also with all due respect the main reason the left loses so much is that yāall refuse to compromise on the language and messaging you use to speak to voters. i swear if you rebrandedĀ ādefund the policeā asĀ āinvest in community safety from the ground upā most white suburban moderates would be likeĀ āthat sounds greatā and i know that because thatās how iāve literally reframed it to white suburban moderates who thinkĀ ādefund the policeā means weāre going to live in a scary lawless mad max world
like maybe it comes across as mealy-mouthed and corny to people steeped in online cynicism but just to be clear, this is the country that wouldnāt eat french fries after 9/11 so we renamed themĀ āfreedom friesā and everyone was suddenly cool again. americans are not, by and large, super sophisticated about this stuff
okay, so, as a followupā¦. basically, i joined thisĀ āchristians against trumpā fb group for a work research project in 2017 and just ended up never leaving, bc it turned out to be such a great experiment in justā¦ observing and listening and talking to people and figuring out the language that works! so like, as a basic glossary for talking to the well-meaning anti-trump moderate dems in your life about progressive policies:
instead ofĀ ādefund the police,ā sayĀ āinvest in community safetyā and emphasize things like participatory budgeting giving you power over where YOUR taxes go and reallocating funds to after-school programs, social services, and food pantries
instead ofĀ āabolish ice,ā say āimmigration reformā andĀ ācreate a new agency for immigration and citizenship servicesāĀ
instead ofĀ āmedicare for all,ā sayĀ āuniversal health careā or even just really harp on making healthcare affordable and accessible to everyone
instead ofĀ āthe green new dealā (which was a great piece of messaging in the first place before it became inextricably tied up with aocās theatrics), talk about what an effective piece of climate legislation will create, not what it will destroy. when you sayĀ āban frackingā orĀ āban fossil fuelsā orĀ āreduce methane emissions in agricultureā people goĀ āYOU WONāT TAKE MY JOB OR MY FARTING COWS.ā climate is really an area where being able to reframe it through the language of capitalism helps. sayĀ āletās give tax breaks to farmers, especially small family farms who are already being squeezed out by the big guys, so they can invest in the future of their businessā and other noise-shaped air stuff like that. instead ofĀ āban frackingā talk about the jobs that renewable energy will create in communities that have been left behind by our reliance on foreign oil. i mean, fuck, the phraseĀ āclimate changeā can be a real problem when youāre talking to the whole country because of how effective theĀ āclimate and weather are the same thingsā andĀ āclimate change is a hoaxā disinfo campaigns have been over the past 20 years or so - but when you talk about āconserving our natural resourcesā and all that teddy roosevelt, ranger rick shit, it just comes across different.Ā
instead of āabortion rightsāā¦. listen, you know i hate equivocating about abortion but at the end of the day, when youāre talking to people who are probably anti-abortion for religious reasons but will still vote democrat because theyāre not a single-issue anti-abortion voter,Ā donāt sayĀ āabortion (on demand without apology etc),ā sayĀ āthe constitutional right to privacyā orĀ āthe right to make personal medical decisions without the government intervening.ā fearmonger about attacks on abortion the way sarah palin fearmongered about how obamacare would lead toĀ ādeath panelsā deciding whether your grandma would live or die! and if youāre talking to someone who just doesnāt feel that strongly about abortion because yada yada roe is settled who cares, talk about how āempowering women to decide when they start a family fuels economic growth and leads to more wanted children growing up in stable, happy two-parent homesā and so on.Ā
inversely, instead ofĀ āabolish the death penalty,ā talk about āsaving the lives of the innocentā andĀ āan eye for an eye makes the whole world blindā if youāre talking to a christian and honestly just look at the libertarian arguments against the death penalty and ape some of those - cost to the taxpayer, high wrongful conviction rates as a reflection of government incompetence. honestly, the libertarian right is frequently aligned with the left on criminal justice issues and i know we all love to dunk on libertarians but the language they use is pretty appealing to moderates who might be coming from a more conservative background or region where itās just normal
instead ofĀ ādemocratic socialism,ā just talk about, like, values - ending poverty and hunger, living wages and better educational opportunities, creating jobs and protecting ordinary working people and families and putting money back in their pockets and creating a stable economy. people really do vote based on kitchen table issues and you can really make a moral appeal on the rest.
