Where Has the Republican ‘Market’ Gone? Should We Go There?
Although he didn’t have politics in mind, marketing provocateur Seth Godin wrote on his blog:
How can we get large groups of people to value our craft and buy from us again? … In terms of educating the masses to differentiate yourself, the market is broken. Fixing this is almost always a losing battle. Just because you’re good at something doesn’t mean the market cares any longer. … It’s extremely difficult to repair the market.
Politics get mass-marketed, and niche-marketed, and permission-marketed. But what’s the product? Is it a politician, an ideology, a vision for the future, a body of policy expertise?
As we survey the landscape in January 2010, with Democrat-dominated legislative and executive branches at the federal level and far too many states, perhaps Republicans need to ask:
Where has the market gone? Should we go there? What kinds of change would be required to go there? Would we need to alter our principles, practices, personality, or some combination of the three?
My guess is that if you’re reading this, you think you know the answer. It’s patently obvious. I think I know — but upon what data is my knowing based? Legions of consultants, pundits, and pols think they know, and they make a dandy living boldly proclaiming this knowledge.
However, there’s a tendency in politics to believe that whatever wins an election is what the people want. Whatever strategy or tactics were employed to produce victory the last time are the new formulas for success. Recent Republican victories in Virginia, New Jersey, and a near-miss in New York’s 23rd congressional district bring great encouragement to partisans.
However, if we assume we have found a formula for success, our assumptions are amiss.
We’re always fighting the last war on a broad strategic basis, but it’s in the trenches — where foot soldiers innovate to meet the exigencies of the moment — that victory happens. Until recently, there were few channels for distributing the lessons from my trench in Pennsylvania to yours in Wyoming. The internet has changed all of that — it has given us an opportunity to share lessons learned, but also to realize that there’s no cookie cutter for electoral success.
Former House Majority Leader Thomas “Tip” O’Neill purportedly said: “All politics is local.”
I disagree. That’s not putting a fine enough point on it. Truth is: All politics is personal.
There are no demographics, psychographics, or polls that provide a reliable compass going forward. You can take snapshots of the past, but not of the future. I’m not saying these pursuits are useless, but perhaps the mentality of mass-marketing has distracted us from the fact that there are no voting blocs.
There’s just one voter. In other words, “the market” is a woman, a man … one person.
Of course, since one woman cannot generate a six-figure annual salary for a consultant, they have to lump her together with millions of others and develop clever buzzwords to describe the proclivities of this massified, de-personalized woman. They sell you software and polls aimed at generating generalizations.
But the market is one woman. And she will do as she pleases.
Your thesis that it’s a woman is precisely the problem.
The Republican Market Didn’t Go Anywhere.
It is the Republican Brand that went away.
In the movie Braveheart, you see how quickly the people become dejected when the “Nobles” betray William Wallace by not standing with him. Betrayal does that.
The Republicans have Betrayed those who supported them. That’s not a Market Problem, that’s an Image problem.
And Phony “I’ll be anything you want” strategies wont fix that. The republican brand needs some reality. People with real beliefs beyond “I need to be elected.”
We need people who believe in something greater than themselves who are willing to put themselves on the line for it and are willing to stand up and be counted (spell that Fight For, even speak out for) when the chattering classes begin screaming about what is happening.
The republicans are like a Knight in Shining Armor. They rode into town in 1994 and promised to sleigh the Dragon. They then proceeded to make a Deal with the Dragon that when Marauding the dragon would spare each farmhouse One Cow and One Building. Then the Knight is confused why the farmers are upset with him.
jd
You and your marketing buds ARE the problem, not a solution.
The Republican party abandoned it’s conservative principles, A party with no principles is just a weak version of the Democrats. Why should anyone vote for a pale imitation of the Democrats when they can vote for the real thing?
It won’t be marketing that restores Republicans to power, but a return to the conservative principles that got them there is the first place. One of the basic principles of conservatives is not stealing money from taxpayers. Yet that is just what your marketing guru has in mind. He wants to trick voters into giving him the keys to the vault. If he wasn’t, he would have a plan that didn’t involve tricking voters. “Marketing” is another way of saying ‘Con Them’. All great scams involve marketing. Ask Madeoff or algore.
Term limits have the problem of throwing out the good with the bad. The root theory of term limits is that ALL politicians are crooks. That isn’t accurate. Some politicians serve. They consider it their duty to society. Out of the 435 Members of Congress there are at least a dozen that serve. The other 420 or so belong in jail.
