Dohiyi Mir
In Which NTodd Says His Peace
Framing the Debate
My wife and I have often talked about why the Left rarely seems to be able to effectively communicate it's message. My contention has always been that we tend to see multiple sides of an issue and ultimately muddy the waters (as you might guess, I'm so guilty of this I sometimes get into arguments with people who agree with me). An article in Utne bears this out:
Why do conservatives seem to communicate better than liberals? One reason is the liberal left's tendency to overintellectualize issues. Liberals bombard the public with figures and statistics that prove their cases. But again and again the data bounce off people without making any impression. "If the facts don't fit the frame, it's the facts that are rejected, not the frame" is an oft-repeated...aphorism.
(Any typos are mine, given that I likely just violated the DMCA retyping stuff from the offline mag. No link: the jerks won't give you access to features without paying for online access, even if you subscribe to the print edition.)
Right on.
What we need to get good at is packaging. Look at BushCo: they call an illegal invasion "Iraqi Freedom"; they call a reduction in pollution safeguards "Clear Skies"; they call a big tax cut for the rich "Jobs and Growth". You don't need lots of facts and figures when you've got appealing labels for the products you're peddling. Liberals/progressives/lefties/whatever must learn to do the same thing.
The Utne article observes that Clinton did this very well (e.g., discussing "gun safety", not "gun control"). Many progressives don't like Clinton, but we really should take a page from his playbook. It's silly to be right and not be heard.
So what does the public see? Liberals ranting against Bush. Anger is useful in politics, but it will only get us so far. We need to have positive solutions to present to the American people, not just negative observations about the bad things Bush does. Gandhi recognized that his movement needed not just to say the British must go; it also needed to create positive alternative institutions. We need our own Constructive Program that will uplift the American people.
How's this for a start?
- Protecting America's Shores - actually putting the money into port security, first responders, etc.
- Restoring Endangered American Liberties - the REAL Act, repealing USA PATRIOT, eliminating TIA, and all other threats to civil liberties.
- Guaranteeing Basic Civil Rights for All Americans - passing a national civil unions law that guarantees fundamental civil liberties for gay couples (e.g., visitation rights, passing on estates, the ability to get insurance coverage).
- Securing America's Economic Future - fix the Social Security mess before the baby boomers retire, balance the budget by restoring taxes on the wealth to the same level they were during the Clinton boom, etc.
- Saving American Health - get a handle on the health care problem, restore funding to environmental law enforcement, repeal Clear Skies, Healthy Forests, and all the other environmental damage Bush has done.
- Declaring Energy Independence - instead of invading oil-rich nations, take our billions of dollars and invest in wind, solar, hydrogen, bio-mass and other alternative energy sources.
- Re-establishing American World Leadership - restore relationships with our allies and the UN, sign on to the International Crime Court, the Kyoto Treaty, etc.
Just a brainstorming list, but you get the idea, right? Got your own ideas? Post 'em! It's time to take this country forward, and it's up to us to do it.
ntodd
[Update, 7/7: the NY Times Magazine has a germane article entitled Temperament Wars about differences between Dems and Reps.]
