When communicating with someone, it is critical to understand within what context he or she is processing the information.
A parent may be discussing, with difficulty, values with their children stating a universal proposition emphasizing traditional values. The child receives the information within the context of what is important to them.
The echo chamber of the child’s peers may influence the process. The son or daughter may come to the conclusion that their parents are old-fashioned and do not understand current trends.
What the parent meant, but did not explain, is that certain values are transcendent throughout the generations. They were passed down from their great-grandfather to their grandfather to their father as proven principles of timely lessons. The child may in fact even agree with the moral value of the proposition. However, when applied out of the universal context of a specific current situation, the child does not see the transcendent principle’s measure of worth.
The parents are often talking over the child’s purview, thereby missing the point of connection. If the parent had put the argument in a context relating to the child’s perspective, they may have been more successful in the child receiving the point of the argument.
And so it is in political communication today.
It has taken until today to analyze and come to initial conclusions regarding last Tuesday’s primaries in Wyoming and Alaska. Liz Cheney lost badly in the Republican primary in Wyoming’s single Congressional District, a district she won with 73% of the vote two years ago. What happened? Congresswoman Cheney and the totality of the press believe, and have come to the conclusion, that she lost because she co-chaired the Jan. 6 investigation, and was critical of former President Donald Trump.
She campaigned on the theme that Donald Trump should never hold elected office again. That he was, in fact, singularly the greatest potential threat to our republic. And, even given the evidence of President Trump’s malfeasance in office that she felt was imperative, the public afforded little respect for her position.
It is unanimity among national analysts that the election results confirm people voted against Ms. Cheney because of their support of Donald Trump. The verdict is that Donald Trump has a vise grip on the Republican party. Recent research provides an alternative opinion.
Sixty percent of the American public believe that Congress is corrupt. Sixty-five percent do not trust candidates running for federal office to tell the truth about their true agenda, and 87% of American citizens believe the country is on the wrong track. In what institution, then, do they have any confidence whatsoever?
As referenced previously in this report, AmericasOne commissioned George Barna to conduct national research exploring what does America believe and why does she believe it. Where is all the dissatisfaction coming from in reference to government leaders? What are American’s true values, and in what context are they processing societal debates?
The answer reported in When the American People are Left to Their Own Means (Nuttle Report, 7/26/2022), was their own personal family. When asked what is your number one value in life, by generation, by ethnicity, by political ideology, by party identification, by section of the country, the answer was my family.
When asked what are you willing to die for, again, the answer was values surrounding my family. Citizens want less emphasis on issues. They want explanation in reference to the issues on how a certain political position strengthens the family unit.
This is the context from which the public processes information to determine political values.
If Liz Cheney had campaigned that the most important thing is to protect the American family, the context would have been properly set. Citizens agree that democracy is paramount to protecting family authority. She then could have argued that Donald Trump was the greatest threat to democracy.
Her admonition that, “I will do everything in my power to keep Donald Trump from ever holding office again to protect democracy” would have made sense. By putting her arguments in this context, she would have connected on target with the electorate.
The research also was designed to determine what citizens want from candidates to reestablish credibility, connectivity and a relationship. Americans answered with what Barna calls the Five S’s. First, they must commit to being servants. Second, they must resolve to be sacrificial if necessary. Once their character is established, their purpose and message must be to provide stability, security and sensible solutions for society.
The above characteristics of candidates and elected leaders gives the public comfort that they have no hidden agenda. The context of the agenda may not even be a negative to the voters. But it must be transparent. The fact that it appears to be less than transparent indicates that the candidate is not pursuing office to be a servant. Rather, they are running to promote their own personal interest.
Post-election interviews in Alaska indicate this attitude regarding Sarah Palin. Governor Palin ran for Congress on a platform of representing the conservative agenda in Washington, DC. Some citizens saw this as her agenda to reemerge in national politics rather than solving the immediate societal problems of Alaskans. It’s not that they disagreed with the conservative principles, but in the context through which they filtered the information, her agenda did not seem to be pure in intention as compared to their priorities.
The American people want options to make their own choices impacting the authority of their own families. Seventy-two percent of Americans say they believe in traditional family values. There are different definitions of what those values are.
However, wanting a better life for their children is a unifying message for all Americans. And further, and most importantly, Americans are not threatened by the authority of other Americans over their individual families. In other words, Americans are united in the right for everyone to lead their families as they see fit in their individual pursuit of happiness.
As astonishing as this may be to partisan political leaders, Americans do not hate each other.
One last thing from the research. Sixty-five percent of Americans are very proud or proud of their country. And, in this confidence that America still stands for good, they want the United States of America to lead the world in our values and not to succumb or capitulate to the world’s values.
To view a free webinar on the research findings, click here https://research.marcnuttle.com/america-s-values-research-findings-recording.
The good news is that Americans still believe in the founding principles of freedom that allow families to determine for themselves their values and their individual courses for pursuit of happiness. What they want from their leaders and elected officials are options for their free choice to make decisions about their own lives.
They are rejecting leaders who demand government agendas as their only choice. Politicians today have forgotten that they are elected to serve the people, not to dictate values or divide the public by identity politics.
The American public is demanding that arguments of debate be put into the context of protecting the one institution which they still hold dearest …
The American family.
My name is Marc Nuttle and this is what I believe.
What do you believe? {eoa}
Marc Nuttle is an attorney based in Norman, Oklahoma, who specializes in international trade, international foreign policy and international political affairs. He is widely recognized for his expertise in forecasting political and economic trends. He represents corporations, business projects and political entities nationally and internationally. Mr. Nuttle is the founder of the New Horizon Council, a forum for the discussion of transcendent government and business principles. He is the author of The Moment of Truth: How Our Government’s Addiction to Spending & Power Will Destroy Everything That Makes America Great. He is also the author of the weekly commentary The Nuttle Report.
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