If you are serious about returning Conservatives to power, then start with a call for complete disclosure of ALL financial transactions by sitting members of Congress. EVERY dime. If the shoeshine boy buys the good senator a cup of coffee from the vending machine in the cloak room, it needs to be reported. ZERO tolorance. Make it so a politician has to sign off on this before they can call them self a Republican and get any support from the RNC.
Then make it automatic that the FBI do a complete and full investigation of EVERY retiring congressperson. NO Exceptions. Make sure those running for office do so because they feel it’s their duty. NOT because it’s the fastest way to become a multimillionaire.
Once candidates understand that any malfeasance on their part will be discovered AND prosecuted, the number of honest (conservative) candidates will go up.
Two or three cycles and we will be able to approach the issue of election fraud with a reasonable chance of resolving it. Reasonable men and women can always work out their differences so long as there is no wealth or freedom involved. When most politicians are dishonest people seeking to enrich themselves at the public’s expense, then all you get is what we have now. Pigs fighting over access to the slops.
This is a workable strategy for those who have zero goals, values and beliefs except the desire to be elected and hold office. They are, like Obama, unable to be honest and to be a decisive leader. When elected and taking office they must ask, as Robert Redford’s character did after he was elected (in the political, fictional film The Candidate), “What do we do now?”. The face with which they meet the public is a false face, not their own face, see former candidate Edwards.
I do have to admire the gall of the author to propose that give-the- lady-what-she-wants is the ideal philosophy for those who wish to “serve the public”.
On an academic level, are you looking for the next link in the chain Machiavelli – Downs – Zaller? If so try these guys;
http://isanet.ccit.arizona.edu/noarchive/rodgers.html
You are not the only one. If I was younger, I would be looking for evidence of a Boyd Cycle on a national scale. After all, the OODA loop pretty much describes the news cycle as well as conflict resolution. Since News IS a conflict situation, with the media wanting to get the news out in the open and those that will be damaged by that news attempting to keep it hidden, there is no reason to not look at it in the light of conflict resolution.
So it is only logical that any politics based on the media uses, at least in part, conflict resolution techniques.
Can the internet produce a ‘group mind’? Will that group mind be capable of using applied logic techniques? What affect will that have on POST internet politics.
Please note that analysis of political trends normally comes AFTER those trends have been replaced by a different form of politics. Machiavelli’s politics of despotism replaced by the machine politics of Downs “Economic theory of Democracy”, which in turn was replaced by Zaller’s “A Theory of Media Politics”;
http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/polisci/faculty/zaller/media%20politics%20book%20.pdf
ALL these political theories were done AFTER the politic they defined was on it’s way out the door. It would be nice to be ahead of the curve for once.
We need to guilt trip people into spending the minimum of 2-3 hours a week keeping up on politics. Anything more than that would be nice—but admittedly their other responsibilities cannot be ignored. In other words, these individuals should spend an average of something like half hour a day listening to someone like Rush Limbaugh or visiting Pajamas Media. This would make all the difference in the world. Am I being overly simplistic? I don’t think so. Let the guilt tripping begin.
“You and your marketing buds ARE the problem…”
Exactly
Nonsense! The first (and, maybe, only) thing that the Republicans need to do is to, one and all, renounce spending and corruption. Any Republican who does not guarantee that he/she will NEVER request an earmark should not be supported.
We KNOW that the Democrats are lying, thieving crooks!! But, we don’t know that any specific Republican isn’t. When they were in control, they squandered, too. No earmarks, no relatives selling access or influence, no squandering, no payoffs/kickbacks, no gifts/freebies and I want that all in writing.
The idea that term limits toss out the good with the bad makes the assumption that no new good will be in the replacements. When you have a situation where there are a dozen good and 420 bad, changing the whole bunch on the chance of getting more than a dozen good legislators, seems like a good choice. I would like to have at least half that are good. More good people would be attracted to a system that they see as honest and temporary, than corrupt and permanent.
P.S. Happy 420 to you Mr. Samford
When Republicans turn into inside-the-beltway elitist Democrat-lite, the Republicans have moved away from their core identity of small government & the free market system; the core remains as shown in the Tea Party movement. Where have the Republicans gone? They turned into RINO’s, Republican In Name Only. The RINO’s are going to be flushed out in 2010 for the most part.
