Exclusive Interview: Shoshana Weissmann
The Twitter extraordinaire and policy wonk answers some questions.
When I launched this Substack, I thought it would be a neat idea to utilize the limited connections I’ve developed over a number of years and host some interviews with interesting people. Finally, I am able to begin fulfilling that promise to readers.
In the future, these interviews will be exclusive to paid subscribers. I’d like to eventually spin this off into audio interviews, but written interviews have always held a spot in my heart.
Don’t know who Shoshana Weissmann is? You should. Give her a follow on Twitter, where she is best known for dishing out cold responses to trolls, schooling anti-Semitic losers, presenting the case for occupational licensing reform, and paling around with politicians like Arizona Governor Doug Ducey (R) and Colorado Governor Jared Polis (D).
With that being said, let’s get to some interesting questions and answers.
THE SOFTBALL QUESTIONS
Sage Naumann: Who is Shoshana Weissmann - not just as a Twitter personality or policy wonk - but as a person? Give us a bit of your background and how you came to this point.
Shoshana Weissmann: I was really sick as a teenager and always right-leaning. When I became sick, I watched the news a lot and decided I wanted to go into politics. I've been working in it since I was 14, moved over to policy the last few years, and have been in digital media for around 10 years. I'm also always a unicorn - a lifelong vegetarian, observant Jew, I have rainbow hair, and am the head of digital media for a think tank and also a scholar. Always the odd one, and happy to embrace it.
SN: A young person wants to get involved in policy - what’s the first piece of advice you give to them?
SW: Figure out what you like doing and where you want to do it. You might try fundraising, research, traditional communications, operations, digital media, etc. Figure out the day-to-day you enjoy and for what kind of organization or elected official you would want to work. Different workplaces have different hours, expectations, and advantages.
SN: Who is the most underrated American President and why?
SW: I don't really care for presidents. It's such a limiting role and always interesting to see how they fare. But these days I don't think a president can really be his best with all the demands on him.
SN: What modern-day elected officials give you hope for the future and why?
SW: I'm a big fan of Governors Ducey (AZ), Cox (UT), Polis (CO) and state legislators like Derek Grier in Missouri, Todd Weiler in Utah, and Julie Emerson in Louisiana. They're all focused on doing their jobs and getting the most wins for their constituents. They're all principled but realistic and flexible and care about facts, data, and evidence. None of them are particularly partisan either.
SOCIAL MEDIA
SN: Social media trends towards over-simplification. 280-character tweets, 15-second soundbites, etc. How do you effectively communicate complicated ideas such as occupational licensing reform despite that?
SW: It's never easy and an acquired skill. If you keep substance and fun as the goal, you'll improve over time. Figure out what needs to be in the tweet and what doesn't. The practice has also made my regular writing shorter, which is always a benefit too.
SN: What’s the biggest mistake you see organizations, campaigns, etc, making on social media and what piece of advice would you give them to correct it?
SW: 1) They don't tweet enough. It's really hard to tweet too much. 2) Mission creep. Campaigns forget who is and isn't on each platform and how they can best use it to their advantage. They might pursue retweets before volunteer acquisition or donations. 3) They're on platforms with poor ROI. Instagram and Snapchat rarely prove to be a big benefit to them, for instance. To fix all of these, just track metrics, focus on goals, and don't treat social media like an investment-heavy throwaway.
CONSERVATION, THE ENVIRONMENT, & CLIMATE CHANGE
SN: You’re on the board of the Conservation Coalition - tell me about that organization and what it does.
SW: They're a high-impact pro-environment conservative group that gets people to volunteer, changes politicians' minds, and highlights good conservative ideas.
SN: Why is environmental protection something that conservatives (and libertarians) should pay more attention to?
SW: There are tons of waste and regulatory problems that, if fixed, would help taxpayers, businesses, and the environment. NEPA delays hold up clean innovation, for instance.
SN: I think that many conservatives - Republicans - have difficulty finding a path to "acceptance" when it comes to any human impact on the climate. It's my belief that much of this comes from a belief that if one accepts the premise of climate change, they must also accept the policy prescriptions of government control, heavy regulations, and things of that nature. How can that belief be broken?
SW: ACC does great work there as does my employer, the R Street Institute. Sometimes excessive regulations stop clean technology or infrastructure. We need some environmental regulations but plenty aren't helping. And when we're not in the conversation, we have no say. And even were the outcome of that belief more government, you don't ignore facts because of their consequences. You deal with them head-on.
THE POLITICAL CLIMATE & MEDIA
SN: Over the last few decades, it seems that the line between politics and pop culture has blurred a bit. Fueled by television appearances, social media engagement, etc, politicians at every level - and in both parties - have begun to resemble celebrities. Would you agree with that and do you believe that this has been a productive transformation?
SW: I would and it's been a nightmare. I don't care about celebrities because they're famous nor should we want celebrities involved in politics simply because of fame. There could be other reasons, but too much of politics has become frighteningly vapid.
SN: I’d like your unfiltered thoughts on the media. How do you believe the media industry has transformed over the last few decades?
SW: Media has always been flawed, but so much cable news these days lacks much or any substance. I'd like that to change, but incentives would need to change for that to. On the other hand, all new types of media have opened up and made accessible so much work and so many ideas. It's awesome on that end.
SN: If you could snap your fingers and change how the media reports the news, what would that change be?
SW: I'd love it to be boring but accessible and de-sensationalized. I don't like big words for their own sake and similar things that makes ideas inaccessible to regular people, nor do I like celebrity culture in news.