instead of ātax the rich,ā say ācut taxes.ā period. never talk about raising taxes. not on the rich, not on the middle class, not for any reason whatsoever, even if youāre saying āif we raise taxes on billionaires we can give everyone a pony.ā i donāt care how much you want to tax billionaires, donāt fucking bring it up. i hate bezos as much as everyone but we live in america, where everyone is simply a temporarily embarrassed billionaire and convinced that taxing the ultra-rich will somehow hurt them too. donāt expect middle-of-the-road normies to get on board with theĀ āiāll pay more taxes if it means other people have health careā thing you see from avowed liberals and lefties, because they will not, iām sorry. frankly *****i***** have no interest in paying more taxes because nyc already taxes you out the nose regardless of where you are on the socioeconomic scale and if someone suggested i should pay more, even if it meant paying less on private services in the long run, i would simply be like,Ā ānope!ā so like, yeah, obviously the goal is to eliminate corporate tax loopholes and tax the ultra-rich at a higher rate while cutting tax burdens on everyone else, but what you want to say is stuff like āsmall business owners shouldnāt pay more in taxes than the companies like apple and amazon that are already squeezing them outā andĀ āweāll cut taxes and frivolous government spending,ā period, no embellishment.Ā āmaking american companies pay american taxesā is a succinct catchphrase i like to use.Ā
instead of ādefund/spend less on the military,ā sayĀ āwhy is the government spending so much on building outdated outdated tanks and submarines from 50 years ago and so little on services for veterans? we need to revitalize our military spending so that we can spend less on safer, more modern equipment, preserve those manufacturing jobs, and make sure that veterans get the health care and job opportunities they deserve.ā get it? like, republicans have been selling theĀ ācut waste, cut taxes, cut spendingā line for decades because it sounds good and people really respond to it.Ā unfortunately, one of the many cursed legacies of ronald reagan is that most people still think that balancing a government budget is like balancing a checkbook, and obviously thatās not true but it lends a lot of familiar comparisons and metaphors, so likeā¦ use them.
donāt equivocate onĀ āblack lives matterā - itās too important and too urgent - instead, give the non-activist liberals you already know the accessible language they can use to help normalize the phraseĀ āblack lives matterā in their own lives and encourage them to do so. they wonāt convert the full-on blue lives matter cult members and other assorted balls-to-the-wall racists, but there are people in the middle who just need to hear a targeted explanation of why that isnāt a combative or controversial statement, and that totally depends on the individualā¦ thereās the very basic 101-logicky āif sayingĀ āsave the whalesā doesnāt mean you think dolphins can kick rocks, or if sayingĀ āspinach is a vegetableā doesnāt mean that you think lettuce isnāt, why doesĀ āblack lives matterā imply that other lives donāt?ā and i saw someone in the christians against trump group cite a brene brown quote they saidĀ (āIn order for slavery to work, in order for us to buy, sell, beat, and trade people like animals, Americans had to completely dehumanize slaves. And whether we directly participated in that or were simply a member of a culture that at one time normalized that behavior, it shaped us. We canāt undo that level of dehumanizing in one or two generations. I believe Black Lives Matter is a movement to rehumanize black citizens. All lives matter, but not all lives need to be pulled back into moral inclusion. Not all people were subjected to the psychological process of demonizing and being made less than human so we could justify the inhumane practice of slavery.ā) that made it click for them and they like to use to make it click for others, and thereās also this example that i think is probably pretty resonant for christians:
the point is, as with all the rest of this, that there are a lot of people out there who are alienated by the language (because there has been a billion-dollar media propaganda machine working overtime to make the language as alienating as possible) but not by the content of the argument. the right is SO good at messaging to its base by speaking their language, dog whistles and all. but because the democratic party is a coalition of moderates and liberals and leftists, you really have to be strategic about your messaging in a way that the right doesnāt. frankly, thatās why joe biden won - he made those same broad appeals to morality and civility and unity and prosperity that people want to hear.Ā
i realize that everyone feels that if you have the moral high ground, you shouldnāt have to put in work to persuade people because they should automatically grasp that youāre right, but like i said above, this is america, and it doesnāt work like that. we need to talk to people, not in buzzwords or in highly stigmatized language that risks turning them off immediately, but in language that already means something to them. if you want to persuade people you have to actually make things sound appealing to them, whether that means evoking warm and fuzzy mental images or appealing to their principles and moral convictions and religious beliefs or just doing your best to sound like the adults in the room. you gotta do this stuff to build a majority instead of just a plurality within this party, because thatās just what we need to win.
If you want to see this side of the argument in action: witness Dan Price on Fox News reframing Universal Basic Income as ātaking money out of the government and putting it in the hands of everyday Americans,ā which is just. *chefās kiss* Speaking as someone raised by and around conservatives, they will eat that shit UP.
I think a big moral in all of this is that you canāt expect the VAST majority of Americans to be educated or knowledgeable about these kinds of issues. I donāt even mean that as a dig, just a reality. Most people, living their lives, working their jobs, do NOT use the internet for activism. They donāt read about these issues in detail. They donāt really understand WHAT those little phrases mean or WHY they should want them. Which means IF you want to be an activist and you if you want to get those people on board- you gotta get on their level and EXPLAIN it to them without the slogans. Which is work, and you are not obligated to spend your time doing it, or doing it all the time, or doing it with radicalized Trumpers who arenāt here in good faith; but it is THE work, ya know?
See also: Republicans have mastered this in the opposite direction. They take something Democrats or liberals want, reduce it to a Scary Soundbite, and done, now people hate it.
See: critical race theory
Critical race theory is actually a law school level class about how legal systems can disadvantage people of color in the United States. Itās been around for forty years.
Republicans have conflated it with āindoctrinating children to think being white is bad and hating America.ā Moral panic ensues.
The Affordable Care Act becomes āGovernment takeover of Healthcare.ā Etc etc etc
People need to be meet where theyāre at with accessible language that understands the audience or else youāll lose them
My mother is in favor of āuniversal healthcareā but against āsocialized medicine.ā The language used for these things really matters
