I love studying political psychology and the process of decision making. This Ted Talk says 97% of people will continue to do the same thing – more of it or less of it, but still the same thing – when encountering a problem. They will continue to smash in to the wall, more or less.
Only 3% will try to do something different.
The GOP changed it strategy over the last 40+ years – ever since Nixon and the Southern Strategy. That strategy has slowly worked, moving the south from Democratic to Republican, and most recently rural areas as well, which culminated in the 2016 election.
And Democrats did not change… They continued with the same strategy, and here in Wisconsin we have seen it break even or fail over the last twelve years or so. Russ Feingold, Hillary Clinton, the Wisconsin legislature, the Wisconsin Supreme Court. Only Donald Trump’s outrageousness was enough to propel Joe Biden to victory in Wisconsin, and by less than 1%.
To do what has been done before is easy. It requires neither creativity nor risk. And it offers, at best, the same results as before.
In our 2020 campaign for Wisconsin State Senate District 28, while nearly every Democratic campaign across Wisconsin gathered fewer votes than in 2016/2012, our campaign saw a 24% increase.
Because we dared to be among the 3% who did not follow the same path and “continue to smash into the wall.”
I realize we are asking you to take a risk. The choice to go around the wall though, seems easy.