Politicians should go for the gut to win?

Democrats must go for gut against GOP

Emotional Intelligence applied to Politics. Lack of Emotional Intelligence is why the Democrafts keep losing elections.

CONSIDER THIS HYPOTHETICAL begins Dick Polman, columnist for the Philadelphia Inquirer. Always an emotionally intelligent way to begin a potentially emotional topic -- like why the Democrats lose.

The Triune brain and its evolution. "Consider this hypothetical."

"Democrats must go for the gut against GOP," Polman and adds:

"But that is not what Democrats do.They are cerebral by nature. They dislike emotional appeals. They fear that if they get too pugnacious, some voters might get mad. But as clinical psychologist and political consultant Drew Westen argues in his new book The Political Brain, this fear of gut-level combat is a big reason the Democratic Party keeps losing national elections." Westen's book is subtitled "The Role of Emotion in Deciding the Fate of the Nation."

According to Polman, Westen studies the brain as a scientist and he says "its emotional properties are 'millions of years older' than its reasoning properties. Therefore, he argues, the Democrats should stop thinking they can win simply by appealing to the intellect. It’s not only bad politics, it’s bad neurology. He writes: “The political brain is an emotional brain. It is not a dispassionate calculating machine. ,."

So he is talking about emotional intelligence - using all parts of the triune brain. Political or otherwise, no appeal to the intellect works as well as something "crafted as a visceral message that aims for the gut and engages the emotions."

Emotional intelligence is about using all of your brain for the best results.

He ends with what Adlai Stevenson said in 1956. The Democratic candidate was leaving a rally when a woman told him, “Every thinking person will be voting for you.” He replied: “Madam, that is not enough. I need a majority.”