Book Review: "The Age of Junk Politics"
Why we can't win unless our campaigns "connect."
By Bruce Watson
After decades in the trenches of progressive politics, Ned Howey has learned to begin with a simple question. “Is the issue you’re working on getting better or worse?” Silence often follows, then harsh truths.
Howey’s new book, The Age of Junk Politics, has a long subtitle and is often long-winded. But Howey’s message is exactly what we need now. As in E.M. Forster’s novel Howard’s End, the message is: “Only connect.”
What campaigns and candidates need, Howey says, is not more “message-based persuasion,” more “resource mobilization,” more “voter mobilization.” “Our political practices have become akin to the fast food industry: quick, easy, and ultimately unsatisfying, while leaving us hungrier and less healthy as a democratic society.”
Forget such “transactional” campaigning, which has only led to “the spectacle of reality-show drama, clown-like politicians, and overall messiness.“ What we need is “transformational campaigning,” i.e. deep canvassing, committed and well-trained volunteers, and above all, more and more conversations about our democracy.
Minds are only changed, votes only won by conversations, Howey writes. Not just quick chats on doorsteps or on the phone but “the conversations that happen between parents at the sports field, that chat that happens when the church session is over before Sunday lunch, and the political discussion among friends between drinks. . .”
Howey is a veteran political consultant, founder of Tectonica Digital Campaign Solutions, which has worked on 500 projects in 40 countries. The Age of Junk Politics, though it shouldn’t take 141 pages to convey its message, offers a breath of fresh air in yet another campaign saturated with unwanted e-mails, endless pitches — “Hey, Bob, it’s Joe Biden!” — and TV ads up the wazoo.
Both Republicans and Democrats are on the wrong track, Howey says. “The crisis of today’s politics is that one side is trying its best to win at all costs by playing Moneyball in its strategy, while the other side has turned the game into the World Wrestling Federation. . . I am not asking us to abandon training, team strategy, and overall excellence. I’m asking us to understand that our completely myopic focus on winning without attention to how we play has led us to lose the value of the sport. We cannot then wonder why Hulk Hogan is sitting at the helm of our government.”
Not just Trump but Brexit, not just MAGA suck-ups but Bolsonaro and other “populists” have arisen from the ashes of despair and alienation created by “transactional” campaigns. And the rise of AI threatens to amp up the whole mess.
“No amount of raising the volume and shouting ‘trust us’ at voters will actually make them trust us more — quite the contrary. We need to go deeper to the root of the problem and shift our practices to move the context itself. We need to reconnect by putting people back into our political practices.”
What to do? Only connect, of course. Digging into the grassroots, both huge campaigns and small local groups should be “transformational.” Which means, as old political ward bosses knew, spending serious time on doorsteps and phone calls, attending meetings, speaking honestly, making democracy matter to “them” because it matters to you.
So, using Howey’s tips, ask yourself. Is your group being “transactional” or “transformational?” Are you:
1. Offering full range of participation for your workers, not just postcarding or phone banking but frequent face-to-face contact with potential voters?
2. Giving supporters ample chances to form relationships and connect with constituents?
3. Allowing your team to grow and learn leadership skills?
4. Doing everything possible to create meaningful dialogue and meaningful activities?
5. Fostering not just “contacts” but relationships?
(Ned Howey on Network Nova’s Friday Power Lunch. Watch below:)
The path behind is littered with losses, “fast-food” campaigns that fell flat (think Brexit, Michael Bloomberg, and yes, Hillary.) The path ahead is paved with successes that Howey highlights, from Harvey Milk’s “Hope” campaign to Obama’s two million committed volunteers.
Which path will you take? Which will democracy take? Ned Howey has warned us. Are we listening? Are the issues we’re working on “getting better or worse?”
Let’s talk about it.
The Age of Junk Politics is available as a free download — HERE.
I don't think Howey is suggesting that postcarding, texting and phonebanking are wastes of time. He is arguing that to move the country in a better direction, we need to have deeper conversations with voters. That can actually be done with phone banking, although it is easier to do it in person. Postcards and letters can help with GOTV, but they are not likely to move someone to shift their political views. Lots of different work can be effective in different ways, and I hope you won't quit doing whatever you are doing now.
So, only able-bodied extroverts who live in red or battleground states can accomplish anything worthwhile, and those of us who live in blue states and have been phonebanking, texting, and writing postcards for the last 8 years on our time and at our own expense, have produced nothing but "junk". Got it. Thanks! I'll quit right now!