Advice

Here is some advice for a major political party that has lost government and been relegated to an opposition role. Even solicited advice is only sometimes heeded so this entry shows I'm still an optimist. Or possibly I just want to record my musings since a recent foreign election of some significance. Here I go then.

1. Get better at having conversations with those who think differently from you. Chances are your leaders and representatives are okay at this but your rank-and-file members and supporters also need to improve in this vital political skill. Do they even recognize its importance? Do they ever get a chance to practice it? Do they mistakenly think that political engagement is a robotic exchange of slogans? All this can be difficult and so it makes sense to start small by practicing among participants in your own organizations and movement.

2. It is natural for your party to have a debate over how to do things differently in future. Such discussions can get rather impassioned. But a useful rule-of-thumb is this - the more public your internal debate is the more important it is for that debate to be a civil one. Voters are observing you. They will be wondering if prospective managers of the nation can even manage themselves. Your political rivals are also studying you and looking for ways of wedging your various factions or camps. Deny them that chance.

3. Use your imagination in deciding on any course-correction. Asking whether you should move closer to or further from the political centre is an abstraction. Should that change apply to all or just some issues? Should it be a change in substantive policy or in what is emphasized? Will all your proposals work together if implemented? Should your platform serve a sufficiently large demographic alliance or can it be framed as of universal value to the whole electorate? If your values matter to you then so should your chances of winning.

I have a hunch that the full-time campaigners in any major political party have a sense of all this anyway. The biggest challenge is how the part-time campaigners and ideological fans can develop such understandings. Culture is more difficult to intentionally change than institutions. Anyone got any advice for me on that?