What worries me about the Republican party is their constant need to have Democrats and Libertarians endorse them. This trend over the last few election cycles may work to get more votes in the short term, but I notice it infuriates my more conservative friends …to no end. I am not a Republican, but if I were, I would push for a Republican that is a pure Republican, without the Libertarian or Democrat.s values or credibility, just their own. Do you think they can do that?….I don’t either.
Paden Cash
Term limits are a solution, I just think they are one of many solutions. Prolly not the best solution. One down side of term limits is that the new crooks are poorer then the old crooks and it would be logical for them to steal more, not less. Then you have the all to rare cases of a good congressperson having to leave ‘Just because’ they have been there a certain amount of time.
I would prefer a complete FBI work-up on the retiring congress members. This would not step on their 5th amendment rights, it would expose the lobbyists to prosecution and it wouldn’t require any legislation.
That last is important. Remember, term limits were tried, the USSC said they were unconstitutional at the federal level. Line item veto was tried, same deal with the USSC. So any attempt to control corruption has to both be congress proof AND Supreme court proof.
The FBI could set up a RICO unit just to investigate retired Congress types. It would be just an administrative issue, well within the authority of the Administration. So long as it wasn’t used as a political weapon (discrimination, due process, equal protection under the law), Congress and the Courts would have no grounds to intervene. Not that they wouldn’t try.
Murtha, for example, was a retired Marine working in a car wash when he was elected eons (joke J_O_K_E) ago. Over the decades he has managed to amass several million dollars beyond the total of his salary for that period. His family members have made millions more.
HOW? WHY? Just what happened to make Murtha such a wealthy car wash employee/Congressman? Inquiring minds want to know. Sic the FBI on Murtha and we will know.
Run it as a RICO investigation, open his books and the books of everybody he has done ‘business’ with. Follow the money trail. Then watch Murtha do the perp walk to the van with wire windows.
Let every candidate for office know that when their day in the sun is done, the FBI will back check them. There will still be those that think they are smarter then the FBI and they can steal the cheese without tripping the trap. Nothing rare about that. Jails are mostly populated by people that thought they could get away with whatever they did.
Earmarks are a symptom, not a problem. Do away with earmarks and the crooks will create another way to steal. Look up Clinton and cattle futures. That is what crooks DO. Skip to the chase, get rid of the crooks.
I meant 520 not 420. Not enough coffee yet.
The only marketing we need is to stick to our principles and convince independents (and even some Democrats) that our principles are actually in their best interests. Rebut the lies and hold fast to principles. People will respect that, even if they disagree with you.
Mr. Samford:
I like the idea of term limits but I don’t consider them practical aside from bad scotus decisions. Neither the political parties nor individual politicians are likely to cut their own throats. No killing of the golden goose allowed here. RICO investigations have the same built-in problems. Repub administrations would go for mostly demo pols with a couple of low hanging corrupt repubs. Dem admins wouldn’t even go for the most corrupt of their own. Look at the IG firings. Obambi is going to get away with it. Earmark reform may have a shot, but I doubt that it will have much effect. The thieves will just find another way to steal. At this point, I am not sure the system can be fixed, but that is no reason to quit trying.
There are three types of people, producers (leaders), looters, and parasites. If people go with whomever they feel gives them the best deal for the moment, they are parasites. If people use other peoples ideas and money, they are looters. If people go alone, they are producers. Producers never rely on others since others will drag them down. Producers don’t care about politics and actually distain what politics (looters) do to them. That is why Jesus didn’t have anything good to say about the religious rulers since they were looters of the people.
Where Has the Republican ‘Market’ Gone?
Should We Go There?
The product is economic recovery.
The marketing technique is spreading
truthful seditious rumors about TPTB.
Rumor0: There is no political solution
to an economic problem, and TPTB will
never recognize that fact; They will
defend their principles to our death.
(Yes; Definition of Insanity.)
The target is women; They decide how
their men spend their time, and money.
The ideal saleswoman is Sarah Palin.
She can make the case, to women, that
Hard Times are on the way, and sacrifices
must be made; Time to throw the Vanities
on the Bonfire, and keep the family from
the cold.
I agree. Many precinct chairs in my area(metropolitan Houston) are simply unfilled. All it takes is to sign up with the party, and presto; you’re the precinct chair by default. These chairs can run the caucus on election night to elect delegates to the Senate District, then the State Convention, etc. etc. up to the National Party Convention.
