Framing Primer: Part III -- Techniques, Rules, and Execution

We've defined framing and discussed it's vast importance in the fight for ideological supremacy. And we've discussed the differences between the progressive and conservative world views -- necessary for the creation of effective frames. Now it's time to learn how to frame.

There are 5 major steps:

In the words of Lakoff:

1) Define our basic progressive vision
2) Establish our values coming out of a basic progressive vision
3) Define principles that realize those progressive values
4) Derive policy directions that fit these principles and values
5) Establish a 'ten-word' philosophy that encapsulates all of the above

This is the type of depth of understanding that is needed to appeal to the masses. Without it, we as a progressive movement, are flailing in the wind, pointing here and there without any sort of structure, fluidity or connection to a fundamental, moral, ethical, and effective value structure.

Step 1) Define our basic progressive vision

The basic progressive vision is one of community -- of America as family, a caring, responsible family. We envision America where people care about each other, not just themselves, and act responsibly with strength and effectiveness for each other.

We are all in the same boat, red states and blue states, progressives and conservatives, Democrats and Republicans. United as we were for a brief moment just after September 11th, not divided by a despicable culture war.

Step 2) Establish our values coming out of a basic progressive vision

The ultimate 10-word philosophy will be a part of the language that we develop...but only a part. Again, without knowing our values or being able to describe them with clarity and conviction, there is no language. Communicable philosophy.

As a foundation, here is Lakoff's list of progressive values as derived from the progressive vision. Although the list could not possibly contain every value for every progressive, it does provide a core listing of foundational progressive values.

* Caring and Responsibility carried out with strength
* Protection, Fulfillment in life, fairness
* Freedom, Opportunity, Prosperity
* Community, Service, Cooperation
* Trust, Honesty, Communication

More specifically, the nurturant morality is based on a fundamental ethic of care that says: Help, Don't Harm. From the central values of Empathy and Responsibility, the ethic of care leads naturally to the following set of values that characterizes the Nurturant Parent family:

STRENGTH:
You have to be strong and competent to carry out your responsibilities.

SAFETY AND PROTECTION:
A nurturing parent wants his/her family to be safe, which requires that they protect them, and themselves, from harm. The motivation to protect others comes from empathy, and the ability to do so comes from responsibility and strength.

FULFILLMENT IN LIFE:
Fulfillment in Life: When we empathize with others and take care of them responsibly, we desire their well-being, and want their dreams to come true. Happy and fulfilled people want to see others happy and fulfilled. Correspondingly, unhappy, unfulfilled people tend not to want others to be happier than they are. It is, therefore, a moral requirement to be a happy, fulfilled person.

FAIRNESS:
When we care for others, we want to treat them fairly, help them to treat others fairly, and ensure that others do treat them fairly.

FREEDOM:
Freedom: Freedom allows us to meet our needs, fulfill our potential, realize our dreams, and help others to do so as well.

OPPORTUNITY:
Caring for others means ensuring they have opportunities--to achieve fulfillment in life, to be treated fairly, and to be able to care for themselves and others.

PROSPERITY:
Without prosperity, there can be no opportunity.

COMMUNITY:
Healthy communities are based on cooperation, honesty, trust, and open communication.

CCOPERATION:
Responsibility to others requires cooperation and empathy. Cooperation is the basis for community, and requires open communication, honesty and trust.

TRUST:
Trust is needed for open communication and cooperation. We are trustworthy when we treat others fairly and responsibly.

HONESTY:
Honesty is the hallmark of open communication, and is necessary for trust and cooperation.

OPEN COMMUNICATION:
Open communication is at the heart of empathy and responsibility. To know how to care for others, we must communicate with them to understand their needs. Cooperation relies on two-way communication.

Here is an example of how values translate into policies -- more specifically, how a progressive government might express progressive values in its goals and policies:

* Strength: A progressive government must be strong enough to carry out progressive goals.

