Woman Announcer: So, last March, I went to an amazing event; called "Designs On Democracy" , at UC Berkeley. It was really, really cool. And, I had the opportunity there, to hear George Lakoff, for the first time. And, it totally opened my whole thinking about what's going on in politics today. This is an incredible book. You can read it, in a day and a half. "Don't Think Of An Elephant"; I totally encourage you, to look at it - at the bookstore. There's also, this incredible DVD, "How Democrats and Progressives Can Win". I normally don't do product pitches. But, this stuff is hugely important, for our movement. And, I'm so happy to have George Lakoff here today. (crowd applauds)
George Lakoff: I want to thank all of you, for being here. This is a remarkable time, as you've probably noticed. Fifty-six million people voted for John Kerry. We are 56 million strong. (crowd applauds) 51 percent is not a mandate. (crowd applauds) You heard what Bush said the other day. He said; I want to reach out, to all the people. I want to be bipartisan. I want to reach out, to all the people who share our views. We don't share his views. (crowd applauds) And, there are 56 million of us, who voted this time. And, more who didn't. There are many more. It's still to be counted, I suspect. We have to be united and strong. And, to be united and strong; we have to know what it is, that brings us together. What our moral values are. And, it's no surprise to me, at all; that moral values, turned out to be a major issue in this debate. We have values, that are powerful. And, are traditional American values. And, I want to speak a little bit about what our values are. Versus, what their values are, in detail.
Their values; they understand morality and the nation. In terms of what they call family values. But, it's a particular type of family. What I call the strict father family. It's an ideal model fo the family. They project onto morality. And, onto everything, in every domain of life. Here's how it works. The assumption is; the world is dangerous and there's evil out there. It will always be evil out there. And, the world is difficult and competitive. It will always be competitive. There will always be winners. And, there must always be losers. This idea, is to win. Kids are born bad; in the sense, that they just want to do what feels good. That's terrible. They have to be taught, right from wrong. The reason you need a strict father, is to defend the family. To support the family. And, to teach the kids absolute right, from absolute wrong. And, how do you do that? Through punishment. Painful punishment. Painful enough. So, that kids will want to avoid the punishment. And therefore, be disciplined enough to follow the rules to obey. The idea, is that you must obey. In this, if you are disciplined enough to do this; there's a secondary effect. And, that is - you can go out there, in the world. Pursue your self interest. And, become prosperous. Morality and prosperity, in this model, go together. And, if you're not disciplined enough to be prosperous; you're probably not disciplined enough, to be moral. And, you deserve your poverty. That's what these guys are about. The strict father, is a moral authority. To be obeyed. He is not to be talked back to. He's to be listened to. He's going to reach out to everybody, who wants to listen to him. We ain't gonna listen to him. (crowd applauds)
We have a different understanding; both of the family, and of the world. And, of our nation. And, of our relationships, to each other. In a nurturant parent family; the job of a parent, is to nurture their children. And, raise their children, to be nurturers of others. Nurturance is two things. Empathy and responsibility. And, responsiblity for yourself and others. And, that takes strength. You can't be a weakling, and be a nurturing parent. Because, there's too many responsibilities you have to fulfill. If you understand that; empathy and responsibility. The rest of progressive values - both in the family. And, in the nation, follow immediately. Why? If yo care about your children, you want to protect them. Think about all of the ways protection enters into progressive thought. Worker protection. Environmental protection. Consumer protection. All of the safety nets, that we have. Social security, Medicare - they come from the strong, powerful impulse. Fierce impulse, to protect those who are less powerful, who need that protection. That is who we are.
It's one of our major, moral values. If you care about your children, and your family. And, you want them to be treated fairly. Fairness is one of the major progressive values. And, with fairness; comes the value of equality. That's who we are. That's what we fight for. If you care about your children, you'll want them to be fulfilled in life. We want people, all over - all people, to be able to be fulfilled in life. You can't be fulfilled, without freedom. You can't be free, without opportunity. And, you can't have opportunity, without general prosperity for all. Those are progressive values. That's what our morality is about. That's what we care about. That's why we vote the way we vote. And, live the lives we live. And, we live lives in communities. We don't live alone. We are community builders. And, any nurturing parent; must function in a community. In a nurturing family, you have to be part of a community. And, you serve your community. And, you can't be in a community, unless you cooperate. So, cooperation, not competition with each other. Cooperation is our major value. You can't have cooperation, without trust. And, you can't have trust, without honesty and open communication. They are our moral values. That is what progressive values are.
