November 2nd is California’s Statewide General Election and I’ve got some thoughts about managing expectations during the voting process. 
As a former government speechwriter our research indicated that 60 percent of all voters cast their ballot based on their loyalty to a party. An additional 20 percent vote based on a
As someone who has crafted brand messaging for parties, candidates and causes I can see how we’re setting leaders up for failure. If we’re positioning politicians and parties in terms of epic narrative (gurus, heroes, villains) it’s no wonder popular polls often express discontent with overall execution. After all, how is the collective consciousness of a society clinging to age-old archetypes going to be satiated by a human administration during a 4 year term? Or a 12 year run?
Last night some friends were talking about planned communities and the type of governance that exists in communal living. We talked about everything from Burners to Owenites to Kibbutznicks and I’ve come to another conclusion. Utopian socialist governance sounds like the strata meeting from hell.
For both mainstream governance and planned communities, there are just too many expectations and enforcements required to ensure a bubble of non-conflict and self-expression. No one can live in a force-fed homogenous society and expect to be happy based on that alone. Happiness isn’t found in one ideology, person or single platform and better societies don’t just manifest from Gantt charts. It’s pretty damn hard to get strangers to buy in, contribute to other strangers, and hold hands while singing Kumbaya for the rest of their lives. And for that I’m thankful. What the hell would we learn if that were the case?
In any case, if you can —vote and manage the expectations that go along with the privilege.
