Yet, for some reason, we conservatives demand amateurs and part-timers represent us in elected office.

I am as guilty as the next guy. For years of activism, starting during the Tea Party and winding through the subsequent years as a commentator and Republican Party volunteer, I too echoed the “original intent” argument. It goes something like this: the Founders intended for us to have a part-time citizen legislature composed of normal people who serve for a short time and then return to their real occupations, living under the laws they created.

It's true. That was the original intent. It’s also true that we’re far afield from that ideal and face behemoth state and federal governments populated by professional politicos who more than welcome your amateur resistance.

The Democrats don’t have this problem among their base. They understand politics as a dispensation of power, and want the best warriors, provocateurs, and administrators they can find to advance their campaigns and forward their agendas. They live politics and expect their elected officials and politicos to do the same. They fight 24/7/365 with singular commitment to their cause as an occupation. As you might run a business, or manage a farm, or build a church, they pour everything into defeating you politically, both at the ballot box and at the Capitol.

Read this as good news! Consider. We’ve been fighting asymmetrical political warfare for years against an enemy that’s better funded, better equipped, and more committed. Yet we still win elections from time to time and claim many states as red strongholds. Imagine if we took politics as seriously as they did! We could absolutely dominate them politically and truly “make America great again.”

But to do that, we’re going to have to address and adjust this antiquated mentality that professional politicians are bad. It’s not professionalism that taints the process. Rather, it’s the lack of it among those with the highest commitment to principle.

Think about it. Who is most likely to cling to this idea that elected representatives should be part-time dabblers? It’s the most conservative among us, the most principled, the most committed to the ideal. Those who care the most about doing the right thing for its own sake are also the most likely to handicap themselves by imposing a limitation their opponents do not abide by – in either party. So you’re left with Democrat professionals throughout their side, and Republican professionals who aren’t particularly conservative. Doesn’t that seem to explain, in large part, the outcomes we’re getting?

We need to professionalize conservative politics. We need to develop career politicians, intentionally, to advance the conservative cause. We need places for them to learn, places for them to grow, places for them to continue their education, and landing pads for them to recover in the event fighting the good fight costs them their job.

“But Walter,” I hear you say, “that’s an awfully self-serving point for you to make as a first-term state legislator. Aren’t you merely advocating for your own benefit as one of these potential ‘career politicians?’”

Yes. … What’s your point?

Again, every other occupation advocates for its own benefit. Every plumber seeks the best work. Every dentist seeks new patients. Every real estate broker is looking for their next client. As conservatives, we more than anyone should recognize the inherent utility of self-interest.

Of course, the primary difference between the private sector and public service is the coercive element of the state. If a plumber doesn’t provide the advertised value, you can sue or pick another vendor. It’s a little trickier with politics; but we do have processes for punishing bad actors – endorsement contests and primaries.

Plenty of pundits and activists lament the fact that Congress sucks at their job but continually gets re-elected. I have been among such critics. But few if any ever suggest a credible means for breaking the cycle. That may be because the answer is counter intuitive. To defeat “the establishment,” you must largely model its behavior. The powers that be are well-funded, data-driven, and strategic. The “grassroots” are angry… and that’s about it. That anger needs to be professionalized in a constructive way that provides real competition to the moderate voices.

Until that happens, our politics will continue to rachet to the Left, because unbridled rage only occasionally stops the leftward momentum. It almost never makes meaningful progress in the other direction. Introduce a little strategy, introduce a lot of money, embrace the concept of political professionalism, and then we might truly take our country back.