Voters Don’t Trust You. Become Trusted. Get Reelected.

November 17, 2008 · Filed Under How To

Unemployment, high taxes, and wasteful spending are big problems. However, the primary issues that must first be addressed are accountability and transparency.

The most serious problems cannot be solved until voters trust you to solve them. Trust can only be gained through accountability and transparency, thus they must be addressed before all others.

Is there any wonder why voters distrust our leaders? We all know why South Carolina tossed out so many incumbents during the primary, national voters continue to dump Republicans, and we elected a fresh face as President on the promise of “Change.”

Think about this small sampling of stories in recent years:

- High-powered Washingon lobbyist Jack Abramoff was sent to prison, taking down many with him, including Ohio Congressman Bob Ney for accepting bribes.

- Congressman Mark Foley resigned from Congress after making sexual advances toward teenage boys. The Congressman who replaced him was recently caught up in a sex scandal himself.

- The FBI found $90,000 in cash in Congressman William Jefferson’s freezer.

- US Senator David Vitter was named in the DC Madam scandal and publicly admitted to hiring prostitutes.

- US Senator Ted Stevens was recently convicted on six counts of making false statements in court.

Right here in South Carolina we had two statewide constitutional officers sent to prison in just six years.

Voters are mad at high-energy costs, illegal immigration, the Iraq war, and the economic crisis, but they are angrier and want change because they don’t TRUST our current elected officials to solve the problems. That’s because you aren’t showing voters what you are doing to fix the problems and that’s because you aren’t being transparent.

People want transparency and the inside scoop. It’s why Will Folk s is so popular among South Carolina’s politicos. You may call it gossip, but that’s what one-sided transparency is. When someone is paid to pick and choose the angle of the inside story, and no one else tells the other side, the gossip becomes the reality. It becomes the transparency.

You can choose to ignore it, but you will only kill your trustworthiness. You are accountable to voters, so you must become transparent. You must tell the full truth to become trusted.

Transparency must start in a medium available to all voters – the Internet.

In The Blogging Church,” Brian Bailey writes “Having an ongoing conversation with people, whether customers, members, or constituents, builds a relationship of trust and connectedness. When an organization begins to share its story, including mistakes and missteps, people begin to feel a part of it. Before long, they want to help write that story and tell others.”

Telling your story creates transparency, gives the voter a sense of accountability, and makes you trusted. Bailey goes on to write “There is a new generation, though, that is no longer satisfied by this one-way relationship. They have grown up in an Internet-driven culture that celebrates participation. The passive consumer has been replaced with an active, engaged, and empowered contributor.”

The more you become active on the web and allow voters to participate in the process, the greater their trust in you will become. They will know you are listening to their needs and serving as their voice…accountability and democracy in their truest forms.

Tomorrow I will give you 8 examples on how you can make this happen.

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