You never talk about politics or religion if you want to keep your friends around. By its very nature, politics is controversial. Laws and political tendencies affect our lives and set the direction for our nations.
In recent times, political divisions have grown more and more pronounced. Given this situation, political writers usually fall into two camps: those who are controversial, and those who try to say nothing just to avoid being controversial.
Political writing includes everything
Politics, by itself, is one of the hardest and most impactful areas of human existence. Laws are made based on politics, and your nation’s prosperity or decline depends on how well it is governed. Politics has caused wars and also saved lives.
As a politician or political writer, you can’t just know about politics. It will not be enough. Since the discussion is about how to govern society, well, society has a lot of moving parts. A writer or politician is expected to have an opinion on medicine, religion, borders, geopolitics, economics, psychology, education, and many more areas.
Of course, this is impossible for a single human to learn, so you have to get good at the next best thing: delegation. Knowing a guy who knows a guy will be your primary source.
As a writer, if you intend to cover healthcare or economics, you still have to know where to do your research.
What you bring to the table is a set of principles and a proclivity for rhetoric. And if readers get the impression that you are omitting details or manipulating them, that credibility will somewhat vanish.
Rhetoric
In terms of argumentation, there are two types of people in the world. There are those who are convinced by cold, hard facts and those who are convinced by emotion. And these two groups are nowhere near equal in number.
You can rely on 8 out of 10 people to be easily persuaded by emotions and rhetoric, rather than Excel charts. Showing pictures of dead puppies or endlessly talking about the vulnerable in society will never stop getting people’s attention.
Save the analysis, spending, markets, geopolitics, history and philosophy for your more savvy readers.
This is just how most humans function. Most leaders of any civilization were used to receiving training in rhetoric. Like it or not, it’s not about the facts. No matter who you are, even the politicians you like engage in ‘spinning’ facts.
Pulling at heartstrings has never failed. And at the end of the day, every political movement needs to tell a story. Some portray themselves as fighting for freedom in a world that is keen on censorship and control. A world where government power is growing and nations are being erased.
Others tell a story of fighting for progress, tolerance, and compassion, in a world that fears those who are different. A message of the universal brotherhood of man.
No matter what you think about these messages, the idea is that they work. As examples of political writing, they are genius. They never mention the downsides of their ideology, or the boring calculations and supply chains. On both sides, it’s about puppies and rainbows and stopping those bad people trying to take them away.
So a lesson to take away is to keep it simple, memorable, and tell a good story.
Of course, if you have to practice political writing regularly, your content cannot always be fluff. Just look at a band you like. Some of their songs are brilliant pieces of art that they made in order to express themselves, while other songs are catchy, shallow, and made for the radio.
You have to balance your writing between rhetoric and serious political wonk stuff. After all, the people who regularly read politics are already familiar with the elevator pitch, and just want something more.
Third-party failsafe
If you do not intend to be a political writer and just need to complete a one-time political assignment, you have the option to search for legit essay writing services.
Basically, these people sell college and high school papers. But don’t just pick any business at random. Be sure to google essay services reviews first, to see what past customers say.
Conclusion
The Truth, with a capital ‘T’, is hard to determine, it is boring, and complex to the point of being confusing. Political writing and politics generally have to lead civilizations by projecting and controlling images and stories.
There hasn’t been a country in history without a founding myth, an idealized and cleaned-up history, and a narrative of fighting for freedom and determination.
Taking complex situations and translating them into marketable stories is what you need to do, as a good political writer.
