The Playbook For GOP Activists: Turn Every NO Into a YES

by Dr. Ellen Brandt

 
As our previous story on the Great Bimbo Controversy demonstrates (Proud to Be an American Bimbo), you can turn nearly any negative attack, especially an outrageous one, into a positive boost for the individual who's being attacked, if you treat it with humor and wit.

Humor works better in some situations than others, of course. And effective satire is not always possible.

But in our concerted effort to turn the national perception of the GOP from the "Party of NO" back to the "Party of YES," humor needs to become a more frequent part of our political repertoire, as do other kinds of positive rhetoric.

Here, a brief primer on what we need to do to combat the "MSM" (Mainstream Media) and its bias towards the Other Party:


***** Treat other Republicans - ALL other Republicans - with kindness, humanity, decency, and respect.

GOP adherents tend to be moral and ethical people, believers in the Golden Rule of "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."

Why, then, can't we always remember that this also applies to political discussion and debate?

By all means, pronounce your opinions and points of view in a memorable and forceful manner. But don't do it at the expense of your GOP brethren and sistren. They are presumably working for the betterment, not only of the Party itself, but for the good of the country and the world-at-large.  


***** Focus on issues, not personalities.

If you positively hate what Candidate X, Activist Y, or Internet Poster Z (Yes, he is annoying) advocates, aim your critique at the concept or its content, not at the person expounding it.

If your analysis shows your Opponent's tax plan is skewed to favor Vegans or Las Vegans or possibly Vulcans, give us the facts and state why you dislike the plan. But don't attack the plan's creator as a Food Fetishist, Casino Groupie, or the Reincarnation of Mr. Spock.  


***** To be seen as inclusive, BE inclusive.

"Political correctness" is a concept that should never have gained favor. Let's assign it to the scrapheap of political discourse.    

A Party which courts the favor of only a narrow swath of the electorate will receive the votes of only that narrow swath of the electorate. "Orthodoxy" is a word that should be associated with religious doctrine, not with political life. And "litmus tests" belong in chemistry labs.

Traditionally, the GOP, not the Other Party, has been the historical province of the accepting Big Tent, which welcomes a base of voters as expansive and diverse as America itself.

Let's bring back that Big Tent, right here, right now.


***** No matter the issue or viewpoint, stress its positive aspects, not its negative ones.

Acting like Pollyanna or promising the proverbial chicken, lobster, or tofu in every pot may not be a tactic most Republicans care to embrace. But coming across like Ebenezer Scrooge on a bad hair day with his bunions acting up isn't the best strategy, either.

If you are proposing some new policy or plan that will hurt a significant group of American voters, you can't just say, "This is a hard choice we have to make - tough noogies - take it or leave it." (OK, then, Fella, we'll leave it.)

You need to embrace not only the parameters of the plan you are proposing, but also to embrace figuratively, as fellow Americans and fellow humans, those who will be affected by your plan.

What are the potential positives for them? What can you suggest or propose, so that they will gain in some ways, even if they lose in others?

Not only is emphasizing the positive good practice from a political viewpoint, it's also important for your general reputation as a candidate or activist or someone who seeks to influence the political dialogue.

If your "goals" consist of tearing down to tear down, slashing and burning to slash and burn, harming others because you like to harm them . . . Well, you might want to find another pursuit besides politics - and maybe a good psychologist.


***** Use positive headlines in your print and Internet presentations.

Some on the political stage seem to think only the nastiest and snarkiest content will be picked up by the Mainstream Media and make it into their sound bite machine.

But even if some irresponsible media outlets and reporters do glom onto curse words, gibes, and malicious criticism . . . . Well, let's be better than they are. Let's try to attract them responsibly with positive content and positive headlines, which stress substantive ideas and viewpoints.

That doesn't mean our content or our headlines can't be catchy, however. As we noted above, utilize humor and wit whenever you can. And feel free to use buzzwords which tend to capture audience interest.

"Billingsley Tackles Our Borders" will probably draw more readers than "Billingsley Presents Immigration Plan."

And "Jones Will Create 15 Million Jobs for Americans Over 50" would be picked up by most sites in and out of the "MSM" - without a single nasty word or gibe at a rival candidate.


***** Embrace the vibrant tumult of ideas and opinions.

While avoiding negativity, we should also stress that it's the give-and-take of politics from which all true change emerges.

We need to return to a political atmosphere of forceful discussion and debate, which is exciting, vibrant, and intellectually challenging, without crossing the line into rancor, pettiness, or incivility.

Every good discussion or debate  - no matter the issue or policy at hand - has at its core the realization - the anticipation - that there lurks somewhere a viable solution to the issue or problem, a way to reach a satisfactory conclusion and consensus via compromise, bridge-building, and old-fashioned political "horse-trading."

And every active participant in a discussion or debate must be willing to work towards that conclusion and that satisfying consensus.

Anyone not willing to do so is simply not behaving as a politician should, but is rather exhibiting the behavior of an autocrat and a dictator. That is not only non-political behavior. It is anti-political behavior. 


***** "Gamification" has no place in politics. And "Winner-Take-All" generally means "Everybody Loses."

Quite a few Americans - in fact, probably the majority of us - have now become thoroughly disillusioned and disgusted with the incessant application of "Game Theory" - and its accompanying algorithms and artificial intelligence - to pretty much every aspect of modern life, from stock markets to marketing to banking to media.

But the main place we'd like to get rid of it once and for all is in our politics. "Winning through intimidation" is not attractive to most of us anymore. Nor is emotional manipulation or outright bullying in any way, shape, or form.

And since "hard-sell" propaganda virtually never works, when you're trying to sell products or services to our generally skeptical and intelligent American population, why should you think it works any better, when what you are selling is a political plan or position?

Moreover, in this age of  "SEO" (search engine optimization) and other artificial tools from the world of marketing, most frequent Internet users, at least, understand that information on "What's Trending" or "What's Liked" or "What's Hot" can be largely manipulated and wildly inaccurate.

Even worse, at a time when most respected academic researchers believe more than 2 in 3 "participants" on the Internet today are Script Bots, not human beings - and when humongous 10-million-plus Botnets can be purchased quite easily by the highest bidders and instructed to do their bidding - many of us have great difficulty accepting any focus group or poll or discussion thread which is primarily Internet-based.

Sooner or later, you may say, the cheaters and liars and gamers of the system will be found out and ousted from the political arena.

Maybe. Or maybe not.

But it is high time for all honest and respectable politicians, political activists, and political commentators to start taking a strong stand against the "Gamification" of American political life.

Let's bite the bullet and do it right now, before it becomes too late to do it.

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Link to the Party of YES Group at LinkedIn:


https://www.linkedin.com/groups/Party-YES-7472991/about

Link to Group manager Ellen Brandt's LinkedIn profile:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/ellenbbrandtphd
 
And her Google+ profile:

https://plus.google.com/u/0/115282763756107439379/posts/p/pub

Link to the landing page for Bring Back the Meritocracy!, founder Ellen Brandt's project to help the estimated 400 million "Highly-Educated But Under-Employed" in the United States and abroad: 

https://plus.google.com/u/0/b/114091094386273464410/114091094386273464410/about/p/pub