Republican Instruction Manual
About a month ago, a Fantasti-topic broke out on the use of language and framing. In that post, we talked about the role of language and framing in the Democratic Party. Frank Luntz, right-wingers’ patron saint of framing, regularly sends research findings on framing to influential conservative leaders for quick and efficient dissemination throughout the Party. What we usually don’t know is what is contained in those manuals.
Well, it happens that one of our own (guess who) happens to work for Mr. Luntz. Since our resident Republican is a nice guy, he quickly let me know that a Luntz manual had leaked on the Net. You can get it here.
This is important because this is exactly what Howard Dean and others are finally pushing the Democrats to tackle. It’s absolutely fascinating. I encourage you all to read it—all 160 pages! At the very least, read the introduction to get an overview. I have to admit I’ve only been able to read half of it so far, but it didn’t take me long so don’t be intimidated.
For a great resource from the liberal side (thanks to another tip from Alex), check out Lakoff’s Don’t Think of an Elephant!
One of their polls shows that only 21% feel that “fairness” is the most important issue. But Luntz suggests that Republicans pay close attention to the idea of tying fairness to opportunity—that they should act on it despite its poor showing in the polls. I wonder why they’re worried about the framing of fairness. Are they worried fairness will become more of an issue for Americans as the impact of Bush’s policies begin to be realized? Luntz is worried that Democrats pose a threat here and even says that if they take fairness from the Democrats, then they “will have a majority for a generation.” For scoring so low in polls, that’s a pretty lofty claim to make unless there’s something about the impact and importance of fairness that is yet to be exposed.
- Nan
posted by The Decider @ 12:27 AM
2 Comments:
I just wanted to follow-up by posting a link to Dr. Lakoff's Rockridge Institute .
Also, this Lakoff article from The Nation
gives a good introduction to Lakoff's work. Here's a quote (notice that, like Luntz, Fairness and Opportunity appear here, although coupled with equality and community respectively):
"We came together because of our moral values: care and responsibility, fairness and equality, freedom and courage, fulfillment in life, opportunity and community, cooperation and trust, honesty and openness. We united behind political principles: equality, equity (if you work for a living, you should earn a living) and government for the people--all the people."
- Nan
Oh man, I've been waiting for this post...
Let me offer up some perspective on the "fairness" issue that we took on in the manual.
I think the point that we were trying to make is that given traditional political archetypes, Republicans have rarely been the party of fairness. They may be the party of liberty (again according to stereotypes), but I would be hard pressed to find an instance in which the GOP has been the party of fairness. In other words, while fairness doesn't poll well alongside other American principles, it is a principle in which the Democrats poll much much higher than the Republicans (we often ask questions like that: "Which party do you think is better in dealing with [issues of fairness, abortion, social security, etc.]; the answers are fascinating). Quite bluntly, Democrats win when it comes to fairness.
However, these paradigms are shifting - or, more accurately, have the potential to shift.
Republicans have a unique opportunity to frame two impending policy debates around fairness - and to legitimately claim that they are the party advancing the most "fair" agenda (at least in my opinion, which I'm sure most on this blog would disagree with).
If they can do this, we may be in for a true political realignment in favor of the conservative party.
Finally, you probably wonder how I see the GOP side as the "fair" side...that, needless to say, is a debate better suited to its own post, but let me offer a VERY brief defense:
Social Security - Generational Fairness; ensuring that ourselves, and our children and our grandchildren receive the same retirement security that boomers and current retirees do.
Tax Simplification - The tax code is a "complicated mess" in which the rich hire accountants to pay lower taxes, and the poor struggle through incomprehensible forms, and do not enjoy the fancy accounting tricks that the rich do.
Sadly, I must admit that there are too many areas in which Republicans fail in fairness. Their is nothing fair about restricting marriages, and there is nothing fair about imposing Christianity on the unwilling. BUT, that doens't mean that they can't be fair.
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