We share those. And, it doesn't matter what kind of progressive you are. And, I want to talk about that. There are various types of progressives. And, if you ask the sociologists, to go and study how many types there are; they'd probably come up with hundreds. But, if you asked a cognitive scientist - that's me. How many types there are? I'd ask a different question. I want to know how many modes of thought there are, on the progressive side. I've looked at it. So far, I hare found six. Not hundreds, six. Six. And, they're not mutually exclusive. By the way - all six are correct. There's nothing wrong. They're all part of nurturing values.
First; Socio-Economic Progressives, who care mainly about economics and class. Yes, economics and class matter. Identity Politics Progressives; who say, it's time for our oppressed group to get it's share now. Yes, it is time. Whatever the oppressed group. Greens; those of you who are here. Those of you, putting on these exhibits. They talk about sustainability of the earth. The sacredness of the eath. And, that's also true. Spiritual Progressives. Spiritual progressives understand. Whether it's God or the universe, as nurturant; they understand a connection to each other. And, a connection to the world. And, their spiritual practice, is service. That is what a Spiritual Progressive is. No matter what kind they are. And, whatever religion. Or, whatever spiritual community. There are Civil Liberties Progressives. Those who want to defend our liberties. And, they need defense. And, there are Anti-Authoritarian Progressives. Those who are opposed and offended, by illegitimate uses of authority. And, that's also, a genuine progressive value. The terrible thing, is to think that if you have one of these thoughts or two; that you are better than every other progressive. That's the mistake. That separates us from each other. (crowd applauds) And, we can't afford to be separated from each other. If you think in terms of our common moral values; then, we are strong. If you start breaking us down; then, we are weak. We have to be strong.
From those moral values, we get certain political principles. One; political equality. That means equality of power. Real power, in the world and in this country; independent of how much money you have. Independent of what kind of work you do. Or, who you were born as. Two; equity. What is equity? What does equity mean? It means something very simple. If you work for a living, you should earn a living. Period. (crowd applauds) What is the role of government? The role of government is; first, is to promote equity and political equality. And, to protect it. And, to protect our freedoms. And, to carry out those moral responsibilities. Government is moral. and, it has been traditionally moral, all through our history. What are the greatest achievements of government, in this country? There are moral achievements. The freedom of slaves. Women's voting. The Civil Rights Act. The great reorientation of government during the New Deal, toward government for the people. Really for the people.
Government, as we understand it; is for all of us. It's for our future. And, for our children. And, it has to be efficient. It's not there to be inefficient. But, it's got to be for us. Period. More over; what is foreign policy about? Foreign policy, is about extending these same values to the world. Not just in building international community. Where you have diplomacy. Where you work with other nations. But, the most important issues in foreign policy, are now not defined as foreign policy. What are the most important issues?
Take terrorism, for example; which is real. It is not at the level of the state. It is below the level of the nation state. Take poverty in the world. It is below the level of the nation state. Take international ecology. Global ecology and global warming. That is not a nation state problem. It is not about competition between nation states. Take overpopulation. What is the best cure for overpopulation? Women's education and women's rights. That is not at the level of the state. It's an international problem. Person by person. And, so on. The major problems in the world, have to deal with people. And, our relationship to them. And, the people working on that, right now; are the international NGO's. Right now, the right wing is trying to destroy them. Trying to defund them. They need to be defended, like never before. And, appreciated, like never before. (crowd applauds)
What is it, that separates us? Many things. Some of us are pragmatic. Others are idealistic. it's important that the idealists not look down upon the pragmatists. Or, the pragmatists, on the idealists. What have to know, that that is a line that separates us. And, it cannot separate us. We have to be very clear about it. There are some of us, who are militant. And, some of us, who want to go step by step. That divides us. We have to notice, when you're militant - when you want to go step by step. And, then ask; what do you share. You share moral principles. You share political principles. And, you share one thing, that's usually not recognized. That is policy direction, that come out of your moral and political principles. As soon as you go to policy - what's wrong with a policy WONK? Everything. Because, policy WONKs; look at particular details, rather than the whole picture. From a moral perspective. And, a principle perspective. We all have common, shared policy directions. One level up, from the particular policies. That's where we're united.
Example; we all want a sustainable economy, no matter what kind of progressive we are. We all want universal health insurance. No matter what kind of progressive we are. We don't want the government in our bedrooms. No matter what kind of progressive we are. And, so on. We want rights recognized. No matter what kind of progressive we are. We can make lists, easily. Of policy directions that we all agree on. That's where we must be united. From here on out.