* The promotion of Safety and Protection for life, health, the environment, and human dignity translate into support for the social safety net, health care, environmental protection laws, and protection offered by the police and military. Governmental laws and policies ensure protection from unscrupulous businesses, pollution, unsafe products in the home, and unsafe working conditions.

* Fulfillment in Life is expressed in many ways: by satisfying and profitable work, by lifelong education and learning, and by an appreciation for the arts, music, and culture. This translates into support for our schools and universities, the National Endowment for the Arts and Humanities, and our cultural institutions. Religious and spiritual fulfillment is supported by our many religious traditions, protected from undue influence by the government.

* Fairness and Freedom are upheld by our civil liberties, offering equal protection under the law and equal rights for all citizens. Universal education and health care and programs such as Head Start are all matters of fairness that also advance freedom of opportunity. A professional, nonpartisan civil service and judiciary support fairness and freedom by preventing corruption, patronage and favoritism in government.

* Opportunity is critical for fairness and freedom, and to achieve fulfillment in life. Our nation's public schools and universities provide opportunities for everyone. Government policies such as Affirmative Action offer opportunity to women and people of color who face unfair disadvantages in society. Government support of honest business practices, full accounting standards, and anti-trust laws provide the conditions for honest businesspeople to succeed.

* Prosperity is based on how well our communities are doing, and whether we all have access to good jobs, a good education, and the conditions needed to live healthy and productive lives. Equal opportunity is important to be able to achieve prosperity. And prosperity is necessary for opportunity. This translates into a progressive goal of government to promote widespread prosperity as a form of seeking the common good. The promotion of general prosperity need not be just a role for the government, but for corporations and businesspeople as well.

* Community: Healthy communities are needed for healthy individuals. Policies that support healthy communities include well-trained and equipped fire fighters and police officers, hospitals and community care clinics, and other institutions that care for people in the community. Access to Fair Lending Laws, adhering to environmental standards, and sustainable planning and zoning laws all contribute to sound communities. And, an active civil society is a precondition for a healthy community.

* Cooperation is a hallmark of healthy communities, where everyone in a community works together to meet shared goals. Open communication requires cooperation and trust. In foreign policy, cooperation is expressed in support for the United Nations, diplomacy, and respect for international agreements and treaties.

* Trust, Honesty and Open Communication are required of an open government that respects its citizens. Open communication is how policymakers learn about the needs of people in their communities. Democracy requires a government that is responsive to its citizens. Regular press conferences, public hearings, and open deliberations by policymakers allow the people to communicate with their elected officials, and foster trust. The Freedom of Information Act and oversight agencies such as the General Accounting Office ensure the openness, honesty and accountability of the government to the people.

Step 3) Define principles that realize those progressive values

Values established, here are some principles that naturally evolve:

* Equity
* Equality
* Democracy
* Effective government
* Ethical business
* Multi-lateral and Value-based Foreign Policy, etc

More specifically...

EQUITY: What citizens and the nation owe each other. If you work hard, play by the rules, and serve your family, community, and nation, then the nation should provide a decent standard of living, as well as freedom, security, and opportunity.

EQUALITY:
Do everything possible to guarantee political equality and avoid imbalances of political power. Everyone has a voice that is meaningful in our society. No one is held to a different set of rules. Everyone -- women, gays, ethnic minorities, etc -- are allowed all basic rights.

DEMOCRACY:
Maximize citizen participation; minimize concentrations of political, corporate, and media power. Maximize journalistic standards. Establish publicly financed elections. Invest in public education. Bring corporations under stakeholder control, not just stockholder control.

GOVERNMENT FOR A BETTER FUTURE:
Government does what America's future requires and what the private sector cannot do -- or is not doing -- effectively, ethically, or at all. It is the job of government promote and, if possible, provide sufficient protection, greater democracy, more freedom, a better environment, broader prosperity, better health, greater fulfillment in life, less violence, and the building and maintaining of public infrastructure.

ETHICAL BUSINESS:
Our values apply to business. In the course of making money by providing products and services, businesses should not adversely affect the public good, as defined by the above values.

