Kerry did in the 1960s was of vital national interest but what Bush did in the 80s is irrelevant.
????
19. Trade with Cuba is wrong because the country is communist, but trade with China and Vietnam is vital to a spirit of international harmony.
I have written thousands of words about the differences between Cuba and China starting with my first post on this blog. Do a search in the side bar.
20. Affirmative Action is wrong, but it is OK for your Daddy and his friends (here and in Saudi Arabia) to get you to graduate from Yale without studying much, to dodge the draft in the Texas Air National Guard, to bail out your companies (Harken Oil and the Texas Rangers), to get the Governorship of Texas and then to have the Supreme Court appoint you President of the USA.
Bush had better grades than Kerry at Yale. As for the myth of the 2000 election if you go back you’ll see that the only people that had Gore winning florida were the TV networks. As the vote totals were being released by the florida department of elections Bush never trailed Gore. Not on election night, not at any point during the recounts. Bush won a greater percentage of the popular vote than Clinton did in either of his election wins.
21. You are a conservative, but it is OK to spend like there is no tomorrow and run up deficits that your grandchildren will have to pay, while at the same refunding as much tax money as possible to rich people who do not need it.
Newt Gingrich was the father of the reforms that brought us balanced budgets in the 90s. Clinton was smart enough to sign them. Today we again have a deficit, much to the credit of the president and congressional republicans. But the deficit is shrinking as the economy has grown.
First of all the name’s Henry. Enrique is my father. Second of all you ask Val to have his parents give back their social security money when it’s social security that should be giving them back their money. At a decent rate of return the amount of money confiscated by the government would be a small fortune that they would own without any strings attached. Your disdain for conservatives belies your little act about having once been one.
Henry,
Thank you, I knew you would not fall into the churchill group, except for the cheap shoot on killing babies and a sadam lover. But, as the fable of the frog and the scorpion crossing the river, Henry, its in your blood…..
As you clearly exposed it, there are two sides to a coin.
Tango
Henry,
Thank you, I knew you would not fall into the churchill group, except for the cheap shoot on killing babies and a sadam lover. But, as the fable of the frog and the scorpion crossing the river, Henry, its in your blood…..
As you clearly exposed it, there are two sides to a coin.
Tango
If Tango is a conservative, I’m a virgin. Don’t waste your breath, I’ve seen it all before.
It’s been a common tactic on conservative blogs and message boards for some dude to show up claiming to be an alienated conservative. They are usually exposed rather quickly. Liberals think there is some huge current of disaffection with conservatism among conservatives, and they are trying to tap it and keep conservatives home like they did in 2006.
They interpret the dissatisfaction with the current crop of “conservative” politicians such as John McCain as dissatisfaction with conservatism. I shouldn’t have to point out the obvious but they are two different things.
They interpret the dissatisfaction with the current crop of “conservative” politicians such as John McCain as dissatisfaction with conservatism. I shouldn’t have to point out the obvious but they are two different things. Amen to that.
RS, what they are trying to do, unsuccessfully if I may say so, is attempt to make conservatives feel ashamed of being conservative; they are attempting to create and inexistent paradox between conservative values and actions – you know the Christians and Bigots in the same sentence.
Henry, I don’t know why you wasted your time, but I’m glad you did. Great succint response.
Got names for the twins?????? I’m so jealous!!!!!
Henry,
I cant belive you actually watsed your time responding to Tango’s “lettr that he receieved…etc…” if I had a dime for every one that been sent to me, well, you know.
Guys,
Its good to bring a little heat and discussions if not the Blog becomes like the Granma, monotonous.
About being a virgin, well diferent taste for different urges…, you dont know what you are missing.
At least, I can say if being a conservative in Miami is to be anti-castro and all for which it stands for, well guys I am to the right of Gengis Khan.
Regarding US politics and politicians, well I am more pragmatic and independent.
I will be back in Miami, soon, I have an apartment in “Little Buenos Aires”, 6515 Collins the bel Air Condo. I will gladly invite you for cafe con media lunas at Manolos.
Regards,
Jorge
Guys,
Its good to bring a little heat and discussions if not the Blog becomes like the Granma, monotonous.
About being a virgin, well diferent taste for different urges…, you dont know what you are missing.
At least, I can say if being a conservative in Miami is to be anti-castro and all for which it stands for, well guys I am to the right of Gengis Khan.
Regarding US politics and politicians, well I am more pragmatic and independent.
I will be back in Miami, soon, I have an apartment in “Little Buenos Aires”, 6515 Collins the bel Air Condo. I will gladly invite you for cafe con media lunas at Manolos.
Regards,
Jorge
By the way, please do not poison my coffee, I still have a 9 months kid to educate!!!!
Still active after 50 pirulos!!!!
I agree with you Henry, it’s almost always better to build a movement from the grass roots up instead of imposing an idea top-down. There is a limited role for goverment to play, I believe, but the real reform should come from our greatest resource, which is our human ingenuity.