DO NOT LET YOUR EMOTIONS DRIVE YOUR ELECTION DECISION
By Jim Camp
What really matters, however, is your response to them. That is the one thing you can control and, via the upcoming national election, it is the one thing you can control when you make your decision regarding who gets your vote.
As we all know by now, the sub-prime mortgage loan meltdown is the result of government policies that required issuing loans to people who would not, under normal banking standards, have qualified to receive one. This, in turn, generated the “bundling” of these “sub-prime” loans as securities by mortgage loan and investment bankers to spread the risk. Instead, it put the entire banking system at risk. There is blame enough to go around because there were many warnings.
How you respond to these events and issues is critical. This is a time for caution, not panic. The financial crisis is the result of having removed caution from an established system that determined who received a loan or not.
The result was predictable. My years as a negotiations coach have taught me that most of the decisions we make in life have a reasonably predictable outcome, if they are driven by a well thought out mission and purpose. Decisions that are driven more by inflamed or heightened emotion, without a long term aim, tend to put people in jeopardy.
Americans are deluged daily with highly emotional messages that they must own their own home, must stock that home with a variety of expensive items, must drive certain kinds of vehicles, and, until the present crisis, could use easy credit to acquire them. Living beyond their means was made possible when people allowed their heightened first emotions to cloud their vision and erode their caution.
In my book, Start With No, I identify activities and behaviors that enable people to control their emotions during negotiations, and it all begins with a clearly defined mission and purpose. You can apply this to the forthcoming election because you are being asked to make a decision. If you base your decision on an emotional response to either candidate, you risk failing to focus on the issues and the candidate’s track record and positions.
Representative democracy asks each citizen to build their own vision of the world. This is enabled by the vast flow of information at our disposal or to which we are exposed by the print and news media. Surveys reveal a high level of distrust for the media these days, and that cautionary emotion will play a valuable role in your decision.
Since your vote for whoever should be the next President of the U.S.A. can have a significant outcome, having a personal vision of the future into which you can fit your choice is essential.
Elections are always framed in terms of victory or defeat. Each day, we all deal with what we call “setbacks” or “breakthroughs.” As a negotiations coach, I know that we all live each day as a series of negotiations with family members, co-workers, and others whom we seek to influence.
Successful negotiators are taught to keep a firm grasp on their emotions and to always have a goal in mind, whether it’s a mother teaching a child proper table manners, a student seeking help in learning something new, or someone in business looking to make a deal.
Elections are, as often as not, driven by emotions. Both parties wage campaigns with multi-million dollar advertising and communications designed to evoke your emotions and to play on your fears. You need to guard against this tactic, and you can do this by looking at the campaigns as a negotiation about your future.
The current economic crisis demonstrates that a lot of people whom we deemed to be intelligent and well-informed made some horrendous mistakes in judgment. The lesson we need to draw from this is to be more confident about our own decision-making practices and capabilities. These are skills that can be learned.
Representative democracy requires that we take the time to study the problems and issues of our times, to have an informed opinion, and to be willing to change our minds if the facts require it.
Voting for vague concepts of “change” and “hope” is not sufficient. All elections are about change, but we must know what changes are being proposed.
Voting for the next President for purely emotional reasons such as the fact that your family have always been registered Democrats or Republicans, or that you think a particular candidate is more articulate than the other, or simply that you are worried about the future, negates all the fundamentals of negotiation.
Knowing what kind of future you want, informing yourself regarding both candidates’ positions on the issues, and studying the track records of both parties will help you eliminate emotion and replace it with your vision of America in the coming years.
Most people who teach how to negotiate focus on the need to compromise. My system focuses on your ability to make effective decisions and the value of the ability to say “no.” The coming election requires that you say “no” to one candidate or the other. Politicians may have to compromise, but you do not.
American Government & the U.S. Presidency:
Presidential Politics & National Leadership
The American Political System:
Politics & Government in the U.S.A.
Jim Camp is an internationally recognized negotiations coach, the developer of a negotiation project management and training system,
and the Founder and President of the negotion training and management firm, The Jim Camp Group. He is the author of two books on
the subject -- No: The Only Negotiating System You Need for Work and Home (2007) and Start With No: The Negotiating
Tools That the Pros Don't Want You to Know (2002). Camp writes commentaries on national and international issues relatice to
his expertise. He maintains a website at www.startwithno.com.
Africa: Black Africa *
Africa: North Africa *
American Government 1
LINKS TO PARTICULAR ISSUES & SUBJECT MATTER CATEGORIES
TREATED IN THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, U.S.A.:
American Government 2 *
American Government 3 *
American Government 4
American Government 5 *
American Politics *
Anglosphere *
Arabs
Arms Control & WMD *
Aztlan Separatists *
Big Government
Black Africa *
Bureaucracy *
Canada *
China *
Civil Liberties *
Communism
Congress, U.S. *
Conservative Groups *
Conservative vs. Liberal
Constitutional Law *
Counterterrorism *
Criminal Justice *
Disloyalty *
Economy
Education *
Elections, U.S. *
Eminent Domain *
Energy & Environment
English-Speaking World *
Ethnicity & Race *
Europe *
Europe: Jews
Family Values *
Far East *
Fiscal Policy, U.S. *
Foreign Aid, U.S. *
Foreign Policy, U.S.
France *
Hispanic Separatism *
Hispanic Treason *
Human Health *
Immigration
Infrastructure, U.S. *
Intelligence, U.S. *
Iran *
Iraq *
Islamic North Africa
Islamic Threat *
Islamism *
Israeli vs. Arabs *
Jews & Anti-Semitism
Jihad & Jihadism *
Jihad Manifesto I *
Jihad Manifesto II *
Judges, U.S. Federal
Judicial Appointments *
Judiciary, American *
Latin America *
Latino Separatism
Latino Treason *
Lebanon *
Leftists/Liberals *
Legal Issues
Local Government, U.S. *
Marriage & Family *
Media Political Bias
Middle East: Arabs *
Middle East: Iran *
Middle East: Iraq *
Middle East: Israel
Middle East: Lebanon *
Middle East: Syria *
Middle East: Tunisia
Middle East: Turkey *
Militant Islam *
Military Defense *
Military Justice
Military Weaponry *
Modern Welfare State *
Morality & Decency
National Identity *
National Security *
Natural Resources *
News Media Bias
North Africa *
Patriot Act, USA *
Patriotism *
Political Culture *
Political Ideologies
Political Parties *
Political Philosophy *
Politics, American *
Presidency, U.S.
Private Property *
Property Rights *
Public Assistance *
Radical Islam
Religion & America *
Rogue States & WMD *
Russia *
Science & Ethics
Sedition & Treason *
Senate, U.S. *
Social Welfare Policy *
South Africa
State Government, U.S. *
Subsaharan Africa *
Subversion *
Syria *
Terrorism 1
Terrorism 2 *
Treason & Sedition *
Tunisia *
Turkey *
Ukraine
UnAmerican Activity *
UN & Its Agencies *
USA Patriot Act *
U.S. Foreign Aid
U.S. Infrastructure *
U.S. Intelligence *
U.S. Senate *
War & Peace
Welfare Policy *
WMD & Arms Control
POLITICAL EDUCATION, CONSERVATIVE ANALYSIS
POLITICS, SOCIETY, & THE SOVEREIGN STATE
Website of Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor