What a Thought

   Two children fighting over a piece of bread

by Henri-Pierre Danloux (1753-1809)

This image is in the Public Domain {{PD-US}}

At another time and place, I once asked a political leader whether his party’s elected members and candidates might coordinate their communications strategically. 

He looked thoughtful for a while, then he pointed to a pen in my shirt pocket and said that politicians had their own brand to promote–"just like the company interested in promoting its own pen." 

That reply of course is not an answer–especially if the opposition dominates social media, podcasts, and other media. Surprisingly, this remains a challenge for political parties in many countries.

In the local politics at that other time and place, it proved to be devastating. It was only after an historic defeat at the next election that a vice president of that political party acknowledged: 

We might have hoped for a better result–but when the tide is running so strongly against you, and you have a split raft it is impossible to advance, no matter how hard you paddle. 

Even so, ongoing wrangling over policy, strategy, and the ever-elusive right message ensured the party's annihilation in successive elections.

Against disunity in politics, just about anyone looks preferable. We see the value of cooperation, communication, and coordination in many places: dancers delivering magical performance; the sales force achieving the impossible; or any number of sports teams–we can all recall the excitement and awe of witnessing people working together to deliver the exceptional.

Any player of team sport knows that when a team works with a common vision and cooperation, quick follow-through is possible, thereby increasing the successes. 

And when juggernauts of the inappropriate frame public discourse, this is even more important. As one especially effective politician expressed time and again, in contrast to his opponents, "We don't wrangle, and dispute. We argue, we agree, we act."* 

It was a simple, practical wisdom to assure his consecutive electoral wins for sixteen years.

Reference

* Robert G. Menzies (1961), A Talk to the Nation, Federal Election, 20 November