Embracing Political Irrelevance - Excellent article

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Wed, 28 Sep 2005 19:58:08 +1000 (EST)

Embracing Political Irrelevance - Excellent article

 

 

 

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2005/9/27/171033/102

 

Embracing Political Irrelevance

by TocqueDeville

 

Tue Sep 27th, 2005 at 14:10:33 PDT

 

 

Out of all the attacks I received Sunday over my

" ANSWER and the Victims of the March " diary, the ones

that bothered me most were the ones accusing me of

being a sellout.

 

What bothered me wasn't that these accusations were

true which, in a way they are, but that so many here

seem oblivious as to why they should be sellouts as

well.

 

 

TocqueDeville's diary :: ::

 

Let me first say that, by society's standards, I am

actually a radical. I would be a Socialist if I wasn't

a strict Decentralist first. I believe in the " welfare

state. " I believe in a massive, decentralized

government works program to rebuild our country and

put people to work. I believe in destroying

multinational corporations. I believe in prohibiting

all genetic alteration of food. I believe teachers

should make as much as doctors (literally) and should

have to train as hard. I think newspaper and

television companies should only be allowed to own one

business. I think the stock market is legalized

gambling. I even think it might be a good idea if you

had to live in the same area your business was

located.

 

I support the environmental concept known as Zero

Discharge. This means no discharging of any chemical

substances into the environment ever. Most would find

this radical. I think dumping toxic waste into our

water supply, into our rivers and streams that support

all life, that is radical. But hey.

 

I could go on. But my point is, my political beliefs

are far out of the mainstream. They always have been.

 

But you won't hear me campaigning or advocating for

many of these ideas. Why? Because I am a " coward " or a

" sellout " ? No, because it wouldn't work. I've always

been able to tell when I'm losing someone in an

argument. When I go too fast, too far. So, over the

years, I have adopted the " takem' as far as you can "

approach. It is an approach I think many here could

stand to adopt.

 

I used to canvass for a large environmental group.

Going door to door to win supporters, get signatures,

and raise money. I got so good at it that they started

flying me around the country to train other offices.

On average, I was the second highest at raising money

in the country for our organization.

 

My secret was to mainstream myself and the issue. I

sold out and cut off my pony tail and removed my

earrings. I posered up and wore golf shirts with jeans

and preppy loafers. I looked like I had walked out of

JC Pennys. Oh, and I wore my ballcap from a fishing

supply store. It had a large mouth bass on it and some

fishing lures stuck in it as we do here in the south.

 

I didn't want to look like a young Republican. This is

what I was willing to do to save the Earth a little

bit.

 

I also limited my discussion on the environment to

things ordinary people could relate to. Poison fish

was a winner in the South. Asthma and acid rain that

will take the finish right of your Camarro in the

North.

 

I could have launched into a 20 minute diatribe about

how we're all going to die and that mankind is like a

virus on the planet and how we need to return to

nature like the Indians and be in harmony with the

Earth.

 

But we needed money to compete with Exxon's lobbyists.

So I stuck to fish. This is what I was willing to do

to save the Earth a little bit.

 

My personal views are so different that I can't really

even call myself a liberal, progressive, libertarian

or any other classification. But I believe that the

Democratic party is our planet's best hope of

eventually saving the ecosystem. So I'm still a

Democrat.

 

It's what I'm willing to do.

 

Part of communicating is knowing how what you say will

affect the listener. Knowing their preconceptions and

breaking them down just enough to go to the next

level. " Now, I know you probably think all

environmentalists are a bunch of tree hugging loonies,

but most of us just want clean water for our children.

To be able to take our kids fishing without getting

sick. The way my grandfather did. "

 

This wasn't a lie or a con for me. My grandfather

taught me to fish. He was 1/4 Native American and he

was real good at it. And I saw the waters in my town

go foul from industrial waste.

 

So I was able to find common ground and as a result, I

raised a shitload of money. Eventually, I got my own

office.

 

When I took over, I found that many of the canvassers

pretty much sucked. They were burning up entire city

blocks and coming back with no money, no signatures,

nothing. They had insisted that our operation be a

vehicle to push their entire agenda from legalization

to choice to freeing Tibet. These are all issues I

strongly support. I fired them all.

 

Some didn't really trust me at first either. I wasn't

speaking the language with my style of dress. They

were literally concerned that the main office had sent

a traitor to their midst. I had to explain my whole

spiel about how fashion is a language and how I was

willing to sacrifice my preferred appearance to raise

awareness and money. I even showed some old pictures

of what I really looked like. Then they got it. Some

on them tried it. It became an amusing game. Our

office numbers went way up.

 

I should add though, I never believed everyone should

run around looking like young Republicans. And no one

really did. The main point was always a focused

message, starting from common ground. No pot leafs on

t-shirts. No pro choice buttons. This was about the

environment. Nothing else. I wanted anti-choice people

to support the environment. Some call it selling out.

I call it building support for the environment.

 

What I'm trying to say here is it's all cool to have

strong beliefs. Radical beliefs even. Convictions. But

the quest to persuade others, to win converts, to

actually affect change, requires a whole different

perspective.

 

The train must slow down before the passengers can

board.

 

Some here advocate keeping the train blaring full

steam ahead with no apparent consideration for whether

anybody jumps on or not. " This is what I believe man "

and " I got to stand up for my convictions " . These are

some of the loneliest words you'll ever hear echoing

off the walls of an empty bar car.

 

A speech is not standing up for your convictions.

Standing up for your convictions is something you do.

It is giving the guy back the ten bucks he over-paid

you when he gave you your change. It is walking

instead of taking the car. It is not shopping at

Walmart even if it is cheaper, which it usually is

not. And yes, it is traveling hundreds of miles to

march against a war on lies.

 

Giving a speech is communication. So is placing an

American flag behind the stage. And to communicate,

you must first understand that it is a two way

process, even if only one person is speaking. You must

understand how your language effects the listener. You

don't stand before a French speaking audience and

speak Latin. You try to speak their language. You put

things in terms they can understand. Otherwise, they

leave you talking to yourself.

 

People make the same mistake decade after decade. And

zero political change. We must start from common

ground and move from there. The train must slow down

first.

 

I met a conservative in a bar a while back. He was on

about government interference with business. I

abstained. A ball game was on and after an hour or so

I asked him about how he felt about certain teams

having so much more money than other teams that they

can afford to buy up all the best players. I asked him

if he supported the rules to prevent a few teams from

buying up all the best players so that other teams

couldn't compete thereby making the game suck. I asked

him if it was fun to watch a sport where there was no

competition.

 

I saw him again a couple of months later and he came

up to me with a big smile. " You got me with that one

man. I'll get back to you, but you got me with that

one. " Baseball. Who knew?

 

Winning people over is a lot like fishing. If you yank

too fast, the fish gets away.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

" Sarah, if the people had ever known the truth about what we Bushes

have done to this nation, we would be chased down in the streets and

lynched. " - George H.W. Bush speaking in an interview with reporter

Sarah McClendon in Dec. 1992

 

 

" Those who make peaceful change impossible, make violent change

inevitable. " - Robert F. Kennedy

 

 

" Rebellion against tyrants is obedience to God. " Thomas Jefferson