Thu - December 21, 2006
How to write an Effective Political Platform
[The following article from Centroids was solicited by PetitionSpot,
apparently because they were impressed by my petition to Elect Jon
Stewart].
Inspired by what I considered excessive solutions, I thought I should actually
write down what I think a good, actionable Platform would look like.
Or, more precisely what we'd need to do in order to do the job
effectively in the context of the Unity08 movement.
The basic process would be to:
Inspired by what I considered excessive solutions, I thought I should actually
write down what I think a good, actionable Platform would look like.
Or, more precisely what we'd need to do in order to do the job
effectively in the context of the Unity08 movement.
The basic process would be to:
A. Identify the audience we want to connect
with
B. Determine what kind of message would resonate
with them
C. Figure out which of our principles would suit
that message
D. Articulate them with sufficient specificity
to attract an audience, but not so precise as to foreclose debate or generate a
negative reaction
Make sense? So, let's see how far I can get.
A) Audience
So, the nominal audience for our Platform is anyone paying attention
to Unity '08, which includes students, participants in the forum, the
Decision Makers and Funders behind Unity '08, and ultimate the
candidates who will compete for the vote.
The total audience is enormously diverse, and it is impossible to
articulate anything that everyone would agree with; if we try to
please everyone we'll alienate everybody. On the other hand, we
can't be so radical that we please nobody. The 'radical middle', if
you will, would be to articulate a minimal platform that a solid core
of people could fully back, that most others would at least
grudgingly support, and that alienated only the fringes.
This requires having some understanding of what draws people to Unity
'08, in order to help us decide whom to target. Let me posit a few
attributes that the bulk of Unity '08 participants share:
Make sense? So, let's see how far I can get.
A) Audience
So, the nominal audience for our Platform is anyone paying attention
to Unity '08, which includes students, participants in the forum, the
Decision Makers and Funders behind Unity '08, and ultimate the
candidates who will compete for the vote.
The total audience is enormously diverse, and it is impossible to
articulate anything that everyone would agree with; if we try to
please everyone we'll alienate everybody. On the other hand, we
can't be so radical that we please nobody. The 'radical middle', if
you will, would be to articulate a minimal platform that a solid core
of people could fully back, that most others would at least
grudgingly support, and that alienated only the fringes.
This requires having some understanding of what draws people to Unity
'08, in order to help us decide whom to target. Let me posit a few
attributes that the bulk of Unity '08 participants share:
a. They have above-average interest in
politics
b. They are frustrated by partisan
gridlock
c. They don't identify strongly with one party
over the other (but may have once)
d. They believe that the "other side" has at
least a few good ideas
e. They consider "compromise" a positive, not
negative term
f. They feel there is a fundamental crisis with
our two-party system
Obviously not everybody involved feels this way, but I think anything
that targets this hypothetical voter would probably go a long way.
B) Message
Given the noise levels (and our small size), I believe that we need
One Big Idea as the core of our platform. The reason is that we
have no leverage -- by default, we have to rely on word of mouth,
which means we need something so concise that people can intrigue
their friends with a single sentence. We can (and should) address a
wide range of topics, but they all need to logically support each other.
The other reason for such internal coherency is that we need a united
movement. Ideally, we want something so well-constructed that if you
accept the core principle, you'll immediately be comfortable with the
whole enchilada; otherwise, we'd waste all our time infighting
_within_ our core base.
C) Principles
Given that goal, there's several possible concepts that might provide
such a foundation;
Obviously not everybody involved feels this way, but I think anything
that targets this hypothetical voter would probably go a long way.
B) Message
Given the noise levels (and our small size), I believe that we need
One Big Idea as the core of our platform. The reason is that we
have no leverage -- by default, we have to rely on word of mouth,
which means we need something so concise that people can intrigue
their friends with a single sentence. We can (and should) address a
wide range of topics, but they all need to logically support each other.
The other reason for such internal coherency is that we need a united
movement. Ideally, we want something so well-constructed that if you
accept the core principle, you'll immediately be comfortable with the
whole enchilada; otherwise, we'd waste all our time infighting
_within_ our core base.
