The Framing Wars,
Matt Bai, The New York Tmes Magazine, July 17 2005
The father of framing is a man named George Lakoff, and his spectacular ascent over the last eight months in many ways tells the story of where Democrats have been since the election. A year ago, Lakoff was an obscure linguistics professor at Berkeley, renowned as one of the great, if controversial, minds in cognitive science but largely unknown outside of it. When he, like many liberals, became exasperated over the drift of the Kerry campaign last summer -- "I went to bed angry every night," he told me -- Lakoff decided to bang out a short book about politics and language, based on theories he had already published with academic presses, that could serve as a kind of handbook for Democratic activists. His agent couldn't find a publishing house that wanted it. Lakoff ended up more or less giving it away to Chelsea Green, a tiny liberal publisher in Vermont.
Securing The Common Good: A Vision for America and the World, Remarks made by President Clinton at Georgetown University marking the 15th Anniversary
of the New Covenant Addresses as part of the Center for American Progress's conference,
Securing the Common Good: A Vision for America,
William J. Clinton, Center for American Progress, October 18, 2006
Excerpts:
"In the context of late 1991, I defined the common good as a new
covenant for equal opportunity, shared responsibility, an inclusive
community, and an aggressive approach to try to create those values
throughout the world at the end of the Cold War. It was what I thought
America should do to advance the common good – really just a
restatement of what our founders pledged their lives, their fortunes,
their sacred honor to do: form a more perfect union.
...
When I gave these...speeches, they allowed me to set out this construct
of equal opportunities, shared responsibilities, inclusive community,
and an aggressive approach to engagement with the rest of the world.I
thought that they were consistent with the traditional American values
of work and family, freedom and responsibility, faith and tolerance;
that as a Democrat I was being faithful to Andrew Jackson’s credo of
opportunity for all and special privileges for none, to President
Kennedy’s call for mutual responsibly and citizen service, and to
Franklin Roosevelt’s commitment to continuous innovation -- to bold,
persistent experimentation.
...
Where us common-good folks favor equal opportunity and empowerment,
they believe the country is best served by the maximum concentration of
wealth and power in the hands of the right people – right in both
senses. (Laughter.) We believe in mutual responsibility. They
believe that in large measure people make or break their own lives, and
you’re on your own. We believe in striving at least to cooperate with
others, because we think that there are very few problems in the world
we can solve on our own. They favor unilateralism whenever possible
and cooperation when it’s unavoidable.
"I'll get right to the point. I believe that the purpose of creating structures in society should be to promote "the greatest good for the greatest number," as Jeremy Bentham, Mill, and Abraham Lincoln stated it 150 years ago. To which I would add, and someone no doubt has said it better, "with dignity for all." Otherwise we could justify torturing POWs for information, killing dissidents and psychotics, even slavery, if the majority would receive a greater benefit.
To achieve the greatest good for the greatest number with dignity for all, humankind has successfully developed, with many hands over many centuries, three types of organized systems: the Family, Business, and Public Service. The third obviously includes governments, but also churches, universities, hospitals, and other institutions chartered not for profit but for some public purpose. Each of the systems has an internal logic that allows for growth, generation of value to society, the ability to surmount crises, and perpetual existence.
We need this trinity: the Family for love, Business for prosperity, and Public Service for...that's a big question, isn't it? The logics and benefits of each social system are far from perfect, and Public Service probably draws the most controversy. I believe that humanity's best interests are served by a decent balance among the three forms of organization, and that's where our current difficulty lies. "
How did conservatives successfully define good government as limited government, fiscal responsibility as less government, and the common good as the private sector? The answer lies in the conservative movement’s ability to communicate their values and vision.
The author explores the impact of a long-term vision statement, and the lack of one, on the ability of conservatives and progressives to effectively communicate. The criteria for writing a vision statement is presented, as well as a proposed progressive vision statement, “We Are Progressives.” It is then compared to the conservative vision statement, “Republican Principles,” in a side by side format.
The lesson to be learned from the rise of conservatism is that a “clearly defined and consistent philosophy” is important to the success of a political movement.
"It basically comes down to Progressive citizens getting together (yes, networking) and building organizations that are independent of the Democratic party and that can raise funds, support activists financially and spread the progressive message to as many people as possible. The blogosphere is a start but it can’t be the end-all because it only reaches a specific and relatively small group of people.
It is also about activists demanding policy outcomes and results, just as the Conservative movement has done with their politicians and their organizations. "
"I am dismayed because there are two opposing political strategies being played out in America's politics with two vastly different philosophies--and it's clear that one side is definitely winning. And it ain't our side.
[. . .] By far the most enlightening thing I have read on the blogosphere in the past two months came from Republican Operative and founder of RedState.com Joshua Trevino, on Armando's and Trevino's new blog Swords Crossed. In an incredibly instructive piece--and I encourage everyone to read the whole thing--Josh Trevino does us all the favor of introducing us to the Overton Window. The Overton Window, in my opinion, is basically the key to the Republicans' success over the past twenty years--and it comes straight from the Republican think tanks."
Note - We consider these articles thought-provoking and worth reading. Our recommendation does not imply that we necessarily agree with all the perspectives presented, nor does it imply that we have checked the articles for factual accuracy.
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