Now, let me talk a bit about framing. That latest book I have out, which is available there; is called, "Don’t Think Of An Elephant". And, it comes from an exercise, that I give in a course that I'm teaching this Spring in Berkeley. The Mind And Language; Cognitive Science 101. I start out, by asking my students to do the following; don't think of an elephant. Whatever you do; do not think about an elephant. And, nobody can do it. Why? Remember, that every word - like elephant; is defined by some kind of conceptual frame. And, some image, perhaps. You have an image of an elephant, that comes up. You have a knowledge about elephants. Right? The word elephant; immediately evokes that. You can't not think about an elephant. And, follow that direction. Now, remember Richard Nixon. He stood up there, during Watergate. On national TV, and said; I am not a crook. (crowd applauds) We all thought of him as a crook. Right? You can’t use the other side’s language, without using the - and evoking the other side’s ideas. They have certain ways of thinking about the world. What follows about ecology? Supposed you looked at a strict father model. What does that say, about the environment?
First; in a strict father model of the world, there is a hierarchy. A hierarchy that pairs merit and morality, with power. The idea is; the most moral people. should be the most powerful people. And, they see God, therefore, as both the all powerful and all good. Together forming this hierarchy. How do you know what’s in the hierarchy? You go and look at traditional forms of power. What do you have? God above man. Man above nature. Adults above children. Americans above other countries Western civilization above other civilizations. And then, of course; it gets worse. Men above women. Whites above non-whites. Straights above gays. Christians above non-Christians. For the bigots. Not all Conservatives have those. They all have the first five. Now, man above nature. What does it say? It says; nature is a resource for human beings. Who is a good human being? A good human being, is someone who follows his self interest, to become prosperous. What is a bad human being? Someone who isn’t either disciplined enough to do that. Or, stands in the way of the good guys. Right? Why is it good to follow your self interest, in a strict father world?
It follows, as a generalization of Adam Smith’s view of capitalism. Adam Smith said, defining capitalism; if everybody pursues their own profit, then as a law of nature. The profit, that is the invisible hand, as he called it. The profit of all, will be maximized. So, if everybody pursues their own self interest; the self interest of all, will be maximized in this model. If you believe that; what is somebody who is pursuing the public interest. As opposed to the private interest? That’s a do-gooder. Who’s standing in the way. Getting in the way of the good people, trying to make a buck. Right? That’s who you are. That’s who I am. That is somebody, who is not respected. Or, thought well of, from a Conservative perspective.
What is environmentalism? Environmentalism is a group of people, who are standing in the way of people; who just want to get natural resources for their profit. Which is what, according to Conservatives; people should be doing. Very important. For them; nature is not sacred, it is a resource. Some of them will admit, it might be a renewable resource. And, some of them might not. But, it's very important, it's seen as a resource there. Nature is more than just a resource. Yes, it's a resource for all of us. But, it's a resource that we borrow from our children. To give back to them. We borrow this resource. And, we have to preserve it. So, it will be there for everyone. And, it is a sacred part of who we are. Now, how do we think of the environment. And, how do we account for a certain fact, that often puzzles environmentalism? There are polls done, regularly. Asking people, if they're environmentalists. Or, in favor of preserving the environment. And regularly, 70 or 80 percent of the people will say; yes, I'm in favor of preserving the environment. And then, they don't vote that way. Why? The reason is; that people don't vote, in terms of a list of interests or issues. They vote their identity. And, if they identify with strict father values; they will vote for people, who have those values. And, those people have anti-environmental values. It's very important, if you want to get a change in the electorate. To be pro-environmental, you have to get an understanding of an environment out there. You have to reframe it. So, that people will identify themselves in terms of the environment. What changes have got to be made?
First; anybody who knows the first thing about ecology, knows that there's ecological systems. You know, issues are not separate from other issues. Environment, is not separate from health. Environment is a health issue. Environment isn't separate from business. It's a business issue. It has to do with business practices. And, we have many green businesses here. Who are committed to the idea that; yes, the business of America is business. And, it should be environmentally sound business. An environmentally sound business. It's not anti-business. It's pro-environmentally sound business. Many people identify themselves, in terms of their well being, their health, and their jobs. We have to have the environment, associated with that, implicitly. Secondly, in terms of values. The environment is a moral issue. (crowd applauds) The environment, has everything to do with protection. Protection; not only of the environment itself. But, of the health. Of our children's health. Of all sorts of marvelous things, in that environment. Secondly; the environment has everything to do with all of the other things we car about. It has to do with community. Because, it serves all of us. It's part of us. We cannot abandon it. It's there. It has to do with opportunity. If the environment is destroyed, opportunities are cut off. Things will get worse, if the environment is not sustained. And, made sustainable. Opportunity - remember, has everything to do with freedom. No freedom, without opportunity. People don't understand, that environmentalism and freedom, are linked in that way. If you don't preserve and sustain your environment; you'll lose opportunity. And, lose freedom. I want to stop here, and take questions. Hi, yes.