VALUES-BASED FOREIGN POLICY:
The same values governing domestic policy should apply to foreign policy whenever possible. Here are a few examples where progressive domestic policy translates into foreign policy:

* Protection translates into an effective military for defense and peacekeeping.

* Building and maintaining a strong community translates into building and maintaining strong alliances and engaging in effective diplomacy.

* Caring and responsibility translate into caring about:
- and acting responsibly for the world's people;
- world health, hunger, poverty, and ecology;
- population control (and the best method, women's education);
- rights for women, children, prisoners, refugees, and ethnic minorities.

All of these would be concerns of a values-based foreign policy.

Perhaps delving too far into the specifics, I would add the following:

* Protection for the vulnerable -- children, seniors, disabled, the poor.

* Freedom -- freedom to speak any opinion that suits us (barring threats of physical harm and deceitful destruction of reputation). Freedom to marry who we choose. Freedom to a private bedroom. Freedom to choose what we do with our bodies.

* People first -- not business, not government, not guns, not taxes... people.

Step 4) Derive policy directions that fit these principles and values

Given progressive values and principles, progressives can agree on basic policy directions. Policy directions are at a higher level than specific policies. While progressives differ on specific policies, we tend to agree on policy directions. Here are some of the many policy directions they agree on.

* Economy
* Security
* Health
* Education
* Early Childhood
* Environment
* Nature
* Energy
* Openness
* Equal Rights
* Protections

More specifically...

THE ECONOMY: An economy centered on innovation that creates millions of good-paying jobs and provides every American a fair opportunity to prosper.

SECURITY:
Through military strength, strong diplomatic alliances, and wise foreign and domestic policy, every American will be safeguarded at home, and America's role in the world will be strengthened by helping people around the world live better lives.

HEALTH:
Every American should have access to a state-of-the-art, affordable health care system.

EDUCATION:
A vibrant, well-funded, and expanding public education system, with the highest standards for every child and school, where teachers nurture children's minds and often the children themselves, and where children are taught the truth about their nation--its wonders and its blemishes.

EARLY CHILDHOOD:
Every child's brain is shaped crucially by early experiences. We support high-quality early childhood education.

ENVIRONMENT:
A clean, healthy, and safe environment for ourselves and our children: water you can drink and air you can breathe. Polluters pay for the damage they cause.

NATURE:
The natural wonders of our country are to be preserved for future generations.

ENERGY:
We need to make a major investment in renewable energy, for the sake of millions of good-paying jobs, independence from Middle Eastern oil, improvements in public health, preservation of our environment, and the effort to halt global warming.

OPENNESS:
An open, efficient, and fair government that tells the truth to our citizens and earns the trust of every American.

EQUAL RIGHTS:
We support equal rights in every area involving race, ethnicity, gender, and sexual orientation.

PROTECTIONS:
We support keeping and extending protections for consumers, workers, retirees, and investors.

Step 5) Establish a 'ten-word' philosophy that encapsulates all of the above

For me, this is the toughest element to formulate. So many possibilities offer so much potential for controversy.

I remember when I first read Lakoff's suggestion for the 10-word philosphy. At best, my response was 'respectful skepticism'. Even after reading his rationale, I was concerned that his philosophy encapsulation was far too vague.

Compare the Conservatives 10-word philosophy:

1) Smaller Government
2) Lower Taxes
3) Family Values
4) Strong Defense
5) Free Markets

...with Lakoff's progressive 10-word philosophy:

1) Stronger America
2) Broad Prosperity
3) Better Future
4) Effective Government
5) Mutual Responsibility

The conservative list (even without framing) gives a much better idea of what they stand for. The progressive list... well, I don't think 'Stronger America' and 'Better Future' are descriptive enough. In fact, they could easily be argued as part of the conservative philosophy.

Lakoff addresses this weakness by arguing that the reason this progressive philosophy lacks bite is because progressives have not yet had time to develop our language and frames. Once we do, then the 10 words will carry a much deeper and more specific meaning.

