When Actions Aren't Louder Than Words
An Examination on Why the Republican Message Worked and the Democrats’ Did Not
Like most of you reading this, my headspace has been like Louisburg Rd in Raleigh, NC at 5 pm (IYKYK) since the election results were posted a couple of days ago. I’ve read a variety of articles, op-eds, and thoughtful posts in an attempt to triangulate how we got to the place where a sociopathic criminal not only won the presidency, but also picked up more support from essentially every demographic, especially from those who stand to lose the most in the next four years. Much has been discussed about the role of power-hungry sycophants, the cultish Christian nationalist patriarchy, and American dissatisfaction with the economy (well, the non-millionaires that is). The most recent commentaries are focusing on how the Democrats shot themselves in the foot during their campaign. Some are blaming Biden for withdrawing too late or even seeking a second term in the first place. Others are decrying how the demographics have shifted from the Republican party being the affiliation of the working class while the Democrats are that of the elites (a role reversal from the latter half of the 20th/first decade of the 21st centuries). A few pundits have chided the Democrats for being inept in their messaging, particularly regarding what the Democratic ticket accomplished in terms the economy, which turned out to be the decisive issue for so many Trump voters. Apart from a few darts about tariffs and the impact of migrant deportation, no one seems to be REALLY talking about the wide range of issues that are driving inflation and other financial stresses in modern-day America. Nor has there been any meaningful discussion about the superhuman ways the current administration not only stuck their fingers in the dike but even managed to reverse the flash flood of financial disaster that our nation should’ve-could’ve endured post-pandemic. Except for Elizabeth Warren’s brilliant podcast interview on “We Can Do Hard Things” (link below), no one before or after the election has been able to put these challenges and triumphs in easy-to-comprehend terms. (Side note: How I would love to see her occupy the Oval Office some day…sigh)
Which leads me to a couple of observations that I have yet to hear anyone make, starting with…
1) “Are you there, Democrats? It’s me America”
If you listen to Warren’s interview, you will come away with two solid convictions: 1) Democratic policy and practices of the last four years have helped Americans in tremendous ways. 2) The financial stresses felt by the so-called “average” American are directly caused by greedy policies and practices of the powerful who are most aligned with Trumpian values and priorities.
As a card-carrying empiricist, it is frustrating to know that information and data that allows for the understanding of a not insignificant amount of causality is readily accessible to pretty much any American. Yet here we are, a nation who just elected Voldemort to be the next headmaster of Hogwarts. Pondering this, I have come to a conclusion, admittedly one that I have yet to find a solution – the Democrats DO have a messaging problem, but probably not in the way most of you think.
When I think about the average Democrat, I see a picture of myself: a person who believes in the value of a strong community built on individual investment and kindness. A person who desires to bring good into the world through the work they do. A person who would rather not spend time talking about what he wants to do or has done, but would rather focus resources into just doing the work. And here is where I find the fundamental flaw in Democratic messaging.
Before I get to that, I want to talk about two other groups - the extreme right and left. Let’s start with the extreme right which includes essentially the entire working Republican party as we currently know it and the so called “base”. I must hand it to them – they sure know how to manipulate the modern American. They are masters at appealing to the strong emotions of fear, hatered, anger, zealotry, sanctimony, etc. to influence perception. They understand the human condition that results in uneducated and undisciplined minds basing beliefs on bias and feelings instead of facts or logic. As such, their rhetoric is heavy on hyperbole and fearmongering and sparse on details or data. But it works because, well, Americans are myopic and lazy at best and at worst, stupid and selfish.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, the extreme left is more similar than not to their mortal enemies on the right. Mortified though they may be to admit this, they too utilize rhetoric that is laced with the same addictive emotional cortisol as their fascist foils. The difference is that the emotions they co-opt are guilt, shame, righteous indignation, and empathy. They use fact/logic-adjacent arguments far more often than their counterparts, but the main crux of their debatement strategy is emotionally driven. Their rhetoric is heavy on dogma and passion and sparse on nuance or humility. For some reason, America seems to respond to emotional manipulation by the far right more than it does to that of the far left. I have thoughts on why this is but it’s beyond the scope of this article. For now, suffice it to say that it has to do with the American zeitgeist I articulated on Facebook a day or so ago. I’ll share it here for your convenience:
To put things more succinctly, the far right is excellent about TALKING about what they are going to do to you while the far left is equally adept at TALKING about what you should be doing for them. Which leads me to my point about the feebleness of Democratic messaging. You see, while the extremes are busy TALKING, the moderates and middle are just busy DOING. Not only is this a reflection of the values I self-described earlier, but it also reflects another
characteristic of people like me: we just don’t feel comfortable talking about ourselves or our accomplishments. Not only is this a waste of time from the actual DOING, but it goes against the grain of our very-much-ingrained belief that good and decent people should be humble and not boastful (It probably has something to do with childhood trauma as well, I’m sure). Nor should we speak out too much on topics which are far too nuanced for conviction and/or which we have incomplete information for certainty. I believe this is the root cause for the communicative ineptitude of mainstream Democrats. They just don’t want to, nor know how to authentically talk about themselves in a way that is informative yet humble. So, they just don’t, hoping and assuming that their actions speak loud enough for the group of sneering Proud Boy Neanderthals in the back to hear.
I don’t really know the solution to this problem other than what I want to discuss in my other observation which is…
2) “It’s the economy, stupid ” IS stupid
Look, as much as it appalls me, I sorta get why some people are so devastated by the cost of eggs that they would cast their vote for a man who represents the vilest of humanity and who is unequivocally un-democratic. While my current situation has some similar hardships, most of those are only temporary and I’m not suffering from unmet needs. I’ve already argued that the state of the economy is very nuanced to think that a president alone can "fix" it, but I can accept the reality that there are far too many people struggling day-to-day. To add insult to injury, there is nary enough help coming from our communities, much less our government to help them achieve the promise of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That being said, it is unconscionable that cheaper gas is more important to so many Americans than democracy, freedom over our own bodies, or, I don’t know…doing all we can to not become Germany or Italy from the 1930s and 40s.
If you read my aforementioned treatise on the American zeitgeist (please do…it’s some of my best, and most succinct work!), then you understand what I am trying to get at here – that American values and culture are Mr. Hyde hiding in a Dr. Jekyll skin suit.
It’s easy to say that Democrats need to become better communicators and more comfortable articulating their virtuous attributes, but that isn’t good enough. That’s only a reactive solution to the hidden monster that is the true American zeitgeist. What I propose will take tremendous work…perhaps impossibly so. But it needs to happen for our nation to achieve the greatest promise of her ideals. We need an evolution that acknowledges the choices and beliefs that have steered us off course and falls in love with truth and redemption moving forward. We need a revolution that acknowledges our present cultural crossroads and embraces the courage, tenacity, and hard work to break through the morass. We need our communities, schools, churches, government, families, and all institutions to reject the idea that we are only capable of responding to emotion and bias. We need to be intentional about not only sharing factual information, but making sure every American develops the critical thinking skills to be able to determine truth and the wisdom to know what to do with it. Look, I know this is idealistic and that nothing in human history provides any evidence that this is even possible. Did I already say I’m an empiricist? Well, I’m an idealist as well. Never going to change.