If we win on ideas, policies follow

For the past 30-40 years, the direction of change has moved in a decidedly corporate direction. Whether we like it or not, corporate special interest groups have a movement and are winning minds. People tend to respond reactively: we joke, we point out the problems, we challenge, or we focus on policy. None of these tactics win over those who don’t already agree with us and as a result we often lose because our policy suggestions don’t “make sense” to average Americans.

Politicians react, they don’t change

Many people believe that politicians create change. In reality, this rarely happens. In general, politicians react—policy change follows social change. Civil rights laws followed the civil rights movement. Voting rights for women followed the suffragist movement. “Trickle down” economic policies followed the movement for “free markets.”

The mind doesn’t work the way we think it does

Because political opinions are informed by more than facts, facts alone don’t touch the fundamental source of political opinions. Facts and evidence help, and they matter, but by themselves, they rarely win people over.

If we want progress, we need to be able to win people over.

We have conversations every day about politics whether we know it or not. What if we could use these conversations to win people over instead of replicating the back-and-forth fights we see in the media?

If this interests you, The Little Book of Revolution focuses on strategies for winning over the people you know and shifting the political landscape.

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“If you want to build a big movement, pick a big fight.” – Derek Cressman