HELIOLITH

From the daily popular links list at del.icio.us, I discovered an interview with George Lakoff, linguistics professor, and author of “Moral Politics: How Liberals and Conservatives Think.” His main idea is that public debate is largely guided by the way that political parties frame the issues. That idea seems like a common one, but it’s one that he argues is far more successfully implemented by conservatives.

He provides concrete tips for both policy-makers and progressives engaging in discussion. Lakoff breaks down the essence of conservative politics as, “some people are better than others, that some people deserve more.” and says that, “Conservative doctrine requires that there be an elite…” He reminds us that corporations that serve stockholders (not the common American) are using a lion’s share of our common assets. Where they used to pay 38% of all U.S. taxes, now it’s less than 10%. The alternate view, that of progressives, and arguably most working Americans, is that all who work should have a reasonable standard of living. He observes that there is enough money in the economy to assure that. “To deny health care and education to people who work goes against the best in American policy. It’s radical and it’s un-American.”

Lakoff decrypts the so-called “war on terror” as a frame designed explicitly to evoke fear, rather than to allay fear, and as Lakoff says, it “activates the strict father model.” War is something that happens between nations, whereas terrorists are not a nation-state problem. A “war on terror” has become the catch phrase to justify a president’s extraordinary powers, and a recipe for indefinite rule, as there can be no “peace treaty with terror.” He argues that the liberal argument needs to criticize Bush for weakening us by misspending money on an unjustified war that could have been used for security at home, by entering into war without a plan for peace, sufficiently equipped troops, or our allies.

I’m glad that Lakoff’s ideas are being circulated and taken up by those who are guiding debate. It’s critical that we use the frames that reflect our common values to move forward politically. Even as voter turnout will likely be larger than it has in a while, so many are uninspired.