I admit that, after some exposure to the rationales, along with further attempts to refine the philosphy encapsulation, I foun dmyself returning to Lakoff's suggestions. Thus, I thought it a reasonable idea to give it a chance.

Here are Lakoff's rationales:

TEN-WORD PHILOSOPHIES

The conservatives have figured out their own values, principles, and directions, and have gotten them out in the public mind so effectively over the past thirty years that they can evoke them all in a ten-word philosophy: Strong Defense, Free Markets, Lower Taxes, Smaller Government, Family Values.

We progressives have a different ten-word philosophy, but it won't be as meaningful yet because it will take us a while to get our values, principles, and directions out there. My nomination for our ten-word philosophy is the following:

Progressive -- Conservative

STRONGER AMERICA -- STRONG DEFENSE
BROAD PROSPERITY -- FREE MARKETS
BETTER FUTURE -- LOWER TAXES
EFFECTIVE GOVERNMENT -- SMALLER GOVERNMENT
MUTUAL RESPONSIBILITY -- FAMILY VALUES

A 'Stronger America' is not just about defense, but about every dimension of strength: our effectiveness in the world, our economy, our educational system, our health care system, our families, our communities, our environment, and so forth.

'Broad Prosperity' is the effect that markets are supposed to bring about. But all markets are constructed for someone's benefit; no markets are completely free. Markets should be constructed for the broadest possible prosperity, and they haven't been.

Americans want and deserve a 'Better Future' -- economically, educationally, environmentally, and in all other areas of life -- for themselves and their children. Lowering taxes, primarily for the super-rich elite, has had the effect of defunding programs that would make a better future possible in all these areas. The proper goal is a better future for all Americans.

Smaller government is, in conservative propaganda, supposed to eliminate waste. It is really about eliminating social programs. 'Effective Government' is what we need our government to accomplish to create a better future.

Conservative family values are those of a strict father family -- authoritarian, hierarchical, every man for himself, based around discipline and punishment. Progressives live by the best values of both families and communities: 'Mutual Responsibility' which is authoritative, equal, two-way, and based around caring, responsibility (both individual and social), and strength. The remarkable thing is just how much progressives do agree on. These are just the things that voters tend to care about most: our values, our principles, and the direction in which we want to take the nation.

I believe that progressive values are traditional American values -- that progressive principles are fundamental American principles, and that progressive policy directions point the way to where most Americans really want our country to go. The job of unifying progressives is really the job of bringing our country together around its finest traditional values.

Continuing on that theme, I would suggest that we go one step further and adopt a 12-word Philosophy.

Add 'AMERICAN VALUES' to offset the conservatives' claim to ‘Family Values'. Taking into account the archetypical acceptance of Nation as family, assuming the role of American Values (to which progressive values truly equate) as progressive values trumps the Conservatives' claim to 'family values' in the sense that America is our ultimate family. Showing the progressive nature of the founding fathers and the constitution upon which the nation was founded would be a natural endeavor.

Essentially, AMERICAN VALUES = PROGRESSIVE VALUES. As a bonus, the assumption of American Values as Progressive Values would put the conservatives on the defense when they refute progressive values. Are they unpatriotic?

Remember that right-wing ideologues have convinced half of the country that the 'strict father' family model, which is bad enough for raising children, should govern our national morality and politics. This is the model that the best in American values has defeated over and over again in the course of our history -- from the emancipation of the slaves to women's suffrage, Social Security and Medicare, civil rights and voting rights acts, and Brown v. the Board of Education and Roe v. Wade. Each time we have unified our country more behind our finest traditional values.

RULES OF FRAMING:

Progressives are constantly put in positions where they are expected to respond to conservative arguments. It may be over Thanksgiving dinner, around the water cooler, or in front of an audience. But because conservatives have commandeered so much of the language, progressives are often put on the defensive with little or nothing to say in response. Thus, when responding to conservatives, there are several rules you should follow to ensure maximum effect.

* Know the 10 (or 12) -word philosophy and understand each part. Have an idea of what progressive values, principles, and policy directives are.

