Nice analysis. I vote for Ash as our figurehead. :-)
How to Overcome the Retail Politics Deficit in American Centrism http://riseofthecenter.com/2012/05/24/how-to-overcome-the-retail-politics-deficit-in-american-centrism/10601 How to Overcome the Retail Politics Deficit in American Centrism Posted by Jess Chapman on Thursday, May 24, 2012 · 21 Comments Sol’s Unscientific Bell Curve of the American Political Spectrum The last couple of times a centrist candidate who I liked came in third or worse in an important election, I tried to look beyond them for reasons why. The voting system, maybe? The influence of special interests? The pandering? Yes, one or more were there in varying degrees. But the usual response I got from other centrists came down to one factor: retail politics. Or, more accurately, the lack of the candidate’s ability to use it. The latest example of this is Americans Elect, the online third-party voting system that failed to find a nominee. Why would only one of multiple potential candidates on their list refuse to participate when this, much more than the Republican or Democratic primary processes, could claim to be truly people-driven? Now, generally, I prefer to keep promotional efforts to a minimum and let a product, service or candidate attract customers, users and voters on its own merits. Sadly, this has yet to work in an election. The “If you build it, they will come” mentality is simply impractical in today’s politics. In the age of the rapid-fire media, they have to know it’s there. And if they already know it’s there, they have to know it’s capable of staying there. So perhaps it was inevitable that I’m finally devoting a post to this thesis statement: Centrism isn’t sexy enough. True, sexiness in a candidate or de facto spokesperson has never been a high priority for me. But we pride ourselves on pragmatism when it comes to policy matters. Now we have to be pragmatic when it comes to rhetorical ones. I have indeed noticed that the typical token centrist – experienced, highly educated, wonkish, mature – has a hard time distilling his high-minded policy ideas into clear, simple words. The X-factor is that if he started using them, he’d have the intellectual heft to back it up. He just wouldn’t have to come off as if he were constantly lecturing you, which, I have theorized, is why he turns off voters outside of a faithful few. There’s also a distinct lack of pathos among centrist politicians. This is my least favorite of Aristotle’s modes of persuasion – yes, I studied rhetoric – but you can’t deny that it works. The most successful movements have spawned from the ability to combine emotions and ideas into political values. We need bring it down to “We’re all mad as hell – now let’s do something about it!” Which leads me to my final point: Centrism needs an identifiable figure. It needs to be humanized. It needs someone who is smart, funny, patriotic, plainspoken, unapologetic (unless the situation genuinely merits an apology) and capable of being the adult in the room. And, for purely aesthetic reasons, someone who is all of these plus young and attractive would be the best choice. Participants in the emerging centrist infrastructure need to find such a person and put them out front. Once we make up for our marketing deficit, everyone else’s attention deficit has a much better chance of being filled in. We know we can beat wingers at the policy game. Now it’s time to start kicking their asses at the politics game. About Jess Chapman Jess Chapman, 22, dreams of relocating from her hometown of Winnipeg, Canada, to the United States and making it her home base as the next great centrist pundette. She is a graduate of the University of Winnipeg, where she majored in communications, and currently works as a producer for a national talk show. She has written one post for her blog, The Future American, every single day since March 4, 2009. Filed under Featured, Home Page · Tagged with (via Instapaper) Sent from my iPad -- Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community <[email protected]> Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org
