Everyone I Talk To

There is a hot new buzzword phrase in the political vernacular: "Everyone I talk to".  Candidates now drop it into all of their rehearsed answers and talking points checklists.  "Everyone I talk to is concerned about education."  "Everyone I talk to doesn't want taxes to go up."  "Everyone I talk to says their street is full of potholes".

Political advisers are pushing their candidates to use this phrase because it accomplishes three goals: One, it gives the impression that the candidate is hearing what people are saying and paying attention to it.  Two, it minimizes the issues favored by one's opponent.  And three, it assures the candidate's own supporters that there is a large group of people that think the same way they do--or gets those with opposing viewpoints to question if they might be in a small minority.

If you pay very close attention to candidates as they actually do talk to voters, you will notice a young person in a suit standing nearby and recording the conversation with a cellphone.  The campaign folks listen back to those, note the person talking and the issue they raise, and file that away for future reference.  That way their candidate can say things in their stump speech like "I spoke with Agnes in Oshkosh and she was concerned about her grand-kids' school"--even though the candidate couldn't tell Agnes in Oshkosh apart from Carrie in Madison or Susan in Superior.

"Everyone I talk to" makes it sound like what the other candidate is talking about is not at all important.  "While he talks about tax breaks, everyone I talk to is concerned about the environment." It's also the perfect deflection away from a question about what a candidate knows is his or her weakest issues.  "How do you plan to pay for all of that extra spending?" can be effectively answered with "Everyone I talk to is more concerned about the quality of their drinking water than what they are paying in taxes" and just like that, you don't even have to answer the question that was posed.

Now it may entirely be possible that candidates are only hearing one point of view on all issues.  Great care is taken nowadays to make sure that only supporters are getting into campaign appearances.  Businesses with owners "friendly to the cause" are selected for visits and candidates have "walking lists" of which doors to knock on while canvassing neighborhoods.  It's a lot more comfortable to be in an echo chamber than have to face tough questions or complaints all day.

So don't believe it when you hear a candidate claim the "Everyone I talk to thinks we should have unlimited spending on public education", or "Everyone I talk to thinks building up our workforce it eh most important issue we face".  Because I don't think that--and it's likely you don't either.