* Stand Strong! Progressive values are the best of traditional American values. Stand up for your values with dignity and strength. You are a true patriot because of your values.

* Don't use their language. Stay away from their keywords and phrases: "Tax Relief", "Tort Reform", "Partial Birth Abortion", "Death Tax", "Marriage Penalty". Etc. Using it only empowers them and reinforces the ‘strict Father' world view.

* Don't answer their loaded questions, instead, make your response an affirmation of the progressive stance on the issue.

* Distinguish between ordinary conservatives and nasty ideologues. Most conservatives are personally nice people, and you want to bring out their niceness and their sense of neighborliness and hospitality. As for the ideologues, you will gain little from a debate with them, unless it is for the benefit of 3rd party observers.

* Be calm. Calmness is a sign that you know what you are talking about.

* Be good-humored. A good-natured sense of humor shows you are comfortable with yourself.

* Hold your ground. Always be on the offense. Never go on defense. Never whine or complain. Never act like a victim. Never plead. Avoid the language of weakness, for example, rising intonations on statements. Your voice should be steady. Your body and voice should show optimism. You should convey passionate conviction without losing control.

* Conservatives have parodied liberals as weak, angry (hence not in control of their emotions), weak-minded, softhearted, unpatriotic, uninformed, and elitist. Don't give them any opportunities to stereotype you in any of these ways. Expect these stereotypes, and deal with them when they come up. By the way you conduct yourself, show strength, calmness, and control; an ability to reason; a sense of realism; love of country; a command of the basic facts; and a sense of being an equal, not a superior.

* Don't expect to convert staunch conservatives.

* You can make considerable progress with those who use both models but in different parts of their life. They are your best audience. Your job is to capture territory of the mind. With these people, your goal is to find out, if you can by probing, about which parts of their life they are nurturant. For example, ask who they care about the most, what responsibilities they feel they have to those they care about, and how they carry out those responsibilities. This should activate their nurturant models as much as possible. Then, while the nurturant model is active for them, try linking it to politics. For example, if they are nurturant at home but strict in business, talk about the home and family and how they relate to political issues.

EXAMPLE: Real family values mean that your parents, as they age, don't have to sell their home or mortgage their future to pay for health care or the medications they need.

* Avoid the usual mistakes. Remember, don't just negate the other person's claims; reframe. The facts unframed will not set you free. You cannot win just be stating the true facts and showing that they contradict your opponent's claims. Frames trump facts. His frames will stay and the facts will bounce off. Always reframe.

* If you remember nothing else about framing, remember this: Once your frame is accepted into the discourse, everything you say is just common sense. Why? Because that's what common sense is: reasoning within a commonplace, accepted frame.

* Never answer a question framed from your opponent's point of view. Always reframe the question to fit your values and your frames. This may make you uncomfortable, since normal discourse styles require you to directly answer questions posed. That is the trap. Practice changing frames.

* Be sincere. Use frames you really believe in, based on values you really hold.

* A useful thing to do is to use rhetorical questions: Wouldn't it be better if...? Such a question should be chosen to presuppose your frame.

EXAMPLE: Wouldn't it be better if we had a president who went to war with a plan to secure the peace?

* Stay away from set-ups. Fox News shows and other rabidly conservative shows try to put you in an impossible situation, where a conservative host sets the frame and insists on it, where you don't control the floor, can't present your case, and are not accorded enough respect to be taken seriously. If the game is fixed, don't play.

* Tell a story. Find stories where your frame is built into the story. Build up a stock of effective stories.

* Always start with values, preferably values all Americans share like security, prosperity, opportunity, freedom, and so on. Pick the values most relevant to the frame you want to shift to. Try to win the argument at the values level. Pick a frame where your position exemplifies a value everyone holds--like fairness.

EXAMPLE: Suppose someone argues against a form of universal health care. If people don't have health care, he argues, it's their own fault. They're not working hard enough or not managing their money properly. We shouldn't have to pay for their lack of initiative or their financial mismanagement.

