Imagine you walk into the voting booth next Tuesday, and all you have in front of you is a list of names…
Would you know what office each one was running for, and what responsibilities each office holds? Would you know what each of them has accomplished and failed at in the past? Would you know what ideas they have for the future, and where they stand on the issues you care about?
In short, would you know who you really want to vote for?…
Unfortunately, most of us vote, in whole or in part, based on “brand”. And in politics, there are two big brands - ‘Democrat’ and ‘Republican’ - the two major political parties. For most people, voting means going into the voting booth, finding the column of the party they identify with, and voting straight down the ‘party line’. The only thinking it requires is picking your party.
It isn’t about the people that are running for office - it’s about their ‘brand’…
Running for office through a political party means you can leverage the power of a brand. There are marketing dollars that go with this. There are focus groups and surveys to steer you. You can leverage the ‘halo effect’ of other popular members of your party, and cross promote. Like with a premium ‘Madison Avenue’ ad campaign, you are given very little to say, but told say it over and over - to stay ‘on message’.
And we end up picking who runs our country in pretty much the same way we pick a breakfast cereal or laundry detergent…
As a country we have been lulled into complacency. We expect little from our politicians, and therefore invest little in picking them. A feel good slogan. A broad and meaningless ideology. Unrealistic promises. Vilification of opponents. This is what we get in every election. Unfortunately, none of these will solve any of the problems we face today, or build a better nation for our children.
This election year, we need to make a change - a change in ourselves…
We live at a time when we have more information available to us then ever before. We have the ability to see the war in Iraq through the eyes of a young Iraqi woman or an active American soldier serving there. We can look at the world from the perspective of a retired autoworker or that of a veteran tech worker. We can learn about almost any issue or situation we want from the perspective of individuals dealing with it first-hand.
The internet can empower everyone in this country to see things less superficially…
Most people will take the time to read through the product reviews on Amazon before buying a book or television. Most people will do some research at Edmunds before they go to buy a car, or visit Consumer Reports before getting a new appliance.
And we have orders of magnitude more information available to us to help make wise choices when we vote - and an order of magnitude more responsibility…
The Congressional Record. Global newspapers. Major broadcast news. Political blogs.
Being informed means being empowered. That is why free speech and a free press are so fundamental; so important to the future of this country. They are an ideal that is at the heart of the democratic process. And in many ways, political parties end up polluting this ideal.
I hope everyone will take the time to vote in this coming election. And if you really want to ‘rock the vote’, consider voting for a person instead of a brand…
John,
As usual, insightful commentary. I think if we would just start small (say, deciding that for at least one of the races on the ballot, we’ll do our homework and vote for a person), we would make tremendous progress. The place this happens most easily is in local politics. I live in a town that until recently had Republican mayors for something like 70 years. In the last election, that changed, and not due in any significant way to a change in local political leanings. What happened was that the Republican party ran an attack ad. For a local mayoral campaign, this is unforgivable. The consequence was that the Democratic candidate was elected. He has done a fine job so far and has caused many formerly party-line Republican voters to think a little harder about local candidates. As an independent (and eclectic libertarian), I have always tried to vote for people. I applaud anything that helps us do that. Of course where we don’t know enough, brand can be useful. I am not suggesting that voting for a party has no place. Rather, let’s all do a little more to take back ownership of politics, starting right here at home.
Curt
Great post
But one of the things that is missing is the power that the brands have over the candidates
Maybe someone is pro guns but if they are a democrat they change their tune and become anti guns
The brands exert a lot of power over the people unfortunately
Fred