I am a tea party member, I’m fed up with the Republican’s clueless leadership, and I signed up. I am now the precinct chair. We write the planks to submit to the party, we can nominate delegates to the Senate District, thence the State Party Convention and influence who leads the party. Houston/Harris county holds a large amount of sway in Texas.
My intent was NOT to seek political office. My intent is to elect conservative representatives and present conservative planks and ideas to the party. Frankly, I intend to hunt RINOS, as do a lot of the new precinct chairs. If we have to re-build from the roots, someone has to do it. I figured it was my time.
If the local committee person has to explain how the republicans are those who care about the republic, the interaction will not be as personal as she probably would like. The understanding of the republicans as the defenders of the republic and therefore her defender has to come from what the republicans proclaim on her media.
Bush first made a big mistake with his “compassionate conservative” banner. What did she hear then? She probably heard that the conservatives were those desperately in need of redemption. And that was the hand she was anxious to shake?
“I like the idea of term limits but I don’t consider them practical aside from bad scotus decisions.”
I am totally against the concept of term limits. It is merely a foolish attempt to encourage citizens to pretend that the political aspect of their lives can be put on cruise control. One unfortunately has to constantly pay attention—whether they like it or not. I’m sorry but you are going to have to spend two to three hours a week minimally keeping abreast of the current political situation. There are no real short cuts. Once again, let the guilt tripping begin.
Scott, I agree that the marketing part of political campaigns needs to connect to voters at the person-to-person level. However, the precinct level may be an incorrect grouping. I don’t have any connection to most of the people in the suburban neighborhood where I have lived for 16 years. My friends, coworkers, and people I know from various groups are spread out over an area dictated by how far one can drive in about half an hour. My range shrinks at rush hour and grows on the weekend, but it has more to do with where my car is than where my home is. Not sure how politics can deal with groupings based on common interest that span arbitrary geographic boundaries.
Mr. Thomson:
Term limits are exactly the opposite of what you claim. With professional politicians, more or less elected for life, people spend less time paying attention. When things seem to be going the way you think they should, most vote for the incumbent. When you look at spending by politicians, the ones there the longest, regardless of party affiliation, spend the most of other peoples money. The longer they are there, the better they are at stealing. Professional pols have created a system that insures incumbency, and maximizes the opportunities for graft and corruption. After gaining the majority in 94, repubs could barely wait to belly up to the trough. Most still don’t see that as the reason that they lost the majority. I do agree that more than 3 hrs. a week at minimum to keep abreast. What if the person spends 6 hrs. a week reading KOS and DU. What do you think they will learn? Go ahead and guilt trip me. I respond very negatively to guilt trips. I guess that my luggage isn’t packed. I am retired and spend, at least 3 hrs. a day reading to better understand how we got here and what to do about it. I have a fair understanding of how we got here, Just can’t see an exit strategy. So what do we do about endless incumbency?
George, I think you describe a very common issue for man people: the difficulty involved with connecting and organizing with people in your own precinct.
Let’s say twitter allowed you to categorize tweets by precinct and let you search on them. Would you use such a mechanism to search for and seek out like-minded people in your precinct?
IF one does NOT join up with their local committe and become ACTIVE they really have no place to sit back and lob insults now do they? It is the only way to WRENCH the party back to the RIGHT! 1/3 of those Committee seats are EMPTY let us resolve to change that. I personally have my 21 year old in that position in our little area of America and enjoy going to those meetings and really it is 2-3 hrs of your time every couple of weeks and sometimes just once a month. The BONUS is that 1500 Committeemen & women Chairs CHOOSE who goes on the ballot and if the Committees are LOADED with Conservatives WE end up with CONSERVATIVE candidates and eventually WE get to ensure that the RNC and RNCC and NRSC are employing Conservatives and NOT inside the beltway elites whose job it appears is to destroy the Republican brand!
I agree that starting with the local committee chair is best beginning point, however, just what is it that the chair is supposed to learn from one in the course of their search for the right candidate. Republicans now complain that their suggestions regarding health care are ignored. Where were those suggestions when we held the majority of both houses? Republicans call for honesty and transparency in government. Who was piling up the earmarks in record number when they held the majority? They were not elected based on promises of such behaviour so why should one now believe new candidates offering promises of new behaviour? I think the current trend of tea party support for candidates of our own choosing, ignoring officials of both parties, is the best approach.
Great Points by Scott.
