The Stockdale Paradox
“You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end—which you can never afford to lose—with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be.” — Admiral James Stockdale.
We Will Prevail
The Stockdale Paradox was made famous in Jim Colin’s bestselling book Good to Great published in October 2001. Admiral James B. Stockdale was shot down September 9, 1965, over Viet Nam and wound up in the Hoa Lo Prison (the infamous Hanoi Hilton) where he spent the next 7 years. In preparing for his book, Collins asked him about the personal characteristics of prisoners who did not make it out of the camps. Admiral Stockdale replied, “the optimists”. They were the ones who always believed they would be getting out soon. When the days kept ticking by, they died of a broken heart. You see, they lost sight that they would prevail in the end.
The Most Brutal Facts
Admiral Stockdale knew that you must have the “discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be”. What are the brutal facts in Pima County?
- Pima County has seven Legislative Districts within its boundaries. Of the 21 potential Legislators, only seven are Republicans—only 1/3; and only one of them lives in Pima County.
- Of our Pima County elected officials, we only have two: Supervisor Christy and Treasurer Ford, and we are grateful for their commitment and support to Pima County.
- Of the 1,595 allotted Precinct Committeemen spots, we have approximately 700 PCs elected or appointed.
- We are facing redistricting and will likely lose one if not two Legislative Districts.
- We have Republicans who believe they must “take over” the party.
- We have groups splintering off from the Republican Party because they don’t feel their voices are being heard.
- We have a Democrat President, Senate, and House
- We have a 5D – 4R House of Representatives in Arizona
- Our two U.S. Senators are Democrats
- Our Arizona Senate and House are Republican majorities of one
Those are the brutal facts for Republicans in Pima County. Fellow Republicans, the Democrats are your fight. Look what they have done to your County, your State, and the United States of America. The fight is with them, not with your fellow Republicans. Somebody’s blood doesn’t bleed RED enough for you? Ask yourself if you can agree with them 80%-90% of the time, and then move on to win elections against Democrats because, I promise, you won’t agree with them at all.
We will prevail in the end. The Pima County Republican Party has the discipline to confront the brutal facts and move forward. “It’s difficult balancing optimism and realism, intuition and planning, faith and fact. But that’s what it takes to be effective.” (John C. Maxwell) And we will be effective. Join us.