Distill Complexity in The Voting Booth

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Political campaigns often represent the dark side of this tenet of Distilled Harmony. In the usual context of Distilled Harmony this tenet asks us to examine the seeming complexity of life and distill it to its least complex truth. What do we mean by things like truth, happiness, love, honor? In the context of politics the notion of distilling complexity requires us to examine issues that are often presented - in the bills that actually eventually reach Congress - in quite complex language. We should attempt to distill that linguistic complexity in an effort to discern the potential impact of those bills on policy and law. Political campaigns are something else completely. Campaigns craft “slogans” designed to allow supporters to graft their own perceptions and objectives onto the often amorphous identity of the candidate. Some recent examples:

Bill Clinton: 1992 “For People, For a Change” “It’s Time to Change America”

Bush 2004 “A Safer World and a More Hopeful America.”

Obama 2008: “Yes, We Can.” “Change” “Hope”  

Romney 2012: “Believe in America”

And most recently:

Hillary Clinton: “Fighting for America.”

Trump: “Make America Great Again.”

One would be hard pressed to take exception with any of these slogans, yet they represent candidates who would implement radically different policies in pursuit of very different visions for America. The slogans obviously shift for incumbents urging us to “stay the course” and challengers who want to “throw the bums out!" but the shared intent is to craft a slogan broad enough to morph comfortably with the beliefs and values of a candidate’s core supporters as well as those of the all-important undecided voters. Quite the exercise in saying nothing specific but seeming to say just what your audience hopes you mean.

That makes things more difficult for us, often resulting in "voter’s remorse": I didn’t think that was what s/he meant by “ ________ for America!” In this instance it is our task is flip the distill complexity tenet on its head and paint a little complexity on the simple slogans. We need to define our own priorities and then examine the candidate’s past performance in regard to those issues - what does each candidate advocate for America regarding our priorities? Healthcare? Education? Climate change? Immigration? Social security? Student loans? Where do we stand on these issues and what has each candidate done in the political or business arenas to advance our priorities? Is their "great, safe, changed” America the same as our "great, safe, changed" America? Or have they championed policies and behaviors and political appointees that contradict our view of the best possible America?

Once we come to understand that more complex view of the candidate’s view of America, then we can distill that complexity into a simple decision: open your wallet, attend the rally, mark your ballet. 

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