Moving the needle

” … we must not regard what is obsolete to us as something obsolete to a class, to the masses.” Lenin, Left Wing Communism: an Infantile Disorder

Any political mapping of the vast majority of people would tell us that they don’t neatly or consistently fit into the categories of left or socialist, even progressive. Where then are they found? It depends on the issue, prevailing moods in the country, and who best frames the issue.

If that is the case, isn’t the challenge to find a demand or position that they will embrace and, in doing so, to move the political conversation and needle in a democratic, progressive, or left direction, even if it falls short of what you think is needed at that moment. In other words, the challenge is to convince and move people from where they are, in a language that they understand and corresponds with their experience to a different position that isn’t necessarily yours, but closer to yours.

And it may well set in motion (or, at least bring into the conversation) further shifts that more closely approximate your political position on one or another issue. Politics in this sense is more an art that takes into account what others think and their experience on the one hand and less a declaration of your position with an expectation that everyone in listening distance, dazzled by your brilliance, will immediately gravitate to it.