Many Democratic will flinch at the following opening statement.
“My name is Jason Kassel and I am running for Congress in California’s 5th District. My opponent, Representative Tom McClintock, belongs to an evangelical Christian Nationalist Political Party supported by an FBI-designated terrorist threat, a violent paramilitary organization, and a violent anti-government militia (QAnon, the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers).”
The reason they are uncomfortable has to do with the amount of nouns and the lack of nuance. The following is a statement that is more appealing to Democratic voters.
“The current Republican Party is no longer the party Ronald Reagan led. The current Republican Party has become autocratic and draws its largest amount of support from its evangelical wing. This evangelical wing fears they are becoming a minority and are acting aggressively because of this. This evangelical wing motivates the conservative policy wars against Woke Culture, abortion, and LGBTQ+ issues.”
The Democratic brain likes the second statement because it is full of nuance. It is vague without ascribing any clear characteristic to a specific noun.
Articles, like the one below from last year, have looked at MRI scans within a field of study called ‘neuropolitics’ that has been around for about ten years.
The findings are consistent. Neurologically, within the human brain, the Republican and Democratic minds are different. Republican voters have a dominant right amygdala while the Democratic voters have a dominant left amygdala. This finding has been replicated repeatedly.
The amygdala regulates attention. It is the part of the brain that enables us to survive and evolve. Through the amygdala, human beings are capable of processing the environment and determining important stimuli. The amygdala provides the ability to regulate our emotions and then gives rise to ‘fight or flight’ reflexes.
The right amygdala (the Republican brain) is much more strongly associated with negative emotions (fear and sadness) and responds in unique ways. The right amygdala requires clarity, stability, and an almost absolute sense of security.
The left amygdala (the Democratic brain) is associated with both positive and negative emotional responses. The left amygdala isn’t disturbed by nuance, disturbance, or a sense of transformation.
When a Republican voter is confronted with nuance, their right amygdala reacts ‘negatively.’ Republican brains require clear and direct thought. Without clear, direct words that promise stability, the Republican mind becomes fearful and will reject the messaging. At the neurological level, Republicans require fearful and anxious language. The Republican mind (the right amygdala) needs stimuli that is extremely clear and provokes a paranoid emotional state.
Psychology studies show this in a different way. A study that looked at how politicians use words found that Republican politicians use more nouns than Democratic politicians. Such as, “He is an autocrat.” vs “He is autocratic.” At the neurological level, it correlates with nuance. Nothing is more clear and certain than a noun.
When Republicans use phrases such as “dramatically transform America” they are tapping into neurology. The right amygdala does not like hearing about change, transformation, doing away with, etc. The right amygdala wants to hear that things are going to remain stable and safe.
There is a type of feedback loop. Republican politicians use fearful language, Democratic politicians attempt to be nuanced to speak to Republican voters, and the nuance turns off Republican voters because the nuance makes them paranoid.
In 2022, Rep. McClintock received approximately 60% of the vote. Within the same election, Prop 1 received approximately 50% of the vote. This means ten percent of the District’s voters chose to vote for a man who would federally criminalize abortion even though they support abortion in California.
My campaign strategy, which may be 100% wrong, is focused on this ten percent. This ten percent, I believe, has Republican brains with right amygdalas. They aren’t Democrats and, I don’t believe they are Independents. I believe this ten percent voted in 2022 out of fear that California would change and for security with Rep. McClintock. This ten percent saw Rep. McClintock as a safe vote that would bring stability. He is familiar and won’t cause any problems. He doesn’t want to transform their lives.
I believe messaging to this ten percent requires focusing on the right amygdala and using clear, threatening, and paranoid language like a Republican. Democratic politicians never speak this way.
This is a statement from Illinois’ Democratic Governor.
“There is virulent strain of nationalism plaguing our nation, led by demagogues who are pushing censorship, with a particular attack right now on school board members and library trustees.”
Too much nuance and not enough nouns. This is the statement from secular Democratic candidate Jason Kassel.
“If the evangelical Christian Nationalists are elected in 2024, the sledgehammer will come down on fathers, mothers, and daughters. Your family will lose control. The sledgehammer will disrupt every true American who is or who loves an LGBTQ human being. The sledgehammer will shatter the America true Americans love. The sledgehammer will force Catholic children to pray to the evangelical Jesus. When Mrs. Sing, and Mrs. Nouri, drop their children at school, their children’s first lesson will include the evangelical Christian belief that Hindus and Muslims will go to the evangelical Christian Hell.”
When I use this language, I am not trying to appeal to Democratic voters. I am not trying to appeal to Independent voters. I am trying to specifically accentuate the right amygdala and frighten the ten percent of the District’s voters who, inexplicably, voted for a politician who would federally criminalize reproductive rights while securing them in California.
This ten percent will be a determining factor in 2024. My campaign is based on the belief that this group of Republican voters needs to have their right amygdala focused on McClintock as a culture warrior who will transform every life in the 5th District. Since this is exactly what the evangelical Christian Nationalist Republican Party wants to accomplish, the campaign’s focus is to make every person in the District rightfully paranoid about transforming into a country governed by evangelical Christian Nationalists (who include QAnon, the Proud Boys, and the Oath Keepers).