What if We Approached Politics Like Salespeople?

This will be long. Apologies in advance.

I think the analogy of car salesman is perfect because of the stereotypes of them doing nearly anything (including lying and manipulating) to make the sale parallels the way many people practice politics. Cultivating brand / party loyalty. Learning about customers / voters to push their buttons, rather than get them to make the most logical choice. Getting people to think there is a ‘best choice’ for everyone, when in reality people have differing needs. Some people do better with a Ford. Others really ought to pick that Subaru. My needs are very possibly not your needs

But consider someone with no brand loyalty, who buys the best available option. Sometimes they buy a Ford, sometimes a Subaru, sometimes a Toyota. And they realize the best car for a single commuter is not the best car for a family who goes to the mountains three weeks a year. They might never want to talk someone into a particular brand. They might prefer someone shop objectively, even if they disagree with the choice that person ultimately makes, because overall, we’re all better off if we pick cars (or politicians) that way.

Sometimes they might pick a car with one amazing new feature, even if the rest of the car has issues, simply to encourage other manufacturers to put that feature in their vehicles. Sometimes they might favor gas mileage more heavily due to outside circumstances (like gas prices doubling) or they might care much more about options (because they now live somewhere where AC is mandatory) …. they evaluate everything uniquely, based on the current situation. And they want you to do the same thing.

Of course this breaks down in elections, because we are all, in effect, buying the one car for all of us. Still, are you better off getting people to vote the way you want to in a particular election, or to think independently and impartially, in every election? Do we really want to sell someone our ideas? Does that make us any better than the used car sale people out there, using bumper sticker ideology to get people to support them? Or do we do better, long term, getting people to see past those tactics entirely, and vote for meaningful issues…. though yes, this is a much harder task to accomplish.

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