Beware of Political Groupthink

This week saw the release of Sarah Palin’s new book Going Rogue and the political firestorm has begun. Liberals say she is just a joke while conservatives believe she may be the conservative leader they have been waiting for. Only time will tell who is right. However, in an interview with Rush Limbaugh on Tuesday, Mrs. Palin gave an interesting answer to one of Rush’s questions.

I am not sure exactly what the question was but it had something to do with what she felt the Republican Party needed to do to win the next election. In her answer, Mrs. Palin stated that the Republican Party needed to have rigorous debate over the issues facing the nation. This answer made me think of something that happens in organizations causeing them to become irrelevant. This something is called groupthink.

When an organization ceases to allow the consideration of conflicting ideas it falls prey to groupthink. Since conflicting ideas are no longer allowed, only the ideas of the elite in the organization are even considered. Anyone not going with the groups ideas is kicked out. The organization soon stagnates, looses touch with the real world, and becomes infatuated with the ideas of the elite in the group. The interesting thing is that groupthink is anything but thinking since any rogue thoughts are quickly eliminated from consideration.

As we look at the Democratic Party today, we see a party dominated by the agenda of Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, and Harry Reid. Any Democrat who dares go against their agenda is threatened with lack of support for re-election and since politicians generally crave power, these rogues soon give in or go away. The declining approval ratings of both the Congress and the President are evidence that their groupthink is causing them to loose touch with the electorate.

Mrs. Palin’s call for rigorous debate by Republicans was a call to allow consideration of all ideas in the primaries so that the party can choose the candidate that best supports what is important to them. If the Republican Party follows Mrs. Palin’s advice, the electorate will see them as the party that is in touch with their desires. This is how Ronald Reagan won two landslide elections and is how the Republican Party can take back control of both the Congress and the White House.

So, let the rigorous debate begin.