Following up on Dr. Lakoff's discussion of disaster messaging and Republicans' success in framing issues, I suggest that we reframe the issues in set the tone of political discourse for this electoral season in order to maximize the success of progressive candidates in the midterm elections. (Some of this was posted originally as a comment to Dr. Lakoff's diary.)
Why are Republicans anti-Christian?
In all the Gospels, Jesus is clear that we must help the poor and the sick, but Republicans want to terminate unemployment benefits and repeal health care insurance reform.
Why are Republicans anti-patriotic?
Americans have always rallied to the cause of shared sacrifice to overcome the greatest challenges of the past, but Republicans refuse to support the idea of shared sacrifice, sacrifice shared not only by the poor and middle class, but also by the wealthy.
Why are Republicans opposed to supporting our military?
Americans agree that we should support the needs of our armed forces not only in Iraq and Afghanistan, but also when they return back to the United States as veterans. But Republicans insist on spending money on weapons systems and planes that the US military does not want, while refusing to support budgetary allocations to provide veterans with health care and to help homeless veterans. They even pretend that there are no homeless veterans!
Why do Republicans hate children?
As Americans we have always loved our children and focused on their future by investing in their education and protecting their health, but Republicans across the country have blocked support for schools, head start programs, and children's healthcare programs.
Why do Republicans want to increase government intrusion in our private lives? Why do Republicans oppose personal freedom?
As Americans we are proud of our traditions of privacy, individual autonomy, and personal freedom but Republicans support government intrusion into the most intimate and private decisions of our lives. They want the government to decide whether a husband can allow life-support to be withdrawn from a brain dead wife. They want the government to decide whether a woman who became pregnant from a rape or even from an incestual rape can terminate that pregnancy. They want the government to decide who can get married, even though many of the most prominent Republicans have had numerous failed marriages and sexual infidelities. In some places Republicans are proposing to prohibit certain kinds of sexual activities among consenting adults. In the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson wrote that every person is endowed with certain inalienable rights, among which are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Why don't Republicans support this very American concept?
Why do Republicans want to destroy personal responsibility in American society?
As Americans we value personal responsibility. We teach our children to clean up after themselves, to fix the things they break, so that they will be responsible adults. But Republicans are opposed to personal responsibility: they don't want BP to be responsible for cleaning up the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and they call the $20 billion fund that BP is creating to help those who suffered in this environmental disaster a "slush fund." Republicans want to "protect" corporations like BP from responsibility for their negligent behavior.
Why do Republicans love Saudi Arabia more than America?
Americans recognize that we need to grow our ability to run our economy on sustainable energy sources, but Republicans refuse to support projects that will help us wean our economy off of oil. This means that Republicans support the Saudi oil industry more than alternative energy projects here in the US.
Why do Republicans love pollution?
Americans want to live in a clean environment, drink clean water, and breathe clean air. We want our children and grandchildren to live in a cleaner and safer environment than we live in today. But Republicans want to "drill, baby, drill," even when drilling has been proven to be unsafe. They want to drill off the coasts of California and Florida, in sensitive marine environments. They want to drill in Lake Erie, risking significant pollution to the drinking water of people in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Michigan.
Why do Republicans hate our grandchildren?
Americans look to the future with hope and optimism. We cherish our children and grandchildren and want them to live in a better world than the one we live in today. But Republicans focus again and again on short-term solutions that benefit small sectors of our society, the wealthy, rather than on long-term solutions that will benefit all Americans in the long term. Republicans refuse to consider scientific data in the arguments they make. They have been proven wrong again and again: this is evidence that they lack wisdom. When there was a particularly snowy winter in the northeast, for example, Republicans argued that this was "evidence" that global warming was a myth, rather than science. But the snowy winter was evidence of increased moisture in the atmosphere, consistent with scientific models of global warming and the remarkable heat wave of the past week in the northeast is also consistent with those very same models. Republicans built up the biggest crushing deficits of the 20th and 21st centuries but refuse to look at the budget as responsible caretakers of America's fiscal well-being. Republicans refuse to regulate Wall Street, believing that Wall Street knows best, even though the events of 2007-2008 demonstrate that this is not sound reasoning. Republicans refuse to increase taxes on the wealthy, even though taxes on the wealthy are at their lowest in decades, especially as compared to the tax rates in the period of the Eisenhower (REPUBLICAN) administration, when there was a shared sense of responsibility. Republicans want to protect wealth and corporations, rather than protecting all our grandchildren and the legacy we pass on to them.
Why do Republicans promote hate?
As Americans we value respect and tolerance. Our nation was founded on the principles of respect and tolerance, even though those principles were not fully realized at the time of our nation's founding. Our nation's history is the story of a progression to an ever-more perfect union in which people are free and respected regardless of race, religion, and gender. Republicans devote a great deal of attention to promoting hatred of gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgendered people, surprising given the large number of prominent Republicans who turn out to be closeted Gay men. If all people were respected, treated fairly, and given all their rights, including people in the GLBT community, perhaps these Gay Republicans wouldn't have to live their lives in the closet and project such hatred to try and hide their closets. As a heterosexual man married to a heterosexual woman, I'm not threatened by a happily married gay couple: why should the Republicans be threatened? Republicans like to cite passages in the Bible that homosexual sex is "an abomination." But the very same phrasing is used to describe the eating of pork ("an abomination!") or the wearing of cotton and linen on the same day ("an abomination!") Since many of the Republicans condemning homosexuality probably eat traditional bacon and egg breakfasts and wear cotton and linen on the same day, they are themselves committing abominations according to the Hebrew Bible, which also endorses both slavery and polygamy. In the Gospels, there is no time when Jesus condemns homosexuality. As a society, we choose to move beyond hatred to practice the principle of loving (or at least respecting) one's neighbor.
Why do Republicans hate truth, justice, and the American way?
Many of us grew up with Superman as the iconic American superhero. We believe in truth, justice, and the American way. Republicans lie: they say they're opposed to the stimulus bill on one day, but on the next they celebrate stimulus funding in their community; they say they're opposed to the deficit and additional humanitarian spending, but they created the worst deficit in American history; they say they support "traditional marriage between one man and one woman," but engage in adulterous affairs and pay hush money while "climbing the Appalachian Trail," for example. They clearly don't value truth. Republicans don't value justice because they seek to subvert it by supporting nominees for court judges who will overturn long-established precedents to restrict individual freedoms while expanding freedoms for corporations. They frequently resort to illegal and underhanded activities to undermine the rights of Americans to vote in democratic elections. They oppose equal pay for equal work. And Republicans are opposed to the American way: they support policies that will outsource our jobs to third world countries, reducing opportunities for Americans to achieve the middle-class dream right here in the US.
I'm sure that many Kossacks will be able to offer more details to these short paragraphs framing topics in accordance with Dr. Lakoff's suggestions as well as more suggestions for framing the issues.
We must do well in the midterm elections. Our future - our children's and grandchildren's well-being, depends on it.