Ray, not all who marched in the 60s are "on the Right now". Like you, I do not respect those who opposed something in their youth just to 'go to the other side' as working adults IF they did so for superficial reasons like voting with their pocketbook or preferring to socialize with the rich instead of work with or for the poor, or just because the draft ended. But I respect those who became conservatives on principles that they can defend and articulate, not just play label games. My trump card with conservatives who claim a religious perspective is this: how can you ignore and disdain the "least among us" when your Bible tells you that is exactly who you are to be watching out for as you work your way through life?
I agree with you that progressives and liberals need to regain the moral high ground not just on specific issues, but because it is the right thing to do, to remind people that this nation has represented opportunity and fairness. The spirit of fairness has been nearly forgotten in the idolatry of free market greediness and smugness. Many people think they are failures when they don't realize the rules were stacked against them. REH wrote: Its not unbelievable Selma, its just politics. Liberal have to be willing to be less lazy than before. We've had it too easy. The answer isn't in money but in ideas. We have to get out there, develop the ideas and most of all ask questions. Claim the high road and on issues like abortion NOT seem to be encouraging women to have them while supporting the right of a woman to direct her childbearing life. Support freedom and then encourage people to choose that which is best for both mother and child and if that fails and it becomes a competitive choice between the two then allow them the freedom to do so. Liberals have lost the morality because they have been unable to focus on the underlying common sense issues that lie behind the conservative codes. Don't hide in words like unbelievable or dirty. Instead use words like "morality" with impunity and be so. If we are to win we must be better at what we do than they are and for me it is that simple. The Left had become corrupt and stupid in the sixties. I would never have marched with any of those guys. They were disgusting. But they are all on the right now and I feel better. Again, George Lakoff has written coherently about just this problem from the POV of a cognitive scientist. See Framing the Dems; How Conservatives control political debate and how progressives can take it back @ http://www.prospect.org/print/V14/8/lakoff-g.html Excerpt: "Progressive policies grow from progressive morality. Unfortunately, much of Democratic policy making has been issue by issue and program oriented, and thus doesn't show an overall picture with a moral vision. But, intuitively, progressive policy making is organized into five implicit categories that define both a progressive culture and a progressive form of government, and encompass all progressive policies. Those categories are: Safety. Post-September 11, it includes secure harbors, industrial facilities and cities. It also includes safe neighborhoods (community policing) and schools (gun control); safe water, air and food (a poison-free environment); safety on the job; and products safe to use. Safety implies health -- health care for all, pre- and postnatal care for children, a focus on wellness and preventive care, and care for the elderly (Medicare, Social Security and so on). Freedom. Civil liberties must be both protected and extended. The individual issues include gay rights, affirmative action, women's rights and so on, but the moral issue is freedom. That includes freedom of motherhood -- the freedom of a woman to decide whether, when and with whom. It excludes state control of pregnancy. For there to be freedom, the media must be open to all. The airwaves must be kept public, and media monopolies (Murdoch, Clear Channel) broken up. A Moral Economy. Prosperity is for everybody. Government makes investments, and those investments should reflect the overall public good. Corporate reform is necessary for a more ethical business environment. That means honest bookkeeping (e.g., no free environmental dumping), no poisoning of people and the environment and no exploitation of labor (living wages, safe workplaces, no intimidation). Corporations are chartered by and accountable to the public. Instead of maximizing only shareholder profits, corporations should be chartered to maximize stakeholder well-being, where shareholders, employees, communities and the environment are all recognized and represented on corporate boards. The bottom quarter of our workforce does absolutely essential work for the economy (caring for children, cleaning houses, producing agriculture, cooking, day laboring and so on). Its members have earned the right to living wages and health care. But the economy is so structured that they cannot be fairly compensated all the time by those who pay their salaries. The economy as a whole should decently compensate those who hold it up. Bill Clinton captured this idea when he declared that people who work hard and play by the rules shouldn't be poor. That validated an ethic of work, but also of community and nurturance. Global Cooperation. The United States should function as a good world citizen, maximizing cooperation with other governments, not just seeking to maximize its wealth and military power. That means recognizing the same moral values internationally as domestically. An ethical foreign policy means the inclusion of issues previously left out: women's rights and education, children's rights, labor issues, poverty and hunger, the global environment and global health. Many of these concerns are now addressed through global civil society -- international organizations dedicated to peacekeeping and nation building. As the Iraq debacle shows, this worldview is not naive; it is a more effective brand of realism. The Future. Progressive values center on our children's future -- their education, their health, their prosperity, the environment they will inherit and the global situation they will find themselves in. That is the moral perspective. The issues include everything from education (teacher salaries, class size, diversity) to the federal deficit (will they be burdened with our debt?) to global warming and the extinction of species (will there still be elephants and bananas?) to health (will their bodies be poisoned as a result of our policies, and will there be health care for them?). Securing that future is central to our values. These are the central themes of a progressive politics that comes out of progressive values. That is an important point. A progressive vision must cut across the usual program and interest-group categories. What we need are strategic initiatives that change many things at once. For example, the New Apollo Program -- an investment of hundreds of billions over 10 years in alternative energy development (solar, wind, biomass, hydrogen) is also a jobs program, a foreign-policy issue (freedom from dependence on Middle East oil), a health issue (clean air and water, many fewer poisons in our bodies) and an ecology issue (cleans up pollution, addresses global warming). Corporate reform is another such strategic initiative. Promoting a Progressive Frame To articulate these themes and strategic initiatives, using government as an instrument of common purpose, we have to set aside petty local interests, work together and emphasize what unites us. Defeating radical conservatism gives us a negative impetus, but we will not succeed without a positive vision and cooperation. ...It is also time to stop thinking in terms of market segments. An awful lot of voters vote Democratic because of who they are, because they have progressive values of one kind or another -- not just because they are union members or soccer moms. Voters vote their identities and their values far more than their self-interests. ...There are certain numbers of liberals and conservatives, of course, who are just not going to be swayed. The exact numbers are subject to debate, but from talking informally to professionals and making my own best guesses, I estimate that roughly 35 percent to 39 percent of voters overwhelmingly favor the progressive-Democratic moral worldview while another 35 percent to 38 percent of voters overwhelmingly favor the conservative-Republican moral worldview....The swing voters -- roughly 25 percent to 30 percent -- have both worldviews and use them actively in different parts of their lives. Activation of the progressive model among swing voters is done through language -- by using a consistent, conventional language of progressive values. Democrats have been subject to a major fallacy: Voters are lined up left to right according to their views on issues, the thinking goes, and Democrats can get more voters by moving to the right. But the Republicans have not been getting more voters by moving to the left. What they do is stick to their strict ideology and activate their model among swing voters who have both models. They do this by being clear and issuing consistent messages framed in terms of conservative values. The moral is this: Voters are not on a left-to-right line; there is no middle. Here is a cognitive scientist's advice to progressive Democrats: Articulate your ideals, frame what you believe effectively, say what you believe and say it well, strongly and with moral fervor. Reframing is telling the truth as we see it -- telling it forcefully, straightforwardly and articulately, with moral conviction and without hesitation. The language must fit the conceptual reframing, a reframing from the perspective of progressive values. It is not just a matter of words, though the right ones are needed to evoke progressive frames. And stop saying "tax relief." Volume 14, Issue 8. September 1, 2003. http://www.prospect.org/print/V14/8/lakoff-g.html I have this in Word document, at 5.5 pages it is 66 KB and too big for the FW filter. Contact me if you want a reader friendly version. _______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://scribe.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
