I just read the free sample chapter of "Don't Think of an Elephant", by George Lakoff.
His work can be found here:
http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2003/10/27_lakoff.shtml
and here:
http://www.chelseagreen.com/2004/items/elephant
I know this may be old hat to the Deaniacs and others here, but it is really inspiring.
It discusses framing issues, how to figure out what you believe and how to say it so it makes sense to those you are trying to convince.
One example he gives is 'tax relief'. Just saying it implies taxes are bad. It's the conservative argument. From now on, I think I'll talk instead about 'tax fairness'. Here are some other examples;
These are just some ways of framing the debate I came up with after reading Lakoff:
- Pro-life/choice/abortion = medical privacy
- Tort reform = corporate accountability
- Capital punishment = death power (i.e. the government cannot be trusted with the death power)
- War on terror = occupation of Iraq
- Social Security = Social security pensions
- Deficit = shortfall
- Federal debt = overdue bills
But these are reactive. Lakoff goes beyond that. One of the most interesting things he talks about is strategic initatives; a policy that does a lot of things at once, and has a snowball effect. Like tort reform would empower companies to pollute, or be unsafe, while at the same time drying up Democratic donors.
For our side; here are a couple of strategic initiatives that come to mind;
- Union insurance for all - most unions, at least mine, lets you continue to buy their coverage for a certain length of time, even if you are not working at the moment. Suppose unions could offer workers the option to take their insurance plans even if their company is not under contract. You could belong to the union in your industry even if your company was not signed. The employer would pay your union the premium they would normally pay for your insurance. This would do a lot for unions, and the scale would lower the insurance cost for you, meaning a better plan for the same price.
- Fair Tax; here's a flat tax the Republicans might not like so much - I call it the Level Tax -
Income from labor is taxed the same as income from capital. Why should money you make from your mailbox be taxed less than money you make from your work? To turn the argument around; think of it as an incentive to work. There's already an incentive to invest; it's called profit.
3. Acquisition Tax - that's my new name for the Estate Tax. You don't get rich without a country to get rich in, and you should pay your fair share if you do well.
Well, that's enough for now,
One more strategic initiative;
I'd like to ask why the public airwaves are owned by the people and yet we still have to collect hundreds of millions to get them to cover political discourse. If we could make them run free ads as part of their use agreement it would take most of the money right out of politics instantly, and would have a cascading effect on all levels. It would change everything. Very strategic.