Today, my pendulum of analysis swings back to the left to look at what needs to happen for the liberal wing to evolve to the next level. I will focus on a single aspect of that evolution: competition.

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Towards a More Competitive Left
Sacred America series #23
by Stephen Dinan


Today, my pendulum of analysis swings back to the left to look at what needs to happen for the liberal wing to evolve to the next level. I will focus on a single aspect of that evolution: competition.

Competition is often perceived as an unseemly thing on the left, rather beneath the lofty ideals and generous rhetoric. Competition is seen as overly masculine, polarizing, and ego-inflating. It's far more enticing to deal in pleasing platitudes and discuss alliances and win-win solutions.

The truth is, though, that political power is gained and lost through as fiercely competitive a game as exists, one in which all of the forces in a society, from big money to labor unions, from backroom insiders to media pundits, are all competing to influence minds and garner votes.

We can be high-minded and consecrate our efforts to the greatest good for the planet but the simple fact is that without power, we do not get to implement our fantastic win-win ideas �" we can only influence those who ARE in power. Once in power, we can be as generous and high-minded as we want, which I fully support since it demonstrates that our leadership is truly for the public good. But until more enlightened left-wing candidates actually win elections, it doesn't matter.

The right-wing is fiercely competitive and ruthless about winning. Over the last decades, we've seen a surge in a win-at-all-costs-and-throw-morals-out-the-door attitude. Karl Rove is not only the top Republican strategist, he's also the dirtiest. He will lie, cheat, manipulate, and break just about any rule he can to gain competitive advantage for his candidates. This is well-documented and not particularly hidden, as movies such as Bush's Brain have shown.

The left-wing needs to get over its allergy to competition or it will conspire in the continued dismantlement of our country by some of the least conscious (but most competitive) elements of the right-wing. It's a moral obligation for those who care about sustainability, for instance, to understand how to politically outcompete the forces that want to pillage resources for short-term profit.

The first rule of competition is making absolutely certain that your opponent is playing by the rules. If he is indeed breaking the rules to gain competitive advantage, you have two options if you want to remain competitive: first, you expose the breaking of the rules loudly and refuse to move forward until the violation is corrected and punished. Or second, you start breaking the rules yourself and playing the game on the new, more lawless turf. The first strategy retains the moral high ground, which is important for long-term integrity, whereas the second risks the public perceiving that both sides are hopelessly corrupt.

Democrats are failing miserably at this first rule of competition. The overwhelming evidence of massive voter fraud in the last election, chronicled ably by Robert Kennedy Jr. in his recent Rolling Stone article and in books such as Mark Crispin Miller's Fooled Again, should have Democratic leadership apoplectic. The Democratic leadership should be taking out full-page advertisements in the New York Times to alert the public to the gross breach of the public trust. It should be in courts and in the headlines. It should be the focal point of massive campaigns. Instead, even polite discussion of the extent of the fraud are considered in poor taste.

This is, quite simply, the mentality of people who don't know how to compete. If you let opponents break the rules without penalty, you've granted yourself permanent underdog status and encouraged even more egregious violations. Until Democratic leadership takes the dishonorable breaches of our electoral process on with passionate intensity, it frankly hasn't earned its right to rule again. If elections are not clean, all the money we are asked to invest in them is essentially wasted.

The second rule of competition after the first has been addressed is studying your opponent's tactics and beating them at their own game by sculpting your game to optimally compete with theirs. If the left-wing is truly more advanced (as we tend to believe), then it should prove quite easy to study the tactics of the right-wing, duplicate what works well and then innovate beyond them. If the conservative mind is less able to innovate by virtue of being more wedded to old patterns of thinking, then it should be easy for us to outcompete.

It's like a chess match in which we study the opponent's strengths and weaknesses, then devise ways to counter their moves. In business, the golden rule is to imitate, then innovate, moving as quickly as possible to gain market share. Good business people study what is working well for competitors, replicate the best they have to offer and then add improvements that competitors have not yet thought of.

Politically, if the right-wing has sophisticated training programs for their eventual candidates, then the left-wing should create even better ones. If Fox is effectively marketing conservative perspectives, then we need to create a progressive media empire that is twice the size, with higher integrity, better entertainment value, and twice the influence. If the left is simply unable to organize itself well enough to create such a progressive media force, then it is not competing effectively.

Democrats are failing at this second rule of competition. The systems of training and advancing candidates are simply better on the right-wing. The network of think tanks and media outlets is more cohesive. Democrats are not replicating the best of right-wing tactics, much less adding greater innovation and insight. Instead, they indulge in throwing stones at the right and mocking it, which is a poor substitute for outcompeting it.

The third rule of competition is to understand what is actually required to win. In the case of political elections, characteristics like charisma, affability, financial success, and attractiveness are important since the ultimate judges of the winners of the game are the voting public. Americans like attractive, successful, powerful people who are also down-to-earth. Republicans recognize this and will actively recruit people like Ronald Reagan and Arnold Schwarznegger, who are not remotely qualified politically, but they are perfectly suited to win elections by virtue of their personality. Once in office, they are then surrounded by people who have political and operational expertise. The candidate's primary and most important job is to be the public face for the philosophy, and thus to win elections.

