Why Repubs are better at selling lies, and what we can do about it

Many people have made the observation lately that Repubs are better at lying than Dems are at telling the truth. I would re-cast that to say that Republicans are better at SELLING lies than Democrats are at selling the truth. I have an idea why, and I think I know what we can do about it.

Many people have made the observation lately that Repubs are better at lying than Dems are at telling the truth. I would re-cast that to say that Republicans are better at SELLING lies than Democrats are at selling the truth. I have an idea why, and I think I know what we can do about it.

Many on the left hate selling
Many Democrats like to think that the sheer TRUTHFULNESS of our ideas will be so evident that the ideas will sell themselves, but it just isn't so. People need to be sold on any new idea.
There's a saying: "If nobody is willing to buy your product, either you're a terrible salesperson or what you are trying to sell is crap." If our product isn't crap, then the reason people won't buy our product is because we are not good salespeople. And the reason we're not good salespeople is because many on the left think it's below us. Selling is something that sleazy people have to do because their ideas aren't good enough. Where does this come from? I think it comes from all the highly sensitive people on the left.

HSP's hate selling because they hate being sold to
See, I've been reading this book, "The Highly Sensitive Person", a lovely owner's manual for us highly sensitive types. For those of you new to this concept, it refers to those people who have a strong empathic sense, are deeply movd by the arts or music, are easily rattled by having to do too much too fast, become drained by lots of social interaction, and have a rich inner life. You can take a test to see where you fall here: Highly Sensitive Person Self-Test.

Around 15-20% of the population falls into this category. One of the traits associated with highly sensitive people is an extreme unwillingness to proselytize. Most sensitive people think that what we believe is good for us, but we wouldn't dream of trying to impose our beliefs on other people. We hate selling because we hate being sold to. We came to our beliefs through intense soul-searching and believe that other people go through the same process. I think the problem is that most people are NOT like this. For many people they get their values and beliefs handed to them, and they like it like that.

Many or all HSP's are on the left
I think we've got a huge preponderance of highly sensitive people on the left. I posted a diary a couple weeks ago - "Are you a highly sensitive person?" - with a poll (if you haven't taken it, please do so!). At this point it shows 41% of the 53 respondents saying that they are highly sensitive people. This is at least DOUBLE the percentage you'll see in the population at large. Now granted, the subject line probably attracted more sensitive people, and dKos itself is a select community, so I can't draw any conclusions. But I think it's possible that all or most of the highly sensitive people in the American population are on the left. Which would explain a LOT, but in this case it might explain why we're so bad at selling.

Non-HSP's need to talk about selling loudly and frequently
If that's the diagnosis, what's the prescription? I think that the people on the left who are not HSP's, who intrinsically understand the importance of selling and marketing, AND know how to do well, need to CONSTANTLY hammer at why selling is important. And they need to teach by example and just do it.

Sensitive people are never going to fully understand why selling is important. It just doesn't figure in our decision-making the way it does with most people. However, if somebody reminds us why it's important, and we see that, contrary to all expectations, it actually works, I think the left as a whole will be better off for it.

Disclosure: I am not a sales or marketing person by any means, but I did major in Rhetoric, so I'd like to think I know a little about connecting speaker with audience. As long as I don't have to sell anything.