Back in my first sales job, we used talking points to quickly help a prospective client identify the preferability of our product over others. I was taught to highlight the features, advantages and benefits of my product over the competitors. Were politicians products and elections simply about “closing a sale,” such an approach might be tolerable. But politicians are humans, and the election is about the destiny of our nation with all that implies for our immediate future and the hopes and dreams we have for our children and grandchildren. This process should be more substantial than the one marketers use to help us select a toothpaste, deodorant or car. But it isn’t.

(Dick Staub is the author of “The Culturally Savvy Christian” and the host of The Kindlings Muse (http://www.thekindlings.com). His blog can be read at http://www.dickstaub.com)