The left instead offers up candidates who are very smart and accomplished but not particularly charming or often even likable. In California's recent primary, polled Democrats felt Steve Westly, the State controller, had a better chance at beating Arnold Schwarznegger than Phil Angelides. And yet Democrats voted for Angelides, who seemed to have more solid experience and expressed their progressive values. That may or may not turn out to be a wise choice but what was interesting to me is that it revealed how Democrats were more concerned with voting their conscience than with voting to win. This exemplifies how the left tends to put ideals ahead of competitive instincts. The result is that less conscious and capable Republicans gain office because they are more appealing as candidates.

The lack of a serious commitment to competition is why pundits like Ann Coulter call Democrats whiners. Instead of dominating the political game with inspiring vision, moral superiority, and unmatched strategy, lefties tend to simply complain about the problems of the right. It's the stance of people who are cut off from their competitive instincts. Complaints don't win the political game but, in a subtle, way, reinforce the public's perceptions of Democrats as weak.

Far better, I say, to keep the moral high ground, articulate the boldest vision, and then compete intensely at the game with candidates who have what it takes to win. This includes exposing violations such as voting fraud with ferocity �" which is far different than complaining or mud-slinging. Exposure of fraud is an act of moral integrity and conscience, which people respect, rather than complaining, which people do not.

When intelligence and bold vision are married with personal affability and a warrior's competitive instinct, that is when the voting public will become truly inspired by the candidates on the left and the current right-wing leaders will have their reign terminated, which, incidentally, will force the Republican party to evolve to a more enlightened level as well, simply to compete.

Sacred America Series #23
If you'd like to read these weekly articles exploring a sacred vision for America, you can visit www.stephendinan.com or sign up on the distribution list by sending an email to stephendinan-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.

Previous Articles in this Series

#1: Sacred America
http://www.stephendinan.com/2006/01/sacred-america.html

#2: Patriotism and Progress
http://www.stephendinan.com/2006/01/patriotism-and-progress.html

#3: Radicals and Republicans
http://www.stephendinan.com/2006/01/radicals-and-republicans.html

#4: E Pluribus Unum
http://www.stephendinan.com/2006/02/e-pluribus-unum.html

#5: Deeper Lineage of America
http://www.stephendinan.com/2006/02/deeper-lineage-of-america.html

#6: Marrying Science and Spirituality
http://www.stephendinan.com/2006/02/marrying-science-and-spirituality.html

#7: From Spiritual Feudalism to Spiritual Sovereignty
http://www.stephendinan.com/2006/02/from-spiritual-feudalism-to-spiritual.html

#8: Beginning to Face Our Shadow
http://www.stephendinan.com/2006/03/beginning-to-face-our-shadow.html

#9: Coming to Terms with Genocide
http://www.stephendinan.com/2006/03/coming-to-terms-with-genocide.html

#10: The Next American Operating System
http://www.stephendinan.com/2006/03/next-american-operating-system.html

#11: Rising and Declining Cultures
http://www.stephendinan.com/2006/03/rising-and-declining-cultures.html

#12: Honoring the Sacred Core of Islam
http://www.stephendinan.com/2006/03/honoring-sacred-core-of-islam.html

#13: Wielding Godlike Powers
http://www.stephendinan.com/2006/04/wielding-godlike-powers.html

#14: Towards a Strategic Political Movement
http://www.stephendinan.com/2006/04/towards-strategic-political-movement.html

#15: The Next Blueprint
http://www.stephendinan.com/2006/04/next-blueprint.html

#16: Declaration of Interdependence
http://www.stephendinan.com/2006/05/declaration-of-interdependence.html

#17: A New Constitutional Convention?
http://www.stephendinan.com/2006/05/new-constitutional-convention.html

#18: A Progressive Honoring Conservative Values
http://www.stephendinan.com/2006/05/progressive-honoring-conservative.html

#19: Evolving Our Political Polarity
http://www.stephendinan.com/2006/06/evolving-our-political-polarity.html

#20: From a War on Terror to a World at Peace
http://www.stephendinan.com/2006/06/from-war-on-terror-to-world-at-peace.html

#21: Creating a More Enlightened Left
http://www.stephendinan.com/2006/06/creating-more-enlightened-left.html

#22: Creating a More Enlightened Right
http://www.stephendinan.com/2006/06/creating-more-enlightened-right.html

Authors Website: www.stephendinan.com

Authors Bio:

Stephen Dinan is the author of Radical Spirit and the founder of the Radical Spirit community, as well as the Director of Membership and Marketing for the Institute of Noetic Sciences. He graduated from Stanford University with a degree in human biology and holds a master's in East-West psychology from the California Institute of Integral Studies. Stephen directed and helped to create the Esalen Institute's Center for Theory & Research, a think tank for leading scholars, researchers, and teachers to explore human potential frontiers. Stephen has several books in process, including a companion volume to Radical Spirit entitled Radical Spirit in Action, a memoir set in India called In Kali's Garden, and a collection of poetry called Angelfire.