George Lakoff's "Thinking Points" is available

[alfredo]

free online here:

http://www.rockridgeinstitute.org/thinkingpoints

The dead tree copy is only $10, so if you can afford it, plunk down the cash for it.

Home page
http://www.rockridgeinstitute.org/

[Nite Owl]

1. I just looked over the first chapter

and it looks like another great Lakoff work. A must read for anyone who wants to run candidates at any level. Got it bookmarked and will order it soon.

[alfredo]

2. I have his Don't Think of an Elephant and learned a lot.

[Nite Owl]

3. I have-

or had-that one too. I loaned it out to someone and well, hope it did some good. Lakoff did a class with DFA before the election, he was just great.

[alfredo]

4. The DFA is where I learned of Lakoff. I belong to our

local DFA here in Kentucky. We go by the name Change for Kentucky. Our group predates DFA so we kept our name instead of changing to DFA Kentucky or whatever.
We've flown below the radar for some time, but this last election got the attention of the Patrician party.

See the link below.

[Nite Owl]

5. Nice website!

We have to credit Dean for this new awakening among dems. I live in very blue NY but upstate which has a lot of mostly GOP areas. When I moved here a few years ago the first time I went to vote I didn't know who to vote for locally and figured well I'll just vote for any dem on the ballot. There weren't any, none at all. We formed a dem committee in my town and this time there are three openings in the town and we are trying to run three candidates. If nothing else it tells them we are here and we are not just going to sit back and not try. We won the race for congress (Kirsten Gillibrand) and she won our former congressman's home town. People here are republicans but some just from habit, they are really more libertarian than hard core conservative. It is the language and not letting the candidate be framed in the way they want. Fiscally conservative needs to be fiscally responsible, there is no such thing as conservatives being the ones who corner the market on careful spending.

[alfredo]

6. The Republicans can not play the fiscal conservative card

anymore. bush and Reagan dispelled that myth. Both were big spenders. Both put our nation is peril.

[Nite Owl]

7. As long as we have dems

using the words it will still be viable. They need to stop saying it like it was a good thing, they use that term over and over like it still means something. Gillibrand included. I have written to her about it, we have to frame the debate in our words, on our terms. The GOP has spent decades framing the left/left of center as big spenders, immoral etc. and it will take time and deliberate use of speech to change the framing. One would have thought that after Clinton's deficit reductions and great economy that the policies of this administration could never have been passed, it would have been laughed at to think that going back to a trickle down economy would no longer ever be spoken of, that they would be embarassed to try it. It worked, the same old tricks of 'lower taxes' got the middle class to think that it was really them he was talking about.

[alfredo]

8. Dems are fiscally Repsonsible. How would you frame our

fiscal policies?

[Nite Owl]

10. Dems are fiscally responsible

is what they need to say, not things like 'we are fiscally conservative when it comes to the budget' etc. The policies themselves need to be framed in terms of the people, what is best for the citizens, so I guess that would be a populist approach, a bottom up not top down.

On something like wages we need to quote people like Costco's Sinegal:

"Paying good wages is not in opposition to good productivity," insists Sinegal. "If you hire good people, give them good jobs, and pay them good wages, generally something good is going to happen."
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/02_38/b3800003.htm


And Sinegal says he's also built a loyal work force. In fact, Costco has the lowest employee turnover rate in retailing. Its turnover is five times lower than its chief rival, Wal-Mart. And Costco pays higher than average wages — $17 an hour — 40 percent more than Sam's Club, the warehouse chain owned by Wal-Mart. And it offers better-than-average benefits, including health care coverage to more than 90 percent of its work force.


Costco doesn't have a P.R. department and it doesn't spend a dime on advertising. There's a real business advantage to treating employees well, Sinegal said. "Imagine that you have 120,000 loyal ambassadors out there who are constantly saying good things about Costco. It has to be a significant advantage for you," he explained.

http://abcnews.go.com/2020/Business/story?id=1362779


The more people make, they better lives they’re going to have and the better consumers they’re going to be. It’s going to provide better jobs and better wages.
http://blog.aflcio.org/2007/01/31/costco-ceo-says-higher-minimum-wage-means-better-jobs-and-wages/



We cannot be anti corporation, we need to make it clear that we are not aiming at a socialist government like the GOP likes to say but we need fair policies that benefit everyone, the worker cannot be excluded.


So the key words would be: responsible and fair. Frame the GOP then as irresponsible and unfair.

[alfredo]

11. I've been a business owner and in other management

positions. I can vouch for the benefits of treating your employees well. Another good reason is what is called "shrinkage." Employees will "take things home." Treating them poorly will give them justification to continue doing it. They will also feel sabotage is justified if they are treated poorly. They will live down to your expectations. Treat them well and your shrinkage problems will be small.

[RedEarth]

9. Thanks for posting this link to Lakoff's "Thinking Points"

[alfredo]

12. You're welcomed.