George Lakoff argues -- persuasively, at least to me -- in
Don't Think of an Elephant (reproduced online at his
think tank) that the main thing holding progressives back from winning more public policy debates (and more elections) is conceptual
frames that Republicans have established, such as
tax relief, which implies that taxes are an afflication, and casts George Bush as a hero who rescues us from it.
He has begun coming up with alternative frames for thinking about taxes. This is the one that's closest to my own values:
Fairness: Everyone pays their fair share
It costs money to run America -- tax money. Somebody is paying, and if others do not pay their fair share, then you are paying for them. Large corporations and the wealthy used to pay their fair share. They do not anymore. That means you are paying their taxes. Is that fair?
Fair taxation means we all pay our way, and we all pay our fair share. The wealthiest Americans use our public infrastructure more than anyone else, and they use parts of it that other people do not. For example, about 90% of state and federal court time is devoted to corporate law. Businesses and corporations rely on a smoothly functioning court system to negotiate disputes and ensure contracts are upheld. The Securities and Exchange Commission and all the apparatus of the Commerce Department are mainly used by the wealthy. Companies depend on sound roads, railways and ports to transport their products. Companies benefit from an educated workforce, and the scientific and technological research that we have all paid for.
We all pay in to maintain these resources, but corporations and wealthy people use more of our public resources than an ordinary family does -- so it only makes sense that they pay accordingly. That is what progressive taxation is all about. We all pay our fair share to support America -- corporations should, too.
One point of these frames is to get people to hear/read them often, and thereby to absorb them. Repeating them has a second purpose too: if we play "telephone" with them (that is, if we repeat the frame not verbatim but rather as we remember it) each person infuses the frame with their own wit and wisdom, each infuses the frame with their own moral values.
Tonight's game: Tax Frame "Telephone": in the comments, post your own version of Lakoff's fairness frame. Alter it a little or a lot, use the clipboard or type in your thoughts from scratch, reply to the version abover or one in the comments below -- but turn it into something that seems a little truer to you than what you're starting with.
And yes, if you like your version, email it to your non-Kos-reading friends too.