Ask a former political staffer/consultant anything

[crazzyass]

Hey everyone! One reason I have been on hiatus for about a year is that I plunged more deeply into the political world as a consultant, lobbyist, staffer, what have you.

Now that I'm burnt out on that shit and ready to make money and have a life again, I'm getting more engaged back on social media and forums n shit. Anyway, I know there are tons of misconceptions about political stuff, so I figured I'd open myself to questions. I might eventually write up some guides too. Like introduction to lobbying/getting shit done, intro for people who want to run for office or staff campaigns, etc etc.

So fire away.

[Obbe]

Hey everyone! One reason I have been on hiatus for about a year is that I plunged more deeply into the political world as a consultant, lobbyist, staffer, what have you.

Now that I'm burnt out on that shit and ready to make money and have a life again, I'm getting more engaged back on social media and forums n shit. Anyway, I know there are tons of misconceptions about political stuff, so I figured I'd open myself to questions. I might eventually write up some guides too. Like introduction to lobbying/getting shit done, intro for people who want to run for office or staff campaigns, etc etc.

So fire away.

While in the political world,  did you ever meet anyone who seemed like they might be an evil reptilian alien bent on enslaving mankind?

[crazzyass]

Hey everyone! One reason I have been on hiatus for about a year is that I plunged more deeply into the political world as a consultant, lobbyist, staffer, what have you.

Now that I'm burnt out on that shit and ready to make money and have a life again, I'm getting more engaged back on social media and forums n shit. Anyway, I know there are tons of misconceptions about political stuff, so I figured I'd open myself to questions. I might eventually write up some guides too. Like introduction to lobbying/getting shit done, intro for people who want to run for office or staff campaigns, etc etc.

So fire away.

While in the political world,  did you ever meet anyone who seemed like they might be an evil reptilian alien bent on enslaving mankind?

No one comes to mind immediately, no.

[Obbe]

Have you ever done anything illegal or immoral during and before your political career?

Did you ever witness anything illegal or immoral during your political career?

[crazzyass]

Have you ever done anything illegal or immoral during and before your political career?

Did you ever witness anything illegal or immoral during your political career?

I've never done or witnessed anything illegal; that said, the law is written by politicos with loopholes in mind. So to say that nothing truly illegal happened in the sense that a court couldn't convict means nothing.

You'll have to define immoral for me to be able to answer that.

[Raisin_]

Could you imagine that an actual revolution which would coup the government could actually happen in modern day America?

[starvingniglet]

Could you imagine that an actual revolution which would coup the government could actually happen in modern day America?

Unless it is led by a disgruntled military leader, such a 'revolution' would quickly be neutralized one way or another.  There would have to be some sort of professional military force aiding 'the people' for it to even have a chance.

[Raisin_]

Could you imagine that an actual revolution which would coup the government could actually happen in modern day America?

Unless it is led by a disgruntled military leader, such a 'revolution' would quickly be neutralized one way or another.  There would have to be some sort of professional military force aiding 'the people' for it to even have a chance.

What if the revolution is led by female hookers and strippers? I think they'd stand a chance

[crazzyass]

Could you imagine that an actual revolution which would coup the government could actually happen in modern day America?

Short answer: no. An armed or typical revolution would be put down with ease.

Longer answer: never say never.

It's important to realize that any system is composed of people, with all of the weaknesses and blindspots that entails. This includes government, the military, and our intelligence community. The continuity and function of our government is determined by less than 2,000 people: 535 Members of Congress and a handful of their aides, the President, White House and its staff, the military leadership, and a handful of influential governors and business leaders. Hell, some corporations are more complex than that.

If you can effectively exploit the vulnerabilities and blindspots of even a small fraction of these 2,000 folks, you can effectively wield power in this country. You can raise hell or get a lot of good things done; it's up to you.

Someone exploiting these vulnerabilities at a point of great national distress - war, economic depression, or some calamity - could effectively wrestle functional power away from the government, especially if combined with some armed revolution. It can happen anywhere. Kind of a scary thought, eh?

[WAN]

OMG! Crazzy is here!  And I take credit for it because it was me who told him about this site!!

Crazzy crazzy how you be?

[crazzyass]

OMG! Crazzy is here!  And I take credit for it because it was me who told him about this site!!

Crazzy crazzy how you be?

Credit is all yours, WAN. 

I've been good! Trying to scale back on the workload and reengage with friends and forums. How have you been?

[WAN]

OMG! Crazzy is here!  And I take credit for it because it was me who told him about this site!!

Crazzy crazzy how you be?

Credit is all yours, WAN. 

Hehe!

I've been good! Trying to scale back on the workload and reengage with friends and forums. How have you been?

I been good!  Looking forward to engaging you in debates again!

[FON]

Fuck yeah, crazzyass. I hope you end up writing some of those guides.

[WAN]

Fuck yeah, crazzyass. I hope you end up writing some of those guides.

yeah, do this crazzy

[Lanny]

I'm honestly really ignorant on what being a political staffer/consultant entails so here are some general political themed questions and if they're not related to your experience feel free to ignore them/sorry in advance:

In your experience who was the smartest person involved in a political campaign? Is the actual candidate the head honcho who delegates or is there a level of being a pretty face with someone more on the ball coordinating things?

What's the ratio of idealists to cynics? I imagine that at least like interns are gung ho about the rightness of the platform and whatnot, but I mean I could imagine (at least on the state level and lower) that an entire staff may legitimately be behind what they're working for. I can, of course, imagine the opposite. What has been your experience?

Do consultants ever jump ship from election to election? If so do successful consultants ever work against an incumbent they helped get into office? If the previous two are so, is there meaningful regulation to prevent the leaking of privileged information?

What's the incentive for a staffer/consultant to really get their candidate elected? Is it just reputation like that "Consultant X has won the election for their candidate the last Y times" is good advertising, or is there some kind of direct monetary/favor bonus for working for the winning team?