Dear Politicians: Stop Using the Scorched Earth Approach to get my vote. Try Persuading Me with Ideas Instead!

by | Jan 18, 2016 | Political Science

Thriving is, and as always been, a team sport.  And, in the 21st Century Digital Information Age team work is even more important than ever.  Any reasonable person understands this and fully embraces the basic belief that a team that acts together is vastly more powerful than a bunch of people who have been forced together in mutual loathing and are looking to backstab each other at the first opportunity.

When I look at politics in America today, it appears that most politicians, particularly the GOP and Trump, are all pursuing strategies and arguments designed to avoid working together as a team.  (A report out of GeorgeTown University rated Congress on their bipartisanship.)

Instead they appear to be trying to force the voters to choose them by presenting only the worst possible view of their opponents.

A scorched earth policy is a military strategy that involves destroying anything that might be useful to the enemy while advancing through or withdrawing from an area.  It appears that all the candidates I know are pursuing this scorched earth approach.  The saddest part of this strategy is that it is at fundamental odds with the best interests of the voters.

If our politicians truly have the best interests of American voters at heart, they should abandon these efforts in favor of actually trying to persuade the voters that they are the best for the job.

And of course Trump is the master of using the scorched earth approach to politics.  His approach is clear;  Vote Me Now, Or there will be riots in the streets.

I heard the other day that Bush Senior believes he lost his chance for a second term because of the third party run of Ross Perot.  Just listening to Trump convinces me that Trump’s threat is real.  Trump is such a narcissist that he could easily simply take his campaign train and put it on the Third Party rail.  Clearly the GOP voter lives in fear of this potential development.

The bottom line is give us real discussion and real attempts to solve the 21st Century problems facing our already great nation.  Don’t give us scorched earth politics where the only ones to vote for are the last one standing.  I want the best candidate, not just the lone survivor.