The Anatomy of a CorruptiRAT take down here – http://www.DumpChrisDodd.com
Try doing what the Dems have always done; knocking on doors. Meetings are nice, but getting more people TO the meetings is even nicer. This, however, would require having a consistent,coherent message to tell your neighbors. One based on sound principles of government. Too bad the Republicans haven’t got one
JD that is a brilliant analogy.
I also agree that the target is women. And as such we must focus on the current costs of taxes to their children and families and the future harm to their children from deficit spending. Women control spending and many other activities in the family, and fiscal conservatives already have men. We need to make the case to women.
I agree with David Thomson (#19) on term limits, they’re a dreamer’s wish for some kind of magic fire-and-forget method of casting an ignorant vote that will somehow elect The Right Kind Of Person. The hard truth is that even after 200 years, eternal vigilance remains the price of freedom in America. Slackers are killing the Republic because they cast ignorant votes.
Califonia has had term limits on its legislature for almost 20 years. ‘Nuff said.
As a former democrat I am looking for a Republican party that is against Obamacare, supports real health reform, believes that government has no answers to our social and economic ills, worries about the growth of small business and related jobs, fears for our economic demise as the dollar plummets, inflation rises, and deficits soar out of control. I want the democrats defeated by whatever means possible since this far left agenda will bring down our way of life, embolden our foreign enemies, and bankrupt our economy. I will support any candidate – independent or republican – who reflects my agenda. And I will work hard for that candidate. Republicans better get on board as the independent train is leaving the station.
I also agree with David (#19) regarding term limits being a fool’s wish, but I also agree that Republicans don’t stand for anything. They are just another flavor of politician that depends on consultants that all basically have the same view of the electorate, ie. what do we have to give ‘em to get their vote. There are no more leaders of principle-supported policies. Go around and ask your neighbors if they believe it would be fair to have their income reported the same as Welfare, AFDC, food stamps, or any other form or government redistribution. Reported? Everybody knows that only producers have to report! IRS Form 1099-GOV for all recipients of our redistributed income gets heads nodding. Try it.
I believe the “Precinct Strategy” touched upon in this article is not only viable, but the best way for conservatives to take back the GOP from the bottom up, quickly. A lot of of conservative and new tea party groups are working together under this strategy. It was used on a small scale to get one of our US Congressmen from Utah elected, Jason Chaffetz.
For more details on what kind of impact this strategy has on a national level check this out:
http://www.newsalbum.com/Read/411463-The-Precinct-Strategy-of-2010/
I’d rather be governed by names selected at random from the rolls of registered voters. I’m voting based on results. Things aren’t going well, and the incumbents aren’t getting my vote, regardless of the label after their name.
Around here, most of them are “D” but that’s irrelevant. The only one who even understands that we have a problem is Governor Paterson, and he hasn’t exactly inspired confidence in his leadership.
I learned something new. Amazing the education you get when you run for an office. The sad part is that you are right. I can’t count the number of people who vote for someone just because they can realte to them visually. Personally, I’ll vote for a purple hermaphrodite if it shares my political views.
Bottom line, the GOP is little more than the right leaning branch of the Democrat party.
I am a Republican committeeperson, but first of all, I’m a conservative Republican. I’m reluctant to use the word “conservative” because some think it’s a code word for racism or greed, neither of which I espouse. I’m a Republican because I believe that our party is more naturally the home of the kind of freedom that the conscience of a conservative wants for all. I am not a fan of third parties.
I dislike adspeak words such as “marketing” and “branding.” I’m not selling cars. I don’t try to figure out what the voter in my precinct wants, because I already know; I am that voter. I find candidates and/or issues I can support, and then I try to articulate to others as well as I can why I support that candidate or issue. This takes a lot of time, hard work, and money, all of which I’m willing to expend within the limits of my purse and my energy.
I find a lot of hypocricy and self-aggrandizement in the leaders of both the county and state Republican committees. Too many elected officials, I fear, may start out with an altruistic attitude, but all too soon come to view their office as a job they want to keep at all costs. It is the responsibility of the voters to keep tabs on those officials and encourage them not too stray from the principles they ran on. I also find a lot of hard-working people who don’t appear to have anything at stake in terms of their own personal reputation or gain, the things that frequently motivate people.
I will support the candidates who most nearly reflect my policy views, and I will remain a Republican committeeperson only as long as the party endorses candidates I can support.