What’s Your C.A.P.?

Last week, I posted a poll on LinkedIn asking folks what turns them off in modern politics. I gave three options because, in my book, the barriers in front of most of us boil down to three categories: Cost, Access, and Partisanship. And just because I know you needed another acronym in your life, I want to bring you into the world of C.A.P.

I see these barriers in individuals and organizations alike. Often, we perceive them as external barriers – those we cannot control. But I’d argue that, largely, they remain internal barriers – and extremely influential ones at that. Each of these categories grows to near Goliath proportions, driven there by our own discussions of politics, advocacy and the inherent values of participation therein.

Not surprisingly, and considering today’s environment, nearly 90% of the respondents identified “toxic partisanship” as the leading barrier. Even if I couldn’t have predicted the degree of that landslide result, I think we’d have been hard pressed to find a way for partisanship to not walk away with this particular trophy. But does that really tell us anything new?

Not really. It’s not like partisanship is new – it’s been with our Republic since the very beginning. Yet today, politics is more ingrained in the daily life of the average American than ever before. We have greater access to the world around us, including the world of politics. That exposure is bound to increase our sensitivity to the more caustic aspects of our system. But what of the other results?

Only 11 percent identified my “cost” category as their leading turn-off (delightfully disguised as ‘money & fundraising’). I thought, for sure, there would be a higher response rate for this category. With all the talk of money in politics, and the cyclical attacks from all sides of the spectrum on the influence of dark money groups, one could have made a reasonable assumption that the cost of participation would rack up a few more points.

But the most telling result – of my admittedly non-scientific poll – is that not a single individual, no not even one, identified “access” as a barrier to participation. I stress here, again, that these results are not scientific, but let’s not let that get in the way of a pretty great story. Of the folks who viewed the post (thousands), not a single person was compelled to say they felt like they didn’t have access to their representatives.

Talk about a silver lining.

In a time of massive partisan divide, where folks are bombarded with messages for and against their local elected officials, at least to some degree, they feel like they can still get in the door.

There’s a lot to be said these days about the state of our democratic institutions. Folks groan about the gridlock of our system. They bemoan a bureaucracy that moves at the speed of government. They even cry foul and claim disenfranchisement when “their guy” loses. But despite all of that, deep down, they still feel like they can access their public servants. Astounding.

But, here’s the shortcoming of a single question, non-scientific survey of a limited sample size. If I were to ask you whether or not you have ever felt as if you lacked access, you might just offer up a different response. I’d argue the problem would be compounded for some of the advocacy organizations through which you serve.

I’ve seen too many organizations write off an entire political party because they fundamentally believe that members of said party just won’t care about their issues. It’s a massive barrier to advocacy – if an under acknowledged one. The most damaging part though, is that access is largely a self-imposed barrier in these scenarios.

Our challenge is to proactively evaluate each of these categories to understand the C.A.P.s we place on our own advocacy efforts. What issues are we avoiding because they seem too toxic and partisan for our involvement? How are we working to grow long term relationships that will guarantee us access in times of critical need? How are we encouraging our advocates to support candidates? What resources are we willing to bring to bear ourselves?

As is so often the case, these simple questions are usually the best place to start. If we are not regularly and aggressively reviewing our internal assumptions around these C.A.P.s, we’re selling our agendas short. We’re capping our own potential – and that just won’t cut it.

So, what about you? What’s your C.A.P.?