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As polls dramatically underscored, many Americans voted their moral identity and values, often at the expense of their economic interests. But communicating about values is not something that Democrats have mastered.
(www.rockridgeinstitute.org).
Moral Politics: How Liberals and Conservatives Think
Cognitive Science 101,
This gives us a basic principle of framing, for when you are arguing against the other side: Do not use their language. Their language picks out a frame—and it won’t be the frame you want.
That is what framing is about. Framing is about getting language that fits your worldview. It is not just language. The ideas are primary—and the language carries those ideas, evokes those ideas.
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the strict father model links morality with prosperity.
Adam Smith said that if everyone pursues their own profit, then the profit of all will be maximized by the invisible hand—that is, by nature—just naturally. Go about pursuing your own profit, and you are helping everyone. This is linked to a general metaphor that views well-being as wealth. For example, if I do you a favor, you say, “I owe you one” or “I’m in your debt.” Doing something good for someone is metaphorically like giving him money. He “owes” you something. And he says, “How can I ever repay you?”
What you have to do is reward the good people—the ones whose prosperity reveals their discipline and hence their capacity for morality—with a tax cut, and make it big enough so that there is not enough money left for social programs. By this logic, the deficit is a good thing. As Grover Norquist says, it “starves the beast.”
(http://reclaimdemocracy.org/corporate_accountability/powell_memo_lewis.html).
Concepts are not things that can be changed just by someone telling us a fact. We may be presented with facts, but for us to make sense of them, they have to fit what is already in the synapses of the brain.
People do not necessarily vote in their self-interest. They vote their identity. They vote their values. They vote for who they identify with. They may identify with their self-interest. That can happen. It is not that people never care about their self-interest. But they vote their identity. And if their identity fits their self-interest, they will vote for that. It is important to understand this point. It is a serious mistake to assume that people are simply always voting in their self-interest.
Clinton figured out how to handle this problem. He stole the other side’s language. He talked about “welfare reform,” for example. He said, “The age of big government is over.” He did what he wanted to do, only he took their language and used their words to describe it. It made them very mad. Very smart technique.
Orwellian language points to weakness—Orwellian weakness. When you hear Orwellian language, note where it is, because it is a guide to where they are vulnerable. They do not use it everywhere. It is very important to notice this, and use their weakness to your advantage.
Ideas come first.
When you think you just lack words, what you really lack are ideas. Ideas come in the form of frames. When the frames are there, the words come readily.
In cognitive science there is a name for this phenomenon. It’s called hypocognition—the lack of the ideas you need, the lack of a relatively simple fixed frame that can be evoked by a word or two.
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If parties who are harmed cannot sue immoral or negligent corporations or professionals for significant
sums, the companies are free to harm the public in unlimited ways in the course of making money. And lawyers, who take risks and make significant investments in such cases, will no longer make enough money to support the risk. And corporations will be free to ignore the public good. That is what “tort reform” is about.
I have been reminded of Gandhi’s words: “Be the change you want.” The words apply to governments as well as to individuals.
Las palabras de Gandhi aplican más allá de lo que queremos ver
Este capitulo es importante
First, the antiwar movement, properly understood, is not just, or even primarily, a movement against the war. It is a movement against the overall direction that the Bush administration is moving in. Second, to be effective such a movement needs to say clearly what it is for, not just what it is against. Third, it must have a clearly articulated moral vision, with values rather than mere
interests determining its political direction.
The good cause: liberating Iraq. The faulty information: from the CIA. The emphasis: enthusiasm for a great cause.
God therefore wants a hierarchical society in which there are moral authorities who should be obeyed.
PROGRESSIVES CONSERVATIVES Stronger America Strong Defense Broad Prosperity Free Markets Better Future Lower Taxes Effective Government Smaller Government Mutual Responsibility Family Values
