It took political strategists, especially on the left end of the spectrum, a long time to realize it. Today it is finally common knowledge that to make good politics, you have to polarize. Saul Alinsky, the founding father of modern community organizing, taught that lesson again in his 1971 book “Rules For Radicals” (p. 78):

Before men can act an issue must be polarized. Men will act when they are convinced that their cause is 100 per cent on the side of the angels and that the opposition are 100 per cent on the side of the devil… There can be no action until issues are polarized to this degree.

Alinsky happens to be a reference for Democratic leaders. Hillary Clinton wrote her senior thesis on Alinsky when she was a student at Wellesley. And of course Barack Obama himself was a community organizer back in the eighties. This is what he once told Hank De Zutter of the Chicago Reader:

What if a politician were to see his job as an organizer, as part teacher and part advocate, one who does not sell voters short but who educates them about the real choices before them?

Alinsky’s influence also extends into conservative circles. Sarah Palin tried to deride community organizing in her speech at the 2008 Republican convention. Yet today the Tea Party Movement, of which the same Sarah Palin has become a prominent figure, uses the very tactics that Alinsky theorized a long time ago.

Among those tactics, there’s polarization. You may not be part of the American conservative movement, but there’s no denying that they are consummate professionals when it comes to polarizing an issue. American Conservatives understand that in politics, there is no such thing as common ground. You can sometimes govern on common ground, but to win elections and to push a partisan agenda, you have to polarize, even if you end up appearing bipartisan.

Why polarize? Because it’s the way to spread the word. Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson wrote just that in their latest book “Rework”. The book is about business, not politics, but the rule applies to everything:

A strong stand is how you attract superfans. They point to you and defend you. And they spread the word further, wider, and more passionately than any advertising could.

Strong opinions aren’t free. You’ll turn some people off. They’ll accuse you of being arrogant and aloof. That’s life. For everyone who loves you, there will be others who hate you. If no one’s upset by what you’re saying, you’re probably not pushing hard enough. (And you’re probably boring, too.)

If you want to go viral, you’d better polarize. If your campaign draws a line in the sand, viral marketing will bring it to the top. But if your campaign attempts at pleasing everyone, viral marketing will just be a useless expense with mediocre results. It takes that line in the sand to strike responsive chords!

(This post was initially published on the CauseBuilder blog, April 26, 2010.)