The Politics of Change

The Politics of Change: Preparing Real Candidates for Change is a non-fiction book by Dennis W. Chiu, an American political commentator, consultant and attorney, that was released by publisher Prodigy Books, a SV Prodigy group of companies, on September 17, 2008. It is the first non-fiction book and third non-fiction publication by Chiu.
Introduction
As The Politics of Change was published, the author notes that the 2008 U.S. Presidential Election with Senator Barack Obama as the Democratic Party nominee, and Governor Sarah Palin as the Republican Party Vice President nominee has turned the race for the White House into a referendum of who can bring the best change to the federal government.
The book provides instruction on what Chiu believes is required to be a genuine political candidate for change, and how to avoid the temptations leading to political and moral corruption and build as strong political foundation from self-improvement and associating with a real base of supporters that support the candidates true beliefs.
One of the catalysts for writing The Politics of Change was Chiu's meeting with President Bill Clinton at Moffett Federal Airfield in Mountain View, California, after he and Hillary Clinton had taken their daughter Chelsea Clinton to start as a freshman at Stanford University.
Why aren't there more public policy innovators?
Chiu postulates the top reasons for why there are not more public policy innovators are: (1) how innovation in public policy has been run out of government through the rise of anti-government ideology, (2) the transformation of the term "liberal" in to a slur, (3) the lessening teaching innovation in schools because of national standardized testing , and (4) a shared negative national experience with political recriminations and mud slinging.
Deciding to run for office
The book covers basic questions that each person, who is interested in running for elected office as a candidate for change, should consider prior to deciding to run. Chiu argues the following considerations: (1) discussions with family, (2) warnings of the lure of power, (3) dealing with internal insecurities, (4) withstanding the harsh spotlight, and (5) assessing study habits so the piles of reports and documents that are part of holding elected office are read and understood prior to making a decision that will affect people's lives.
Skeletons in the closet
The book focuses on eliminating or lessening the barrier to running for elected office, because of the fear that skeletons in the closet will emerge and kill a candidacy. Chiu presents an honest and open solution to fear of exposed skeletons and spinning them towards making the candidate more human. Three examples are presented, including (1) a past extra-marital affair, (2) prior illegal drug use, and (3) employing an undocumented worker.
Public Figure status
In this brief portion of the book, Chiu provides a brief and general explanation of how and why the news media and individuals or groups can legally publish defamatory allegations against candidates through explanation of public figure status.
Swimming with the sharks
This part of the book focuses on the gray areas of sticking firmly to a candidate's own values due to the necessity of working with elected officials that use political tactics that run counter to the candidate's values.
Political communications
The books spends five chapters on training candidates to better connect with people through political communications.
The political communications lessons begin with a good old-fashion lesson in proper English and the importance of word choice.
The book then tackles the basics on how to create a good sound bite. This book offers a practice scenario where the reader is given an issue and asked to write a statement as a candidate for city council announcing his or her opposition to the issue. The author provides two examples of how he would respond and follows with detailed explanations of why he chose the words he used.
Two of the author's Golden Rules of Politics are introduced as well. The First Golden Rule of Politics explains in general that political communications need to be symbolic, and the Second Golden Rule of Politics explains that voters' understanding of marketing communications advances, so old gimmicks no longer have the same effect. This chapter also discusses in detail how innovative policy announcements will be attacked, so real candidates for change can tailor their communications to block or respond to criticisms.
The remainder of the political communications chapters instruct the reader on how to be a great public speaker. It begins with understanding the fear of public speaking and how to bring a candidate's inner passion and joy out so he or she can connect with an audience of any size.
The final portion on political communications provides a step-by-step lesson on how to deliver a great speech by changing pace, intonation, inflection, and volume.
The currency of building power
The book introduces the building blocks to obtaining influence and power. According to Chiu, the building blocks to political power are money, people and information. With any one of the three a person can have some political influence. If a person holds two of the three elements, then the person has even greater influence. However, if a person uses all three in the political process, then he or she has tremendous influence and enough power to seek elected office.
