Big Tent Party Structure

From Politically Incorrect Postmodern Dictionary

Big Tent Party Structure is the preferred style for all parties in a system that recognizes two or more officially sanctioned parties. In the Big Tent scheme, one's party maximizes its chances of winning an election without suffering the burden of either articulating (or educating the body politic about) a core set of principles.

In order to be most effective, candidates for office must possess the following qualities:

• Optimally, the candidate must never subscribe to a core set of principles, themselves, no matter what their party may espouse in its platform, and its best even not to appear to do so, lest a major segment of the electorate be alienated from his or her candidacy.
• As a substitute, the candidate may cultivate an image of caring for the common man and/or woman, and support this image through a carefully controlled system of platitudes, known as "talking points." As a corollary to this, the candidate must have a knack for getting the average person to believe he or she is on their side, and even agrees, in all essentials, with the voter's pet prejudices. Such a quality is referred to as either "Reaganaura" or "Obamystique," after the two most effective practitioners of this art in late 20th century and early 21st century national politics.
• The party platform should hold up inclusiveness as a major, desired feature of its composition. This is most effective when there are putatively disenfranchised interests or natural minority groups who are cultivated as partaking in a broader constituency that lends legitimacy to the party. It is easiest to carry out this strategy when the party's core platform is composed of malleable platitudes, or, alternatively, when inclusiveness is regarded as more important than other core principles of the platform. As a corollary to this, the candidate must cultivate an image of inclusivity in interpersonal relationships and political affiliations, even at the expense of allocating time to the cultivation of affiliations according to natural taste, ability or the content of the affiliate's character.
• It is best that the candidate maintain a visible personal life style whose character is above reproach, or, failing that, to cultivate protective relationships with the media, according to one's state in life. In 21st century politics, that state in life may permit significant peccadilloes (e.g., sexual promiscuity, casual drug use, draft avoidance, or even negligence of such civic duties as the timely payment of taxes) according to the dominant persona the candidate has cultivated prior to their candidacy.