Martin’s Rules for Activists – Part 3 of 5
ByYesterday, we urged activists to avoid internal power struggles like the plague. Conservative activists, in particular, should be weary of engaging in poisonous efforts to make other similarly-but-not-identically-minded activists walk the plank. Debate and persuasion are great, but don’t forget that power plays and personality conflicts are often behind efforts to exclude otherwise good and helpful conservative allies for “not being conservative enough.” You should definitely endeavor to stand for something, but there’s no reason to isolate yourself from other basically like-minded people who could be persuaded to eventually adopt your views if you don’t try to ostracize them first.
Today, we examine Rule #3. Like the other rules before it, Rule #3 is meant to help keep conservative activism both fun and productive.
3. Don’t allow your activist drive to consume you.
This rule consists of two subrules. First, decide what your ethical boundaries are and don’t allow your passion or ideology to compel you to cross them. Second, do your best to develop a meaningful and rewarding life outside of activism. Not only do these two subrules protect you from the darker side of obsession, they also make you a more effective activist.
How does setting ethical boundaries make you a more effective activist? If you aren’t ethical, people, including politicians *should* distance themselves from you and think twice about adopting positions you advocate. We’ve seen this generalization hold true in activism, but it is easier to understand if we discuss it in a similar area where we’ve also seen its power wreak havoc, the practice of law. Even in large cities, the legal community is small enough for word to get around if an attorney’s word isn’t kept or if an attorney uses abusive tactics. Judges don’t want to be reversed and so they might avoid relying on arguments made by an attorney who, because of bad judgment or bad character, would push the judge to do something the judge isn’t immediately comfortable with. Likewise, other attorneys will and should extend basic professional courtesies to opposing counsel of character, but not to someone who is dishonorable. We believe that this principle goes beyond the function of reputation; people unconsciously pick up on subtle hints in your voice, facial expression, and body language when your words or actions are not aligned with your thoughts and beliefs. Social scientists call this a failure of congruence, but whatever you call it, it makes people suspicious and seriously hampers your crediblity.
In activism, we’ve also seen people who have literally lost the ability to make good decisions entirely after they compromised their morality in order to walk down a slippery slope. The idiots who show up uninvited to protest and mock the military at funerals for fallen soldiers may once have been normal people, but at some point they stepped beyond their comfort zone and, with time, became comfortable doing the unthinkable. Their activism is shocking, but it is not effective. Don’t let yourself become that kind of activist.
Okay, so you understand how moral integrity gives power to your message, but why do we insist that developing a life outside of activism makes you a more effective activist? For a whole host of reasons. First, people in general and politicians in particular are going to be more likely to listen to you if you are a person of substance. You’ll connect with more people by naturally exploring your interests — whether they be rock-climbing or social media — than if you spend all your time consumed by doomsday thoughts about creeping socialism. Don’t get us wrong, creeping socialism is a kind of doomsday scenario. However, we think you’ll be happier and more successful as an activist if you are also a successful person in other areas of your life. There are dozens of theories concerning why people are much more likely to be persuaded by those who have their heart in the right place and are successful, but the social science doesn’t really matter. Just know this: if people pick up on a trace of crazy fanatic running through your character, they’ll dismiss you when you need them to trust you. If you don’t believe us, consider how long you’d have to think before dismissing the message being presented by some zealot who spends every afternoon burning flags in front of elementary schools. There’s something about fanatical, zealous “true believers” and mainstream America that doesn’t mesh all that well.
In your efforts to enhance your activism by being normal and well-rounded, you can also leave man-worship and insane and blind devotion to party and policy to Obamaniacs and we’d be just find with that. No reasonable person really believes Obama is the second coming, anyway, and no reasonable person should be believe that Newt Gingrich is, either.
Tommorrow: Rule #4: Pick your battles wisely.