Woman Announcer: Testing - one, two. He can take your question.
Woman #1: Okay. George, thanks for your work. I wondered; how many political campaigns, contacted you. Or, you them? And, if there was any utilization of your linguistic analysis? To get through, in the current round of campaigns?
George Lakoff: I was asked, by one of the people, who was central to the Kerry campaign; to give one way imput, every week. To send some suggestions. And, I did; for about 15 weeks. Some of them were used. And, let's say, in the convention speech. But, on the whole; they didn't get it. (crowd applauds) And, you can understand it. The way it was structured; Bob Shrum, set out the original idea for the campaign. Which was a terrible, losing idea. And, there was no way, he was going to change his mind. Occasionally, they would take examples - you'd notice, Kerry would start talking about values. But, only use the word 'values'. He didn't know how to talk about values. He didn't really deeply talk about them. He had no idea, how to answer most of the values questions. And, how to frame issues. His issues, in terms of values. You would write stuff. And, it would go into the vacuum. That's how it was.
Woman #2: With regards to the Christian Coalition; they came out so powerfully. And, may have been the cause for the popular vote. How would you look at or address them directly.
George Lakoff: About the Christian Coalition; there are many more Christians in this country, than there are Conservative Christians. (crowd applauds) The problem, is this; most liberal Christians, can't very easily express their theology and it's connection to their politics. But, there is a theology, that is expressible. And, directly related to politics. There's a nurturant theology. And, it's discussed - I have a book, called, "Moral Politics". Chapter 14, goes into exactly what Conservative Christianity is. Why it is an instance of strict father values. And, what liberal Christianity is. And, why it's an instance of nurturant values. Which are the same values, behind nurture and politics. What we need to do, is organize the liberal churches. And, synagogues. And, mosques. And, Buddhist temples. (crowd applauds)
Woman #3: Doctor Lakoff, that's exactly where I was heading with my question. I'm Rebecca Efraim, from the Dragonfly Media and Common Ground; here in San Francisco, the Bay Area. Thank you so much, for your words of wisdom. And, in particular, your book, "Don't Think of An Elephant". I consider it a primer, for laying the ground work to reach out to Progressives. And, counter, what the Republicans have been doing for these years. My question to you is; how can we do that, at a grass roots level? Each and every one of us. How can we begin to think and build, the way that you frame it in your book.
George Lakoff: Okay. we have a new think tank in Berkeley - The Rockridge Institute. Rockridge Institute. And, our job is to reframe public debate. We're starting. And, you can see the beginnings of it there. (crowd applauds) We're a young institute. We're small. We're growing. We're raising money. And, we will raise a fair amount, I think. And, we're going to go out there, and reframe every issue. Bit by bit. Step by step. It's a huge job. (crowd applauds) They have 43 think tanks, that's been working for 30 years, to do this. We don't have 30 years. But, we understand the mechanism. We understand how it works. And, what to do. And, we're going to be doing it. And then, we're going to be having connections to ordinary grass roots people. We're going to try to have an action link to advocacy groups around the country. And then, have a direct link to individuals around the country, via the internet. We're also going to be working with organizations like; Move On, Democracy For America. With bloggers, like Marcos of The Daily Kos, and others. We're trying to communicate this, as best we can. As soon as we can. And, the first people who have to know this, are our elected representatives. It is very important for our elected representatives, not to cave in now. (crowd applauds) The very first reframing job, has to be on the five issues that the Bush Administration wants to push through Congress. We have to give everybody a way to talk about them. And, to think about them differently. So, that we cannot just obstruct. But, say; we're 56 million people and we have the moral, traditional values of this country. We are right. And, what you're proposing is immoral. And, here is why. And then, we tell them. That's what we're trying to do. (crowd applauds) Please -
Man #1: Yeah, hi. We're actually more than just 56 million people. We won the election.
George Lakoff: I'm sorry. I can't hear you.
