So what do we do to get our message heard? Well first, we get our priorities straight. The majority of Americans, although concerned, don’t really care to hear about the collusion story every minute of every day and consider it to be partisan politics as usual. Meanwhile, the news media is ignoring or spending just a moment of their time reporting the above stories. It’s up to us to get educated and be prepared to discuss these issues that are directly affecting the lives of Main Street. Like the frog in the pot of water that is heating up slowly to a boil, we may not recognize the pain until it is too late.
But sadly, social media has become no different than the news media. Post something about Trump and his connection with the Russians and you get a bunch of people chiming in for or against the post, but mention the important issues and you’re lucky if you get a couple likes and maybe one comment. The Russian scandal is nothing more than that until Mueller finishes his investigation and presents his findings, but the issues above are in real time. When you talk about Russia, you are preaching to the choir, while most Americans go deaf, but if you bring up issues that affects them directly and ask them what “They” think, you make them feel invested. Create a set of questions. No tricks, just questions. Einstein once said: “If I had an hour to solve a problem and my life depended on the solution, I would spend the first 55 minutes determining the proper question to ask… for once I know the proper question, I could solve the problem in less than five minutes.”
Some questions might be:
1. Have you or anyone you know received a wage increase since the tax bill was passed and who do you think benefitted the most from it?
2. Are you worried that your job is threatened and would you be willing to go back to school to learn a new profession, if you could afford it?
3. Are you tired of paying outrageous prices for prescription drugs, when the same drug cost half or more the price in other countries?
4. Has your healthcare cost and quality gone up or down in the last two years?
5. Has your cost of living gone up or down (food, gasoline, and utilities) in the last two years?
6. Do you feel safer today than 2 years ago? Not just from foreign terrorist, but domestically.
7. Do you believe reasonable gun regulations can make a difference?
8. Do you believe in climate change and think that man is at least partly responsible?
9. Do you believe that national parks should be open for oil exploration and lumber companies?
10. Do you believe that there is too much waste in our defense spending and it could be cut to reduce the debt?
11. Do you support Roe vs Wade or at least you support that it should not be overturned?
12. Do you believe that it is good for our economy to invest in the nation’s infrastructure
13. Do you believe the federal government should subsidize corporate farms and oil companies?
14. Do you believe that Wall Street should be free from regulations?
15. Do you believe Russia (Putin) is a friend or foe?
These are only suggestions. Make your own list, but when making that list, know who you are talking to. Whats good for New York is not good for Alabama and what’s good for the Mid-west, is not good for the western coastal states. What’s good for blacks is probably not good for most southern whites and what is good for small business owners is not good for workers. If you have a long enough list, you should have no problem picking the best questions.
A Randumb Thawt
The solutions are found in questions, not answers (remember what Einstein said). That is your best chance for winning over those who have left or fallen off the carousel. Your focus isn’t the opposition, but rather the apathetic or disillusioned Americans who either don’t believe it’s worth it or have been sold the bill of goods that both sides are the same. Ask them, what is the most important issues to them and then you can add or delete questions that best reflect the issues you think those people consider important and would get them back into the voting booth. Remember, everyone is an individual and you must tailor your question to suit that individual. What won’t work, is to be just another spoke in the wheel of party politics. It’s important to bring to the front, the issues that are most important to main street Americans and let them figure the answers out for themselves. That way, they can see there really is two sides to the issues. Remind them that that these are their answers to the questions, and that those answers will define the difference between the candidates.
Most important, don’t let the opposition frustrate you or make you angry. Remember, although around 63 million voted for President Trump and 66 million for Hillary Clinton, 109 million didn’t vote for either and there lies victory.
GET TO WORK!