Once upon a time, I was naïve enough to believe the system could be fixed through the political process. (wE jUsT nEeD dIfFereNt GoVeRnMenT).

To my younger self, that meant volunteering to help advance the goals for the party I thought would "fix" things.

I got training. Official training. On communication tactics that were found to work better.

They could be summarized as "approach people assuming they have the intellect of a 6 year old".

When I got out in the field campaigning, it was TERRIFYING how accurate that was. Full grown adults, probably employed, in 1 on 1 situations, on major and important topics, were nearly brain dead or oblivious or both. Treating them like a 6 year old, and carrying on an effective, fact-based, conversation while treating them with respect, was extremely difficult because the intellect and understanding was so low.