I work for a county that is enforcing a state mandate that most of the residents oppose.  The county knows this because whenever there is a meeting about this mandate, the law says that county residents must have an opportunity to voice their concerns.

At every meeting, I feel like standing up, turning to face the public, and telling them that no one in government cares at all about their heartfelt opposition.  No one cares that the mandate will erode their quality of life or bring economic harm.  The county will do what the state tells it to do because this public voted for the state legislators who control the county.  Then, under their breath, these local officials will tell one another that the complaints are just "more racist chatter."

This county's residents, unfortunately, have something in common with conservatives.  The GOP collective (from operatives to individual voters) naïvely believe that Americans have the time and ability to understand their logic and pragmatism.  In other words, county residents and the GOP believe that reason and facts win arguments.

All of them need to know, instead, that the only thing politicians and bureaucrats care about is a threat to their existence and power.  Implementing an unpopular plan presents no risk to them.  A publicly accepted personal connection to bad results is the only thing they fear.

Image by Pixlr AI.

What this means is that the best way to speak at public meetings is to insert the names of these politicians and bureaucrats into every sentence you speak.  It's time to end the use of a passive voice and the amorphous actor.

The GOP would do well to take this lesson to heart.  The GOP talks only about policies.  Its members, from Ronna McDaniel on down, routinely fail to personalize issues.  But policy bores everyone to death.  Whether it's county plans or public legislation, the public must highlight the bureaucrats and the elected officials who are complicit in this steady transformation of America.  Only then will those in government begin to feel a little risk associated with their actions.

Understanding the distinction between policy and people helps explain Donald Trump's popularity.  Unlike the GOP, Trump is a champion of personalizing issues.  This is why he frightens the left.  Leftists understand that he knows how to communicate.

Saul Alinsky's Rules for Radicals, which Democrats have followed assiduously for sixty years, told us that we must personalize everything.  Certainly, they know how to do that on the left.  In any "on-the-street" interview about  Trump, you need not wait long before you hear a regurgitated party-line attack on his character.

Trump was the first Republican to turn the tables.  He reminds us that we have Crazy Nancy and Shifty Schiff.  He simplifies problems by pointing to a very clear bad actor (e.g., the WHO created COVID problems).  Those vivid expressions about people, rather than dry policies, mean the public stays interested in and remembers his critical conclusion.

And yet, despite Trump's example, the GOP continues to focus on policies.  This makes leftists happy, for they know that a distracted public cannot follow the story.  Policy disagreement among groups is the safest place in the swamp.

Jennifer Kaplan is a pseudonym.