A Strategist's Perspective on How We Can Better Work Together
Earlier this year, I filed paperwork to form UniFire Consulting LLC, a group focused on providing messaging and strategic communications services for independent candidates and causes. It was a proud moment for me in itself, the next logical step after nearly a decade in the bridging and political innovation spaces. But there's more to it than that.
I, after all, am one part of a greater ecosystem of political innovators, bridge-builders, and independent voters. To understand the value and potential of my work and so many others' - to understand why we persevere in spite of all the obstacles and ugliness in politics, and why you should, too - it's important to understand this broader context, and what having a thriving ecosystem would mean.
Imagine, if you will, an America where political independents running for office had the same tools, resources, and perceived viability as candidates from the major parties. Imagine the bright voices and fresh ideas that could shine through. Imagine the possibility of serious, competitive elections, of real choice, in so many states and districts and counties where races now go either uncompetitive or outright uncontested.
An empowered independent movement, above all, can profoundly shift the incentives that drive the worst of our politics. The very concept of gerrymandering falls apart if independents can become a viable second option in lopsided districts. The parties’ relentless negative messaging and campaigning, a strategy optimized for a zero-sum game with exactly two players, no longer works. And the tug-of-war in Washington, and all the strong-arming and undermining that come with the fight for a majority, can give way to a multi-party situation where no team has a singular majority, and all of the players involved have to work together, solve problems, and actually govern.
Building a competitive infrastructure is about much more than raising funds. It’s about creating training resources, consultancy options for messaging and finance and operations, networks to connect to field workers and volunteers and organizers, think tanks, youth and collegiate and community alliances. It’s about building social momentum around bridging and constructive dialogue and all the dynamic ideas that candidates are putting forward. It’s about building a national brand and a movement, so that successes in Nebraska and Idaho can better drive momentum in Mississippi and Massachusetts, and so that anyone inspired to run, anywhere, can get the support they need to compete.
We actually have a great deal of these organizations in place already, from dialogue-focused nonprofits to companies and individuals focused on supporting outsider candidates in a myriad of ways. But it is our nature as independents that make it more difficult for us to coalesce. By and large, those who reject party labels are those who do not want to be boxed in, to fall in line, or to be some cog in a machine. This independent spirit is integral to who we are and how we are, but it does mean we need to make an active effort to coordinate and connect our individual efforts.
Through UniFire, I'm uniquely positioned to help build out needed connective tissue within the movement, and to offer a more valuable service by doing so. When it comes to my clients’ platform messaging - how they discuss their stances and the actions they plan on taking - it can help quite a bit to learn about the dynamic solutions other independent candidates are finding success with, and the ways in which they frame and present their ideas. But it goes far beyond that.
A successful independent candidate also needs to be able to message on viability - why voters, volunteers, and donors should believe that the campaign is worth their time and attention. What's more, they need to be able to message on impact - how they're going to be able to make their ideas into reality, and why they'd be more than just some lonely voice of reason crying out in a partisan madhouse. It is impossible to speak effectively to either without offering the broader context of a national movement.
We are closer to a breakthrough than it may appear, or than the major party apparati would want it to appear. Evan Macmullin, running as an Independent for Utah Senate in 2022, earned some 43% of the vote against a Republican opponent. Dan Osborn, running for Senate in Nebraska last year, got to 48%. We are fast approaching the point where we can demand media attention and inspire public confidence, and that point is where having connective threads and a cohesive brand is going to be extremely valuable.
I’m excited to be a part of building that brand, of connecting the connectors, of unifying the unifiers, of bringing the people bringing the people together together (still workshopping that one). I know with what I’ve seen in this space that we can make a serious, positive change in our politics, and that the need and opportunity for our movement is as great as it has ever been. But it’s going to take a serious effort, and no one of us can do this alone.
Nathan Smolensky
Founder and Chief Strategist, UniFire Consulting
UniFireConsulting.com
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