After introducing the building blocks to political power, Chiu explains how to build the currencies of building up resources of money, people and information by joining groups that you naturally agree with. These groups may become sources of money, voters, supporters, volunteers and inform you about the group's concerns, which is vital information for creating innovative public policy to solve issues.
Local commissions
Chiu argues that prior to running for office a candidate needs experience in combining values with public policy and legally required findings prior to running for elected office. The primary vehicle for implementing public policy is through boards and commissions through local or statewide government. The book outlines how to be selected for a board or commission, tips for how conduct oneself on a board or commission, and the best commissions to apply for.
Conclusion
The conclusion to The Politics of Change provides a few last insights into the political process, including the story of when Chiu met Vice President Al Gore during Mr. Gore's 2000 bid for the White House. The story provides insight on how staying true to a candidate's own beliefs is crucial to generating the positive energy required to win at life and politics.
Stark contrast to modern political practices
Chiu offers a view that truth in politics is the best strategy. This stands in stark contract to political practices employed throughout U.S. history that believe political strategy is akin to military strategy as described in The Art of War by Sun Tzu, and The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli. Based on military strategy as interpreted into politics by Machiavelli, the modern strategies of negative campaigning arose.
There are numerous examples negative campaigning (also known as mudslinging) in modern Presidential politics that run counter to Chiu's politics, including the whisper campaign in the 2000 race for the Republican Presidential nomination, allegedly created by Karl Rove, working for then-Governor George W. Bush, against Senator John McCain, where it was whispered through push polling that John McCain had a Black American love child.
Additionally, there are multiple references to bending the truth in negative attack television ads in the 2008 Presidential Election between Republican candidate John McCain and Democratic candidate Barack Obama. For example in the McCain ad "Folks," released October 8, 2008, Senator McCain claims that Senator Obama was the most "liberal" senator in the U.S. Senate. However, this is misleading according to FactCheck.org, which states "the National Journal rated Obama 'the most liberal senator' in 2007, based on 99 votes in the Senate that year. But in his previous two years, Obama was rated 10th and 16th most liberal. So his career voting record is far from 'most liberal'."
In another McCain attack ad, McCain accuses Obama of having close personal ties to William Ayers, then lying about his close association with Ayers. According to FactCheck.org, "We find McCain's accusation that Obama 'lied' to be groundless. It is true that recently released records show half a dozen or so more meetings between the two men than were previously known, but Obama never denied working with Ayers. Other claims are seriously misleading. The education project described in the Web ad, far from being 'radical,' had the support of the Republican governor and was run by a board that included prominent local leaders, including one Republican who has donated $1,500 to McCain's campaign this year. The project is described by Education Week as reflecting 'mainstream thinking' about school reform. Despite the newly released records, there's still no evidence of a deep or strong 'friendship' with Ayers, a former radical anti-war protester whose actions in the 1960s and '70s Obama has called 'detestable' and 'despicable'."
Citations
The Politics of Change contains original political science and historical research which is supported by comprehensive Endnotes and an Index. The book is registered with the Library of Congress, the U.S. Copyright Office, and has a unique ISBN number.
About the author
Dennis W. Chiu (born August 11, 1971) is an author, attorney and community, political, business leader in the Silicon Valley, California (Santa Clara County, California). His most notable accomplishments include: serving as the youngest appointed county planning commissioner on the Santa Clara County Planning Commission at the age of 29, political and community activism in Santa Clara County, California, and his seminal publication on Constitutional Law and the Internet that was on the reading list of top law schools and cited in many legal articles and cyberlaw books all around the world.
Chiu has received awards for his community service from BAYMEC in 2007, from the Santa Clara County Planning Department for serving as Chair from 2002 - 2003, and the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors for his work on the 2000 Census Commission.
Chiu's previous publications include co-author of Government's Little Helper, with Professor John Zaller on media bias, and author of "Obscenity on the Internet," one of the seminal articles on U.S. Constitutional Law and the Internet.
Chiu holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree from the University of California, Los Angeles in Political Science & History, and a Juris Doctor from Santa Clara University, School of Law.

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