Forwarding the Conversation

Is it possible for a candidate to run a campaign that both gets him/her elected AND provides a mandate from which to govern effectively? That is the question I will be tackling in the coming days.

Reframing the Purpose

What is the purpose of a political campaign? This isn’t a hard question to answer; quite clearly, the purpose of a campaign is to get a particular candidate elected to a particular office. If that candidate does not get elected to the office they seek, he or she does not get to serve. The idea of the political campaign is rather simple because in our system – when you run for office – you either win or lose.

The idea of the political campaign becomes more complicated when you dig deeper. How negative is too negative? What principles are you unwilling to compromise on, and are the costs of compromising on core principles? What type of tactics are you willing to resort to in order to win? These are just some of the questions each candidate should ask themselves before forming a campaign committee.

Some questions for you before proceeding: how would you answer the questions above? How would you like your elected officials to answer these questions?

I think that we can all agree that particular campaign rhetoric and tactics are damaging to our democratic process. Negative ads that resort to name-calling and the spread of rumors and half-truths are just a few examples. Campaign rallies where elected officials use demagoguery as a means to anger a group of people, or pit one person against another, are more examples of damaging campaign tactics. Policy proposals that are specifically designed to divide the electorate are more subtle, but equally as damaging. These campaign tactics are a reality in our system, and I’ve heard both friends and colleagues rail against them. As a former and current political operative, I can say that these tactics are employed because they are effective. When you are running a campaign that holds victory as its central focus, you will do whatever it takes to win.

My proposal is that we, as an electorate, hold our elected officials accountable by forcing them to run principled campaigns that focus on victory as a means to govern, rather than victory at the expense of governance. What I mean is that our current political system often rewards those who demagogue, divide, and conquer. As I discussed in a previous post, this puts the elected official in an electoral box. In essence, by pandering to the extremes of their party, they find compromise – once elected – an impossible task due to fear of being un-elected in the next campaign cycle.

Furthermore, candidates for public office should adopt a strategy where they run to govern. I believe that when candidates think about the dynamics of governance during the campaign, the paradigm shifts and many tactics that were once attractive become ineffective. While I was not present during John McCain’s first run for President, back in 200, I believe there is evidence that his campaign was run with governance in mind. The “Straight Talk Express” became the image that embodied his bid for President. He promised the American people that he would tell it to them straight, whether they wanted to hear it or not. That initial run thrust him into the national spotlight and gave him the platform to be the Republican Party’s nominee in 2008. While McCain’s strategy changed in the 2008 campaign, I think it is fair to say that his “Maverick” streak is what the American People found so attractive about him during and after the 2000 campaign. Therefore, I argue, that the American People actually crave this type of leadership.

The American People would rather see a candidate who can be trusted to stay true to themselves rather than someone who agrees with them on all the issues. Politics is a blood sport, and nobody is going to agree with you all the time. As a candidate it’s easy to resort back to the idea that “I can’t change anything unless I get elected,” but I would retort that some folks who get elected aren’t able to change anything because of the way they get elected. By focusing on the campaign as a means to effective governance, I believe that candidates will be forced to think about the consequences of their campaign’s actions on the electoral climate of the country.

Over the next weeks I will focus attention on drilling down into the campaign structure to highlight some ways that campaigns can be changed to incentivize more effective governance and a healthier democratic process.

Until next time… stay classy democracy

Below is a trailer for a movie called “Man on Wire.” The movie is based on the Frenchman Philippe Petit who was able to walk a wire between the two towers of the World Trade Center in New York. This movie brings to mind a quote by W.H. Murray

Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too.

What are you committed to? What are you willing to live for? What are you willing to die for? 

This is the speech given by Al Paccino in Oliver Stone’s film Any Given Sunday. The speech speaks to the idea that both life and football are about inches. In life and in football people live and die either together or as individuals. This speech is deep and meaningful even if it’s given by a fictional character in a locker room full of fictional football players.

Take a look and think about how you’re living your life. Are you playing for the inches? Are you willing to give it all for what you truly desire? Will you live as a part of something larger or die as an individual?

I just finished reading The Alchemist by Paulo Coehlo. It is a fantastic read that packs so many truths into such a short space. So, in addition to having a string going on Rethinking Poverty I will begin recording some thoughts on The Language of the World.

The Language of the World is a phrase used by Coehlo throughout The Alchemist as a way to describe the way in which we communicate with our world and each other and how the world conversely communicates with us. This idea gets at the essence of Forwarding the Conversation because it is only through purposeful listening that can we find an understanding of The Language of the World, and it is only through the Language of the World that we are able to see our deeper purpose. We must always be willing to attentively listen to our hearts and we must always be willing to follow the path that our heart lays before us.

It is in this spirit that I will include some of my favorite quotes from The Alchemist and feature a short HP commercial with Paulo Coelho

….”whoever you are, or whatever it is that you do, when you really want something, it’s because that desire originated in the soul of the universe. It’s your mission on earth.” ….”And when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to acheive it.”

———- 

When you know that language, it’s easy to believe that someone in the world awaits you, whether it’s in the middle of the desert or in some great city… without such love, one’s dreams would have no meaning.

———- 

There was a language in the world that everyone understood, a language the boy had used throughout the time that he was trying to improve things at the shop. It was the language of enthusiasm, of things accomplished with love and purpose, and as part of a search for something believed in and desired.

———- 

Don’t forget that everything you deal with is only one thing and nothing else.

———- 

When we love, we always strive to become better than we are.
When we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better too.

———- 

Wherever your heart is, there you will find your treasure.

———- 

The world’s greatest lie: At a certain point in our lives we lose control of what’s happening to us and our lives become controlled by fate.

———-

“Continue in the direction of the Pyramids”, said the alchemist. “And continue to pay heed to the omens. Your heart is still capable of showing you where the treasure is.”

“Is that the one thing I still need to know?”

“No”, the alchemist answered. “What you still need to know is this: before a dream is realized, the Soul of the World tests everything that was learned along the way. It does this not because it is evil, but so that we can, in addition to realizing our dreams, master the lessons we’ve learned as we’ve moved toward that dream. That’s the point at which, as we say in the language of the desert, one ‘dies of thirst just when the palm trees have appeared on the horizon.’

“Every search begins with beginner’s luck. And every search ends with the victor’s being severely tested.”

———- 

No matter what he does, every person on earth plays a central role in the history of the world. And normally he doesn’t know it.

———- 

People need not fear the unknown if they are capable of achieving what they need and want. We are afraid of losing what we have, whether it’s our life or our possessions and property. But this fear evaporates when we understand that our life stories and the history of the world were written by the same Hand.

———- 

The purpose of this site is to create a place for people to discuss joining purposes and joint-action. This is a safe space for people to be in inquiry about what it means to them to connect with others in a way that fosters deep, purposeful, and powerful action. I will share my own thoughts where appropriate and mostly I will seek out what others are saying using their thoughts as a point of reference to forward the larger narrative.

Just in case you are wondering, the quote under the banner is from an Ancient Mayan Text called the Popol Vuh . I first heard about it from a friend of mine named Nick and then read it in a book entitled Presence written by Peter Senge, C. Otto Scharmer, Joseph Jaworski, and Betty Sue Flowers.

Here is a website I’ve been looking at a lot recently that is really onto something…

The Art of Hosting