FRAME SHIFT: Most of the forty million people who can't afford health care work full-time at essential jobs that cannot pay enough to get them health care. Yet these working people support the lifestyles of the top three-quarters of our population. Some forty million people have to do those hard jobs--or you don't have your lifestyle. America promises a decent standard of living in return for hard work. These workers have earned their health care by doing essential jobs to support the economy. There is money in the economy to pay them. Tax credits are the easiest mechanism. Their health care would be covered by having the top two percent pay the same taxes they used to pay. It's only fair that the wealthy pay for their own lifestyles, and that people who provide those lifestyles get paid
fairly for it.

* Be prepared. You should be able to recognize the basic frames that conservatives use, and you should prepare frames to shift to.

EXAMPLE: Your opponent says, "We should get rid of taxes. People know how to spend their money better than the government."

REFRAME: "The government has made very wise investments with taxpayer money. Our interstate highway system, for example. You couldn't build a highway with your tax refund. The government built them. Or the Internet, paid for by taxpayer investment. You could not make your own Internet. Most of our scientific advances have been made through funding from the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health--great government investments of taxpayer money. No matter how wisely you spent your own money, you'd never get those scientific and medical breakthroughs. And how far would you get hiring your own army with your tax refund?"

* Use wedge issues, cases where your opponent will violate some belief he holds no matter what he says.

EXAMPLE: Suppose he brings up abortion. Raise the issue of military rape treatment. Women soldiers who are raped (by our own soldiers, in Iraq, or on military bases) and who subsequently get pregnant presently cannot end their pregnancies in a military hospital, because abortions are not permitted there. A Military Rape Treatment Act would allow our raped women soldiers to be treated in military hospitals to end their rape-induced pregnancies.

THE WEDGE: If he agrees, he sanctions abortion, in government-supported facilities no less, where doctors would have to be trained and facilities provided for terminating pregnancies. If he disagrees, he dishonors our women soldiers who are putting their lives on the line for him. To the women it is like being raped twice--once by a criminal soldier and once by a self-righteous conservative.

* Call your opponent on their underlying agenda. An opponent may be disingenuous if his real goal isn't what he says his goal is. Politely point out the real goal, then reframe.

EXAMPLE: Suppose he starts touting smaller government. Point out that conservatives don't really want smaller government. They don't want to eliminate the military, or the FBI, or the Treasury and Commerce Departments, or the nine-tenths of the courts that support corporate law. It is big government that they like. What they really want to do away with is social programs--programs that invest in people, to help people to help themselves. Such a position contradicts the values the country was founded on--the idea of a community where people pull together to help each other. From John Winthrop on, that is what our nation has stood for.

* Your opponent may use language that means the opposite of what he says, called Orwellian language. Realize that he is weak on this issue. Use language that accurately describes what he's talking about to frame the discussion your way.

EXAMPLE: Suppose he cites the "Healthy Forests Initiative" as a balanced approach to the environment. Point out that it should be called "No Tree Left Behind" because it permits and promotes clear-cutting, which is destructive to forests and other living things in the forest habitat. Use the name to point out that the public likes forests, doesn't want them clear-cut, and that the use of the phony name shows weakness on the issue. Most people want to preserve the grandeur of America, not destroy it.

* Remember once more that our goal is to unite our country behind our values, the best of traditional American values. Right-wing ideologues need to divide our country via a cultural civil war. It is our job to evoke and maintain the nurturant model.

Those are a lot of guidelines. But there are only four really important ones:

1. Show respect
2. Respond by reframing
3. Think and talk at the level of values
4. Say what you believe

As a final note, recognize the possible pitfalls and attacks on these frames (For Example, equality must be framed in terms of rights and broad-based prosperity must be framed in terms of opportunity, otherwise the two together are easily framed by the opposition as a quest for communism.

CONCLUSION:

The bottom line is that framing becomes simple, almost natural as you start to think of the issues in terms of reframing rather than rebutting. It will take time, but the results will cause a paradigm shift in our ability to communicate a compelling message to the electorate -- well worth the investment.

Framing: Primer for a Progressive Revolution