George Lakoff (cognitive scientist at UC) has a small book out (Don’t Think of an Elephant, with a forward by Howard Dean) and a video that goes with it. It is about framing (the idea of framing has a more technical meaning for the cognitive scientist) in politics and gives a (shortened) version of the stunning ideas he presents in his book Moral Politics. It is a call for progressives and democrats to do what the GOP has done over the past 30 years. He explains that conservatives have spent billions of dollars (on conservative intellectuals, think tanks, media operations, training centers, etc.) developing and learning how to frame every issue in terms of (what he calls) their “Strict Father” metaphorical structure. (Lakoff gives a truly brilliant analysis of conservative and liberal political talk and thought, and if you are not familiar with his views, you are missing something incredible.) The GOP now has a huge and extremely well-organized infrastructure for imposing this frame on the political scene. This is one reason that the GOP has been so successful recently. Lakoff explains that the goal of the GOP is to impose their frame on America and the rest of the world (that just goes with their Strict Father conceptualizing structure). Lakoff warns that it will be impossible to challenge the GOP without a proper framing response. Frames are embodied in our brains, so that changing one's frame changes one's brain. GOP framing is literally changing people's brains. (What I have said here about Lakoff's views is very superficial and barely scratches the surface.)
Lakoff is leading the current move (with progressives and democrats) to develop their own think tanks and research into framing. As Lakoff puts it, progressives need to know how to frame every issue in terms of what he calls the “Nuturant Parent” worldview. (Again he derives this worldview from an analysis of the metaphors that liberals and progressives use in the political arena.) Lakoff says that science is on the side of the Nuturant Parent worldview, and it is possible to catch up with the GOP with only a fraction of the time and money that the GOP has spent. (According to Lakoff, the Strict Father and Nuturant Parent worldviews are competing frames that have developed historically over thousands of years.)
The only progressive think tank on framing is the Rockridge Institute. Here is the site.
http://www.rockridgeinstitute.org/
On this page, PoliticalStrategy.org’s Framing Project gives some of the latest material on Lakoff’s ideas and a presentation of some of Luntz’ stuff for conservatives:
http://www.politicalstrategy.org/archives/001118.php
Frank Luntz is a main thinker and political strategist for the GOP. He runs a highly respected business that does research and trains conservatives how to think and talk. He has manuals on a variety of issues, but generally they are not made public. Luntz’ work is like a play book for the GOP. Here is his site.
http://www.luntz.com/index.htm
