“Descartes said, ‘I think, therefore I am.’ He said all thought is conscious. Now we know from cognitive science that thought is 98 percent unconscious, so it’s not true. Thought is carried out by your neural system, and you have no conscious access to what your neurons are doing.”
— George Lakoff, author of “Moral Politics”
What is the best flavor of ice cream?
Think that over for a second. (For the record, the answer is vanilla fudge.)
And why is it the best?
You don’t really have any reasons. You just like it. If you tried to give me a reason, it would be some weak-ass reason like, well, vanilla fudge is two flavors in one. Strawberry has strawberries, and strawberries are fruit, and fruit is good for you. Almonds are crunchy. Acai berry has, I think, antioxidants.
You see what we did there? We answered from the heart, and then – afterwards – we tried to think of some reasons from the brain. And that makes sense for ice cream. Movies. The car you drive. Your favorite color. Your mom. Your dog. You love them first, and you come up with the reasons afterwards.
That's what politics is too.
• So politics is like ice cream?
Yes, that’s right – politics is like anything you love or hate. Your favorite party is like your favorite flavor. Liberal, conservative or independent, our personal politics start with a feeling deep in the brain – the part that comes from our animal origins – and we explain our ideas and justifications in support of what we already feel.
Psychologist Jonathan Haidt called this “the emotional dog and its rational tail.”
This explains why we disagree on everything political.
Think about guns. The “reason” people buy a lot of guns is “to protect my family.” Have you ever tried to tell somebody that he and his family are statistically more likely to be shot if they have a gun? Don’t bother! It doesn’t work, and that’s because you are not in a factual argument. You’re in an emotional exchange. And you’re making the person mad.
As comedian Jim Jefferies explains, the reason people want guns is “Fuck off, I like guns!”
That’s the type of real reason that underlies all our opinions on anything we care about, including politics. Rational explanations are layered over those.
Takeaway: Politics is emotion.
This is the most basic point of this newsletter – politics is emotion. If you find yourself trying to argue intellectually, stop! Find the emotional argument. Somewhere in any given issue there’s an emotional core and that’s what your listeners will respond to, not your plan for fixing it. What does a human being actually experience when a parent is in her last years, when a kid is getting ready to go to college, when online retail is destroying their local business? Put yourself in that person’s mind. The issue is not in a document of yours — it’s in that person’s hopes, struggles and fears.
From here we will go on a journey, day by day, and see where this knowledge leads.
• Okay, so how does this help me?
At the end of some of these e-mails, I’ll try to give you some specific ways you can use this knowledge. Today’s message, “politics is emotion,” is very general, but there are some things that should guide you at a basic level.
• Your resume. Don't just tell people what jobs you’ve had. Everybody talked about Hillary Clinton's resume and it didn't work. Nobody thinks, “Well, this candidate was a district attorney, so she understands me.”
Instead, find the emotional core of it. “When I was district attorney, we put a lot of criminals behind bars, and that was the job and we were good at it, but there’s another thing I’m really proud of. See, we started to see a lot of women and children who were ... And I met a mother who ... So we created two new programs to keep women and children safe, and those were ..."
• “Our values.” If you find yourself saying this, you are missing a chance to talk about the thing you really mean. You’re probably referring to the conditions of life or matters of fundamental right and wrong. Say that stuff!
“My opponent voted for a bill that doesn't reflect our values” is abstract. There’s no feeling in it. “My opponent doesn't understand what happens when you walk into the emergency room and the first thing they want to know is how you’re going to pay” says a lot more.
• “Good jobs at good wages.” If you find yourself saying this, nobody believes you. What you’re trying to respond to is people’s sense of economic anxiety, and this doesn’t do it. (Especially for people who have jobs!) Access the emotion beneath that.
You could be saying: “We have people working one job in [place A] and another job in [place B], and not only are they exhausting themselves, their own kids never see them. It didn't used to be like this in America." Remember, people want to hear their emotional truth from you.
P.S. Make an effort to find out more about what people’s experience with work is really like. And make sure you have some idea what you're going to do about jobs, especially local ones. We’ll talk more about economics and jobs in a few weeks.
Joshua Tanzer
jmtanzer@gmail.com
Hoboken, New Jersey
Takeaway Toteboard
- KEY #1: Republicans are from Mars, Democrats are from Swarthmore (Feb. 23):
• Democrats run an intellectual campaign to voters who are emotional creatures.
• Instead of running an intellectual campaign, we need to use our intellect to create an emotional campaign.
- KEY #2: What does the Democrats’ hat say? (Feb. 26)
• We all know exactly what the Republican hat says. Democrats don’t have one.
- KEY #3: Love isn’t rational. (Feb 28):
• Politics is emotion.
• If you find yourself trying to argue intellectually, stop! Find the emotional argument.
Love the tone of your stack. Quick, easy to read, talking points and concrete action plans/seeds planted. Great work.
Josh, this newsletter is just awesome. These are complex issues and you’re translating them into such clear and concise language. I wholeheartedly agree with everything you’ve put out thus far, and I can’t wait to hear more!