Man #1: We're more than 56 million. We won the election. They stole it. (crowd applauds) But, that's not the main thing, that I came to say. Although, we should know that. I'm responding to your idea of organizing. And, to what you say that to Progressive values are, a cooperative family. And, I want to relate that to what's happening, here and now. And, to every other gathering of the left, that I go to. Including, the huge peace marches. I have a slogan about meetings. And, it says; "A Meeting Is Never Complete, Until Everybody There Leaves With A Job To Do. And, Somebody To Do It With". But, we don't run our meetings that way. We have lectures. And, I want to see how you respond to the idea, of having little bit less lecture time. And, a little bit more organizing time. Where, you could say to the audience; who is doing what. Who's doing work on abortion? Who's doing work on racism? Who's doing work on peace? And, for those people who are not too active, come join me. And, all those people who are around booths, can do that. And, if we had done that a year and a half ago, when we had 200,000 people in San Francisco. And, more in New York, and in Washington. The election would have been very different.
George Lakoff: Alright. Look, this is not just about meetings. One of the things that Move On and the Dean Movement, and so on has done; it has gotten people to do things. To write letters. To send letters. To write checks for candidates. Small candidates, all over the country. There is a lot for everybody to do. Enormous amounts. Everybody can do things. We need 56 million people plus, doing things. And, you're absolutely right. Yes. But, you also need to understand what you're doing. And, why you're doing it. And, how to think about it. Both are necessary. (crowd applauds)
Man #2: Thank you, Doctor Lakoff. I wanted to continue, on the theme of reframing. And, I wanted to ask your opinion about how useful it would be to try and reframe a few things from the election. First; many of the Republican Spin-Meisters, are trying to say that 3 percent represents a mandate. And, what do you think that's worth jumping on? And, jumping against? And, a more subtle thing. Many more people in the media, are also saying; that George Bush belongs to a small club, with about 16 Presidents, that have had two terms. But, I've heard some people, actually say; he was elected twice. Is that worth reframing? (crowd applauds)
George Lakoff: Look - it all is. But, there are major reframings. And, the ones that work - yeah, it's work mentioning this. And, over and over. But, it's not going to win. What's going to win, is a positive vision. A positive vision. A positive, moral vision. (crowd applauds) And, there's something very important; that the Democratic Party, does not understand about swing voters. They're polls done now, that are the same as the ones done before. If you look at the hard Conservative support, in this country; it's about 35 or 40 percent. And, the same for really hard Progressive support. The swing voters, between 20 and 30 percent; are those who have both models. The nurturant and strict, in different parts of their life. What the other side has figured out; is the way to appeal to them, is to talk to their base. They talk to their swing voters, by talking to their base. But, they also recognize, that of those swing voters; most of them, will have certain nurturant positions. Like positions on the environment. And, that is why they have to use deceptive language. They don't always have to use deceptive language. But, there are certain places, where they do. The Clean Air Act. The Healthy Forest Initiative. They couldn't come out and say; that it's The Dirty Air Act. They couldn't come out and say; we're going to give this a true name. No Tree Left Behind. (crowd applauds) They couldn't do it, because, they would lose. We need to do that. They are telling us, where they have identified their weaknesses. We have to follow that. And, we have to activate what is nurturant in all of that 20 to 30 percent of that population. And, to do that; we have to talk our values. And, we have to be clear, about what they really want. What they are really trying to do. And, frame them, in terms of their actions. (crowd applauds) Yeah.
Man #3: I'm a property rights advocate. And, here's a conservative value, I think we can all get behind. The value of what real estate folk mean by; location, location, location. Is a community generated value. Rental value of land, is generated by the community. What do you say, to the prospect of collecting that annual rent of land, and using that for community purposes?
George Lakoff: Well -
Man #3: The Henry George Idea, if you want to get to what I have in mind.
George Lakoff: Well, it's part of an idea of a commons. And, the idea of the commons; is absolutely necessary. Both in terms of common land. Common air. Common water. And, so on. We have been bequeathed air. The air, is ours. We have been bequeathed the wavelengths, for our radio and TV stations. They're ours. We've bequeathed the water. Falls from the sky. It's all of ours. That is our common legacy. We need to have that. And, the same for land. No, with respect to property values. I think a real approach to property values, should say; that if you harm my property, by polluting. You owe me something. You owe everybody something. That is; polluters should pay. Period. (crowd applauds) I'm sorry. I see that time is up. I'll be signing some books. And, I would love to talk to whoever is here. So, please come by. (crowd applauds)
End of Lecture
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