It's not enough to give people facts about why they should think things are going right - we need to be able to make them feel it too.
People feel what they feel. They cannot be reasoned out of them. But feelings can be manipulated, preyed upon. Con men know this. Too often, the American left kids itself that the truth will set people free, and that our own feelings do not influence our book-learnin’. They do.
In a post titled, “Fascism will not be defeated by logic,” Anand Giridharadas considers “the role of emotion in the fraught political life of America in 2024.” Change by the boatload has left Americans anxious. The Ink talked to Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) for his seeming ability “to be both in the arena and up in the stands, observing the whole scene.”
From the interview at Ink with Senator Murphy:
I want to start with what you’ve said about happiness. Can you expand on your notion that the government you are part of is culpable for inhibiting people's happiness, or at least for not making happiness probable?
It’s important to remember that the government’s responsibility to protect your right to happiness is in our founding document. So this is a legitimate conversation — our founders thought this was an essential conversation. Government stays out of what you’re passionate about, who you connect with, where your purpose and meaning come from. But we are responsible for setting the rules of society and culture and economy that give you a chance at happiness.
The studies on what brings happiness don’t surprise anybody. What people want is connection and positive relationships and agency and power over their lives. They feel like they have less chance of connection today, and they certainly feel like they have much less agency over their economic lives. And there are public policy choices we’ve made that have robbed people of connection and power.
Shorter version:
“You don’t solve a crisis of meaning and purpose by just giving people a little bit bigger tax credit,” he told us.
The rest of the interview is paywalled — but you can get a 7 day free trial.
Sullivan closes with this:
Murphy: “You can’t be happy if you don’t have friends and connections. You can’t be happy if you don’t feel like you have control over your life. And to the extent people feel more isolated and less in control of their lives today, there are direct lines from government policies to the ways that people feel like happiness is further away.”
[…]
I think we’ve reached a tipping point of exhaustion with an American society that has become hyper-focused on individual success and treats human beings as consumers instead of citizens. We are not a common-good society any longer. We are a kill-and-eat-what-you-can society. It’s been a gradual process, but I think we have reached a point where folks want something different.
Don’t you? Take control. Show initiative. Be more than keyboard warriors.
Republicans like to throw “Freedom” around a lot, and wave the Constitution around like a red flag to a bull. There’s no reason liberals can’t make better use of emotional appeals too — and unlike the BS coming from the right, ours can be backed up with facts. But as Sullivan points out, facts that don’t connect to peoples’ emotions tend to be ignored.
We can talk about freedom, as in Obamacare means you don’t have to worry about losing health insurance if you lose your job. You don’t have to worry about claims being denied because of a pre-existing condition. You can look for drug prices to keep coming down for things that people really need.
If you have a friend or family member in the military, or are one — if you’re a veteran or know one, you can feel good with a President who has had a son in the military, and knows what it’s like to lose him to consequences of that service. He understands at deeply emotional level what the stakes are.
If you’re a working person, you should feel good knowing the President is a man who has stood on a picket line to support workers, is investing in the economy here at home, is rebuilding domestic industry and jobs. You should feel good knowing the President is someone who grew up in a working class family and knows how important a paycheck is.
If you are concerned about climate change, you should feel good that we have a President and a Party that is getting serious about tackling it. You should feel better knowing you won’t be left in the ruins after a climate disaster to cope on your own, and there will be help recovering and rebuilding.
If you’re worried about the economy, the national debt, recession, you should feel good that Democrats are in charge — because Republicans always make those things worse while Democrats fix them.
If you are a student, you should feel good we have a President and a Party who is trying to make sure you don’t end up in perpetual serfdom with loans you can’t repay.
If you are a woman, you should feel good that you have a President who is fighting to protect your bodily autonomy, and fighting to keep you and your doctor from going to jail for seeking the healthcare you need when you need it. Heck if you are someone who enjoys sex (responsibly), you should feel good to know Biden and Democrats will let you enjoy that particular pursuit of happiness.
Democrats don’t have to give up warning about all of the ways Trump and the MAGA party will make things worse — Republicans certainly won’t let up on stoking fear and anger, or the lies and distortions — but Democrats should also be playing the positive card.
Biden is making real the hope Obama promised, and made a start on with Obamacare. Republicans are trying to take us backwards; Biden is moving America forward.
Simon Rosenberg at the Hopium Chronicles is confident of victory in November. He has a lot of positive resources at the link. He also makes an important point:
Let’s Do More, Worry Less - Here at Hopium we strive to channel all this worry and anxiety we have about our current moment into concrete action - do more, worry less - as we say here.
The media narrative is all about how Trump is on a winning streak and is unstoppable, and Biden is unpopular. Rosenberg talks about what is actually going on, with Lawrence O’Donnell on MSNBC.
We should not get complacent, but we have reasons to feel good. Let’s work on getting other people to feel good as well.
How important is it? David Corn writing at Our Land points out that the election may turn on just 1% of the voters who turn out — or don’t.
The Future of American Democracy Depends on the 1 Percent
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No, not that 1 percent, though the wealthy have always exerted tremendous influence over the political system. The 1 percent I’m talking about are those undecided voters in swing states. This week I published an article that lays out the basic math of the 2024 election. There are seven battleground states—Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Nevada, Arizona, and North Carolina—and together they have about 31 million voters. About 10 percent of these voters are now undecided. This means that roughly 3 million voters across these seven states will determine the outcome—and perhaps the fate of the republic. That’s less than 1 percent of the population. Yes, the Electoral College is an awful system that allows for this and for minority rule. If you want to know more about these fundamentals, read my piece.
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The bad news, as Corn explains at the Mother Jones article, is how small the number of voters in “Swinglandia” is, who could decide the election. The good news is how small the number of people is who have to be persuaded. We can do this.
So, as a reader exercise, I invite people to come up with messaging in comments that will reach people at an emotional level and make them feel good about what Biden and Democrats have to offer.
