[ExI] what to do politics

John Clark johnkclark at gmail.com
Sat Jun 24 15:53:53 UTC 2017


On Fri, Jun 23, 2017 at 9:36 PM, William Flynn Wallace <foozler83 at gmail.com>
wrote:

​> ​
> I think what has to happen for anything to change is to find a likely
> candidate and pour tens of millions into his fund, and start a new
> political party.
>

​I like to think I could vote for a candidate supported by a majority of
Extropians, but I'm no longer certain I could.


>
> ​> ​
> George Wallace, no relation, did pretty good with "There's not a dime's
> worth of difference"  Re the two parties.
>

​Wallace said that in 1968 when the election was between Nixon and Hubert
Humphrey, and looking back with a historical perspective I think most would
have to say Wallace was wrong, there was a dime's worth of difference
between the two parties. And in 2016 the difference was even more clearcut;
behind one was the possibility of becoming a below average Presadent and
behind the other was the certainty of a increase in existential danger.
Guess who won.

​> ​
> The thing is to me, as a social psychologist, that the most important
> thing is name recognition,
>

​Yes, that's why a ​TV
game show host
​ is now the most powerful man in the world.​

​> ​
> Don't have planks.  Be vague at all costs. You want sound bites, not
> details easily argued with, which give away your strategy.  You have to
> keep it simple, because there are more simple people than anyone else.
>

​There is no better evidence that you are correct than the most recent
election, one produced detailed position papers and the other simple (in
both meanings of the word "simple") soundbites. Guess who won.   ​


​> ​
> Assemble a team of experts on every subject; mixture of left and right,
> libertarian and authoritarian.
>

​I disagree, recent history indicates the last thing in the world you want
are experts that know what they're talking about because they might utter
truths that the hayseed rednecks in political rallies don't want to hear.
​


> ​> ​
> I am behind Warren; lots and lots of people wanted a woman but not
> Hillary; not ready for a black, though if I had had the chance I would have
> voted for Barbara Jordan.
>

​You could do worse. Much worse.

John K Clark​
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