C) Principles
Given that goal, there's several possible concepts that might provide
such a foundation;
• The Radical Middle (interpolating between
two extremes)
• Systems Theory (positive and negative
feedback)
• Communitarian (balancing individual and
society)
• Radical Centrism (humility, justice, and
love)
and there may be others. The challenge is to find something simple
enough to easily convey, yet fertile enough to support a broad platform.
D) Articulation
As I said before, I think our Core Agenda has to have 10 or so
points; otherwise nobody can remember enough of it to decide whether
they like it or not. In addition, we need to keep our high-level
statements vague enough (but no vaguer :-) that people focus on the
broad principles instead of quibbling about details.
Ideally, I'd like there to be three over-arching themes which
encapsulate 9-12 major initiatives. Not only does is that easier to
memorize, it would also enable us to provide a useful graphical summary.
Remember, the key is to make people feel *empowered*. That is, we
want them to feel comfortable that they grok the essence of our
platform, so that they feel safe supporting and endorsing us.
Does that sound like a plan?
To be sure, we could take the easy way out and wait until Unity '08
comes up with their list of questions, and merely respond to those.
But what would be the fun in that? :-)
Sincerely,
Ernest N. Prabhakar, Ph.D.
and there may be others. The challenge is to find something simple
enough to easily convey, yet fertile enough to support a broad platform.
D) Articulation
As I said before, I think our Core Agenda has to have 10 or so
points; otherwise nobody can remember enough of it to decide whether
they like it or not. In addition, we need to keep our high-level
statements vague enough (but no vaguer :-) that people focus on the
broad principles instead of quibbling about details.
Ideally, I'd like there to be three over-arching themes which
encapsulate 9-12 major initiatives. Not only does is that easier to
memorize, it would also enable us to provide a useful graphical summary.
Remember, the key is to make people feel *empowered*. That is, we
want them to feel comfortable that they grok the essence of our
platform, so that they feel safe supporting and endorsing us.
Does that sound like a plan?
To be sure, we could take the easy way out and wait until Unity '08
comes up with their list of questions, and merely respond to those.
But what would be the fun in that? :-)
Sincerely,
Ernest N. Prabhakar, Ph.D.
Posted at 02:41 PM
Wed - November 1, 2006
New Activity over on Unity Watch
This is a belated notice that I have shifted my
online activity to the new Unity Watch blog focused exclusively on Unity '08.
While not without its challenges, Unity '08 represents the best chance for
centrists to influence the 2008 election, so the Centroids crew is retargeting our efforts to
communicate with that community. Come on over and check us out!
Posted at 04:25 PM
Wed - August 30, 2006
Radical Centrism: The Movie, by Billy Rojas
Billy has put his newfound computer skills to
work by producing the first ever Radical
Centrist movie. While more of a storyboard/presentation, it is an
impressive achievement, especially considering it was composed entirely in (AOL)
Mail. The HTML conversion is mine, for which I ask your forgiveness for any
transcription errors.
Posted at 02:20 PM
Mon - May 8, 2006
Madeleine Albright, on Democracy
An impressive speech at Princeton (hat tip to Winds of Change) with a nice 14-point summary of
what it means to realistically promote our ideal of
democracy:
1. despite current setbacks, it is both
right and smart for America to assist those who want our help in establishing
and strengthening democratic institutions.
2. democracy must grow from
within.
3. increase our support for building
democracy around the world, including in Iraq.
4. democracy-building is a team
enterprise.
5. building democracy is a bottom-up, not
a top-down proposition.
6. assessing democratic gains, free
elections--while essential--are not sufficient.
7. democracy must deliver... A strong
economy--like a strong democracy--is built from the ground up.
8. recognize what democracy can and
cannot do.
9. democracies should be
inclusive.
10. in promoting democracy, we should
adopt a global approach.
11. To support democracy we must also
support those in civil society who have been working to promote democratic
norms.
12. if we expect to lead the world toward
democracy, we must ourselves be true to democratic values.
13. as America continues to support
democracy, we should do so with some degree of introspection.
14. Our promotion of democracy should
revolve around a simple and basic idea -- that every individual counts and that
the fundamental dignity of every human being should be
respected.
I have a some minor quibbles, but overall I think her
points are just common sense. Alas, a very rare commodity these
days...
Posted at 09:20 AM
RadicalCentrism.org
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Published On: Jan 10, 2007 08:10 AM
Published On: Jan 10, 2007 08:10 AM