I was thinking about the "lack of enthusiasm" that's been showing up in pols of potential Democratic voters. Why are we surprised about a lack of enthusiasm when the media is basically bashing government 24/7, and nobody is standing up for it?
The positive power and impact of government needs to be marketed better… Marketed, period. There are a thousand voices out there saying how government is ineffective, corrupt, wasteful, too big, too powerful, etc… There is no discernable campaign to counter this. Could you imagine if Pepsi bashed Coke 24/7 in all kinds of media, and Coke never responded? If they just said their product would speak for themselves? That’s completely nuts. What I have in mind isn’t propaganda, but rather a change in the way that our government communicates to us.
Our government has a lot of departments... and plenty of employees, but tell me, where is the marketing department?
Our government (and it should always be OUR government) needs to do something bold that gives a positive impression of government – preferably something they can see with their own eyes. You can pass all the bills you want, but if people don’t actually see something tangible happen, they won’t respond.
Some questions...
What are we getting with all the money we’re spending on grants to research institutions? There are plenty of exciting stories out there, but when news stories about scientific breakthroughs happen, how often is the lead “Citizen-funded research leads to new discoveries”?
Why doesn’t NOAA advertise its excellent weather forecasting site and other services?... and advertise them as citizen-funded?
Why don’t we all know how the farm bill impacts our grocery bills? Why isn’t there a sticker on my oranges or bread that shows how much $ I’m saving due to government subsidies?
Why don’t we see a regular report of military accomplishments?
How about some leadership to help put together international convoys to thwart the Somali pirate problem? Better yet, how about giving that effort a catchy name, and referencing it over and over and over in the media. Could you imagine a story like “The SafeSeas program has sunk 10 pirate ships this month, arrested 55 suspected pirates, run 1026 convoys in the Indian Ocean, and now counts navies from 23 nations as active members.” Do you think that might help people see that government can indeed do something positive?
Instead, we’re going to get a massive international effort on something like the Copenhagen summit… Great. A whole bunch of bureaucrats getting all wonky with each other in Europe… That sounds like about the lamest, most boring thing ever. And the result will be? At best a piece of paper. If I’m a typical busy American, only paying half-attention to politics, why should I care? The whole thing sounds like an intangible waste of money and time. Sure, people "in the know" might understand the incredible importance of it, but without marketing, the effort will never succeed.
More poor marketing?
TARP. What the hell is Tarp? It’s a crappy name, there is seemingly nobody in charge of it, and has the perception of a giant black hole of money – our money… a lot of our money… and going to greedy corrupt bankers. It might indeed be horrible, and it might have started under Bush… but the administration ought to own this, make it transparent, put the best spin on it possible. There should be someone who's the "face of TARP" (other than Geithner). There ought to be a quick 1-page 'fact sheet' that anyone can understand that explains the program. And this ought to be advertised. And that effort of advertising needs to be continuous - as long as the program is in place.
Another example?
The Stimulus… This is slightly better... They have tried… with recovery.gov (which has had some criticism about its accuracy), and it was originally called the “recovery act”. The administration should have taken the name “Stimulus” and owned it. When was the last time you drove down a highway, and saw people actually doing work, under a sign that read “This project paid for with the 2009 Stimulus - a jolt for america!”. Does the average person know how much of that spending was actually a tax cut? Was there a brightly colored flyer included with everyone’s paychecks that highlighted how much more $ they were receiving as a direct result of the payroll tax cut? Have there been any ads on TV or on the internet to promote recovery.gov? Why would anyone go there? I just clicked around my home town and saw there are a dozen “awards” here… but have I seen/read/heard anything about them locally? Nope. Then why are we surprised that people are disconnected from government?
OK, how about a good example of marketing?
Cash for Clunkers. It had a catchy name, was easy to grasp, impacted lots of regular people, made the news a lot, and was clearly a government program. It didn’t have a logo or a spokesperson (that I saw), but I’ll let that slide. Frankly, I think it wasn’t the smartest idea around, but it was at least marketed well, and at least it had impact on regular people… and it didn’t really cost that much – relatively speaking.
More examples go on and on and on... The government is replete with programs that people don't know about, don't understand and don't take advantage of. It's like the legislators pass laws and just assume that everyone will know what's going on. Sure, THEY know what's going on, they're in the middle of it. I'm working 60 hours a week, 3000 miles from Washington, and simply don't have time to look into this stuff. I know far more about Jon & Kate than I do about most of what's going on in D.C. And I like politics, and I don't even have cable TV! How is this possible?
If people don’t feel like their government does anything for them, why should they do anything for government?... like vote?