Here’s the reality of securing a political win: You can’t do it unless you get a large market share.
Which means, at some point, what you campaign on, and what you present as your vision to voters needs to be practical.
Last week, Tonje Brenna, the deputy leader of the Norwegian Labour Party told a room of progressives who were gathered in Montreal for an action summit that:
"People … don't wake up in the morning and think, 'I'm a liberal on migration,' or 'I'm a conservative on migration.' People wake up in the morning and think, 'I'm going to go through with my day. What are my main issues today? Is it a problem that my son goes to a class where nobody speaks Norwegian? Of course it is,'"
She added:
"Migration is a practical issue to people, but we tend to make it a moral issue. We need to stop making practical problems moral issues, and solve people's practical problems.
You’ve heard me talk about how politics is about values.
How it’s about moral foundations.
And yes, these are the underlying beleifs that drive voter behaviour, but Tonje Brenna makes a good point: in the issue advocacy space, it’s easy to lean too hard into values and moral foundations. At some point, your message needs to make the issue real.
Which means, you need to make it practical.
Easier said than done.
Make it practical