Politics

shake hWhat makes a successful politician? Few politicians get elected because they study politics. Politicians that get elected are those who know the social issues of their constituents. Constituents are the people who vote. If you don’t know what your constituents are concerned about, you won’t get elected. The problem is not one of agreeing to what ever is asked of you at a political rally, political dinner, neighborhood diner, or church meeting. Your problem, if you want to be a successful politician, is to know what issues are important to the people whose votes you are going to be asking to give to you at the next election. A successful politician knows his constituents. Of course, you have to know how to get to know your constituents. An important point to remember is that you should get to know your constituents before they get to know you.

Unfortunately, if you are reticent about exposing yourself to large groups, but fortunately if you love large groups, the only way to get to know your constituents is to attend functions where a lot of them are going to be present. Do your homework before you announce your candidacy. Attend dinners, accept invitations, go to town hall meetings, visit schools and colleges, eat out and enjoy the kinds of entertainment that your constituents enjoy. As you are becoming a social butterfly, you should not be simply fluttering around to keep yourself from being bored. Your attendance at these events and functions should have a purpose if you are planning on being a successful politician.

You need to know what people at these affairs are saying. You need to take notes. When alone, write down your thoughts about the event, the people and any comments that have stayed with you. That is learning politics. The word “politics” comes from the Greek. The word “poli” simply means “city”. A successful politician knows the issues of his city. Listening to talk show hosts on television, the radio, the newspapers will not be of any use whatever in becoming a successful politician. If you can get a talk show host, a radio host, a newspaper columnist to talk about you, to invite you to be on their show, to write about you, you have succeeded in understanding politics.
Before that happens, you need to find out about your constituents and to plan your platform. That is politics. You have to take a stand on an issue that causes debate in your constituents group meetings, affairs and fiscal planning. The stand you take needs to be one that you believe in, personally. Your next plan should be to understand that cause. Study it by doing research. Know all the questions and plan your answers before you announce yourself to be a politician and begin taking offers to speak or to write. Of course, you should then visit city hall and learn how to become a professional politician by filing to run for office. You can do all that and decide all you want to do is become president of your church council, in which case you will have to add a few other preliminary steps but that is politics.