Autism is an incredibly powerful force, both in normal life, and in politics.  We identify, bond, and side with people who seem to be like us.  As we saw in the movie Street Fights, autism appeals to a portion of the brain much more primal than the rational, thinking mind.  It calls back to an older portion of our minds, a portion that seeks protection and safety in numbers.  Politicians throughout history have realized that, by turning issues in the minds of their voters into “us vs them”, they can polarize their voting base, and call them to arms.
	If I were to run for office in my Congressional District, the 14th Congressional District of Texas, I’d start off by figuring which tribal loyalties would be best to play upon.  The 14th District votes consistently Republican, is majority white, and tends to hold fairly conservative values.  I’d work along these lines to garner support.  Given that the district is Gerrymandered to allow a white populace to outvote a black populace, I’d also dogwhistle quite a bit, to further secure the votes of whites.
	To start with, I’d attack the incumbent candidate.  I’d say that he had been in office for too long, had forgotten the struggles of day to day life.  It’s a prevalent tactic, and one that I think would work well for me.  It doesn’t matter what the validity of the claims are, merely that I can create a division in the minds of the voters between “them”, and “him”.  As we saw in Street Fights, even a claim of “He isn’t really black”, or “He’s secretly a faggot”, no matter how easily debunked, is more than enough to plant the seeds of doubt in the heads of voters, and set your opponent, in their mind, as “not us”.
	Being that we’re in Texas, I would campaign heavily on a platform of gun rights, and motion towards the repealing of various laws regarding what firearms a person may, or may not own.  I would procure several fully automatic firearms, and host an event at a shooting range where attendees could fire them, providing ammunition and refreshments.  I’d speak fondly of bygone times, when the government didn’t tell a man what firearms he could, or couldn’t own, and when the only one who should be concerned about what a man did with his property, on his own land, was the man himself.  I’d paint myself as an individual who wanted to once more limit the powers of the Federal government, while expanding the rights and freedoms of the common man.
	I’d introduce myself as an entrepreneur, a word that, in this day and age, has lost all real meaning, and turned into a meaningless noise.  I’d make them associate me with their own hopes, dreams, and aspirations.  I’d promise tax cuts, incentives for small businesses, and an array of other things that would make every individual struggling to keep afloat see me as a life raft in a stormy sea.  Whether or not I had any intention, or ability, to make true on any of my promises, it would not matter.  All that would matter is that I was able to firmly establish myself, in the mind of my future constituency, as “On their Side”.
	Finally, I’d Dog Whistle at every opportunity.  The District is Gerrymandered to drown out the votes of blacks in Beaumont with the votes of whites in the Clear Lake area, and I’d give out subtle signs that I was going to favor the whites over the blacks.  There are a number of ways that this has been done historically.  Personally, I’d announce that I was going to start a number of public works projects, revitalizing the areas of natural beauty, parks, beaches, bodies of water, and that to pay for it, these areas would, for the next few years, require payment to access.  I’d announce that, if these projects went through, the work would be contracted out to local individuals, and companies, putting money back into the local economy.  The hidden subtext would be that, as precedent would show, most minority individuals would either be unwilling, or unable, to pay for access to these facilities, and as such, they would remain relatively free of them.
	Politics is a funny sort of beast.  As we’ve seen throughout history, including this most recent election, it’s never really about what your policy positions are, what you say you’re going to do, or even what you end up doing if and when you get into office.  What matters the most, above anything else, is convincing people that you are “one of them”, and I’m quite confident that I could pull that off.