| | I created www.washtenawvoters.org to help people run for local office in and around Ann Arbor. For Objectivists, I have more specific advice.
* Political science is an oxymoron.
It is true that much of politics can be reduced to science. Statistical analysis of polling is one example. We certainly live in a society where the ability to understand a broad range of technologies is important. Yet, politics often appears irrational. It would seem that the candidate who can master the most intellectual fallacies stands the best chance. (See, for instance, http://www.nizkor.org/features/fallacies/ .) The dangers in democratic government have been known and demonstrated ever since it was invented 2500 years ago. In Medici Money: Banking, Metaphysics, and Art in Fifteenth-Century Florence author Tim Parks explains how the Medici controlled an elaborate electoral mechanism designed specifically to prevent control. Ayn Rand cautioned that political reform was among the final effects of a philosophical revolution. There being few (if any) viable methods for funding a government except taxation, politics reduces us all to plundering each other. That is hardly a scientific algorithm for living together.
* Why an Objectivist would want to run for office.
It does provide publicity to an individual seeking name recognition in a local market. Sometimes just raising an issue can force those in control to find a better solution than their first compromise proposal. If you actually win an election, you often (not always) get paid for the job. Since that government is best which governs least, you might land yourself a sinecure. You have the opportunity to at least prevent someone worse from doing more harm while you might actually be able to do some good.
* The inverse square law applies to politics as it does to magnetism and gravity: you have more control closer to home.
Running for the U.S. Senate is not the way to make the world a better place -- unless you are already the governor or a congressman, or somehow in that league. If you have never run for office -- if you have never won an election -- then start with a winnable race. Michigan (and much of the midwest) is organized on the "township" plan. Each of our 83 counties is divided into more or less regular rectangular townships. Within those townships are exclusions called "villages" and "cities." Some cities -- Detroit, for instance -- have totally absorbed their townships. Those are rare exceptions. Here in Washtenaw County (Ann Arbor) we have the county itself, 20 townships and eight cities or villages. We have at least 200 opportunities to run for office and win. Running for mayor of Ann Arbor is a major challenge, but township races have been decided 27 votes to 16. One Republican Party precinct delegate actually lost a race in which three people ran for three slots and he failed to vote for himself. They are called "dogcatcher" posts and no one pays them much attention. If you do, you can win.
* I don't care if I win, I just want to bring a message to the people.
There is nothing wrong with that. It motivates not only the Libertarians and the Greens, but also the Democrats and Republicans in many places where their opponents have a lock. Even running as a Republican against a Republican incumbant -- knowing that you will not survive the primary -- is one way to bring your issues to the attention of the mass media. It keeps everyone honest.
If you do not want the responsibility of the office and you have the resources to spend, then you have every right to pursue your agenda. However, once you take other people's money, do you also accept a moral burden to represent them? Is being a candidate a fiduciary obligation? Successful candidates see it that way. If you run to win, you stand a much better chance of winning than if you run to lose.
* You are running for county commissioner, not professor of philosophy.
If you see problems that no one else has identified, then those are your issues. If you have practical solutions, state them. If the government is spending too much money, list the items you would cut -- and demonstrate with known facts how something better will replace them.
It is a statistical fact that most ("informed") voters measure candidates against personal values based on the issues. The candidates themselves are the primary source of information about the issues. They are not the only source. People have issues of their own. If you want to run for office and win, you have to find out what those issues are. That means that you need to start about one year before the election. Walk the district. Talk to voters. (It might cost a couple hundred dollars to get a database list of qualified voters from your county clerk or state election commissioner.) Attend meetings of the body you are seeking election to. Know the issues. Then formulate your issues and take them to the people.
* Money is your first priority.
To be successful, a candidate must spend 75% of their time raising money. If you are not comfortable asking people for money, then you are not in the right frame of mind to be a candidate. There are many ways to "ask." Make an appearance and have your campaign manager ask. Have your volunteers ask. Start with friends and families. You can get lists of Political Action Committees from your local or state elections offices. Campaigns are highly regulated -- as you will find out! -- and one consequence of that is that you can have access to the data you need. Mail out response envelopes. No one strategy will achieve all the results.
* You must have a campaign manager.
You have only the same 24-hour day everyone else does. Division of labor is an absolute fact. If you cannot find anyone you trust to run your campaign, then politics is not for you. You will need volunteers to stuff envelopes, make calls, answer phones, and more. For a local campaign where 1000 votes are at stake, your campaign manager can make and schedule your appearances, arrange for the press to be there, and have you be met by dignitaries from the social context of your appearance. For more complicated races, you need more division of labor.
* You may need a speechwriter.
If you cannot write your own speeches, then you have to ask just what skills you are bringing to the job. Even so, explaining your solution to a school board crisis is much different than filling blogspace with 5000 words of invective. A speech is not a lecture: it is a radio commercial. A speechwriter will transform your ideas into symbols that resonate with voters.
* Power and Market
There are two ways to deal with people, politically and agorically. A political campaign is a business, but the candidate cannot profit from it. Know the election finance laws -- and obey them.
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