Daily Kos :: 10 Ideas for 2008.
Great essay and discussion on ten points to begin spreading so candidates can run on them in 2008. There's some recognition of Lakoff's principles, and lots of ideas about what will move people. Read it, leave comments, etc. Here are mine:
Are we creating the kind of community (world, country, people) we want?
I think the commons, and the community, are one of the points with the most resonance. As a central point, it allows us to ask whether we are building the kind of society that we want, which can be used to question any particular policy, from cutting taxes to allowing discrimination against gays. We can also tie social problems to existing policies - lack of police, pollution, etc. to the idea that Republican and conservative policies are hurting our communities.
People respond to what they see in their daily lives, and what strikes their emotions. We need a strategy that makes the Democrats the party of our homes and our neighborhoods, and the Republicans the party of the corporations and the rich.
Having said that, I can't resist sharing my alarm at the "trust the people" point. As an environmental activist, I see that argument used constantly by the Republicans to justify cutting regulation and oversight. What we really need is for people to trust the government, or at least recognize that it does play an important role in the communities we create. The most damaging thing Reagan did was to effectively de-legitimize government, and we'll be fighting from behind until we can re-legitimize it.
