In which I discover that Framing Works!
The Rally
This morning I attended a town hall meeting with Republican Congressman Tom Davis of Virginia's 11th District. Before the meeting there was a rally for protecting and preserving Social Security; a number of groups were there, but the primary organizer was the Campaign for America's Future who had sent out email alerts yesterday, and came prepared with lots of yellow signs and copies of a pledge to protect Social Security that they are attempting to get Congressmen to sign.
I had come prepared with my own sign, which read "Don't Piratize Social Security" and had illustrative pictures of a pirate flag and a treasure chest on it. The CAF people didn't want my sign in the rally pictures for some reason - that's okay, though; the Washington Post photographer got lots of shots of it beforehand.
I'm not very good at counting people but there had to be between 50-100 people there. Other groups represented included ACORN, NOW, the Larouche people (of course), SALT, and a few other community organizing groups who had sent at least one person. Two news cameras were there and several print photographers. We stood on the steps of the hall and there were several speeches on protecting social security.
The Town Hall Meeting
Then we all trooped inside, only to find that the room had mostly filled up! It was standing room only. A few of us managed to squeeze into the meeting before they closed it off to further people - they did offer another room with sound piped in so that people could hear but of course those in other rooms would not be able to present their own questions.
Davis started off the meeting by acknowledging our contingent: he said he knew that some emails had gone around and some groups had gathered people with concerns about social security, but he wanted to spend the first 45 minutes of the meeting on other issues. (At least half the people who showed up to this were part of the social security rally, so this irritated a lot of people, but it turned out that the time was divided evenly between social security questions and non social security questions.)
A variety of issues were aired, but the non-SS issue that got the most attention was Iraq. A number of people brought up concerns, including the $9 billion lost, the troop retention problems, and other issues. When pressed for an answer about the $9 billion he informed us that it was Iraqi money and not American money - the room rumbled. When pressed for an answer about when we'd get out of Iraq, he pointed out that we still have troops in Germany, and the room rumbled even louder. A speaker who criticized "red-state Republicans" for post 9-11 leadership failures got a round of applause.
Talking Social Security
The social security contingent was restive by the time our turn came, but finally it did. Davis was prepared with some overhead projector transparencies which he had his staffer run through almost too fast for us to read them all. They contained an overview of the Social Security program and how it is structured and funded that was, for the most part, accurate. Then he began taking questions.
Not a single person who spoke was in favor of privatizing social security. People talked about raising the $90,000 payroll tax cap. One man took him to task for using the 2018 date for when Social Security supposedly runs out of money, asking Davis if he really thought the government was going to fail to make good on the treasury bills. Amazingly, Davis responded by saying that he didn't trust the government! The room erupted at that with a lot of people shouting out queries of whether he was really saying that he expected the US government not to pay its debts, but he did not respond to these.
At varying points in the meetings he asked for shows of hands to determine what options people thought should be on the table: should Congress consider raising the payroll tax cap? (almost everyone in the room thought yes)... means testing benefits? (about 2/3 said no)... raising the retirement age? (about half and half)
Interestingly, Rep. Davis freely acknowledged that private accounts would NOT address the issue of a future funding shortfall, and would in fact cause us to have to incur a great deal of debt in the near term. He didn't really try to defend them other than to say that nobody has seen the President's plan yet. Of course we don't have any illusions that Davis won't just go ahead and vote for privatization anyway, but he didn't even try to make a case for it as policy to this gathering.
I speak
Ultimately, though, I observed that most of the people were approaching the discussion from the Republican frame, "Social Security is a bank account." I had thought a great deal about what I might say on the bus ride over, about how to re-frame the issue as Jeffrey Feldman has suggested, "Social Security is a trusted friend." And this was what I came up with:
Thanks for taking my question, Congressman. When my dad's wife injured her back and was not able to work, she received disability payments that helped her and my dad to pay their mortgage. Social Security was there for them. I have an uncle who has worked all his life and done everything he's supposed to do including save for retirement. The problem is, he worked for Enron [audience laughs] and when they went down, suddenly his retirement investments were worthless. When it comes time for him to retire, Social Security is going to be there for him, too. But, if we divert tax revenues from the Social Security system to brokers on Wall Street, Social Security is not going to be there for my family and for the families of all the people in this room. So I want to ask you to sign a pledge today that you will not vote for a plan that diverts Social Security funds into private accounts.
At that point he interrupted me and held up a piece of paper. "Is this the pledge?" I got a look at it and it was indeed the CAF pledge. "This also says we'll never raise the retirement age," he said dismissively. People in the audience called out, "Then cross that part off and sign the rest of it!" But he ignored them and went on to the next questioner, a Larouchie.
My Frame's Success
Here was the thing that impressed me, though: out of everyone who commented or asked a question, nobody's remarks got more than one response... except mine. Three people referred back to my story about my uncle who worked for Enron (true, by the way) in the course of making their remarks. This told me that the story and the comments made an impression on them, and that they would carry the memory - and the frame - away with them. And that was my goal.
Nearly everyone who spoke was oblivious to the frames they were using, and if we're honest with ourselves it is going to stay that way. What we've got to do is take back control of enough of the media - or create our own, new media - so that our frames get out there and become part of the popular discussion of issues. Then, we'll start to win ground back.
Conclusion/Random Observations
Overall I was encouraged by my experience today, for several reasons.
First - a number of the people who came for the rally said that the alert email they had gotten came from the DNC, just as mine had. None of us have ever gotten an email from the DNC asking for anything other than money. Starting now that will be different, and if today was any indication, people will respond.
Second - there was some partisan sniping at this meeting, from both sides. But some of the meeting consisted of honest, serious discussion of issues, constituents to Congressman. Whether Tom Davis listens or not, whether he cares what his constituents think or not, it is clear that THEY care, otherwise 150-200 people would not have spent their Saturday morning attending this meeting. A great deal of my hope for the future of our democracy was restored today.
And in conclusion, here are a few observations and things I learned today.
(1) Don't heckle the Larouchies; it only makes them worse.
(2) Giving people signs to hold makes them feel valued.
(3) A smile attracts congressional attention much more readily than a scowl.
(4) The American people aren't ignorant about policy, and they do care.
(5) FRAMING WORKS!
Update: The Washington Post has put up an article about the event.