Please forward this message to any friends or family who might be interested. Knowledge is power! Biden 2024: Freedom – For The PeopleHow Democrats can (and must) reclaim the freedom frame from Trump's Republicans
The 2024 election — and the fate of the American democracy — may depend on a simple question: Which political party protects freedom and stands for the people? A recent poll conducted by Change Research for FutureMajority.org is the latest survey to show that freedom is the most powerful value in the minds of "movable" voters — those who have not yet decided how they'll vote. The poll recommends the following arguments to help frame the case for voters:
See the entire poll: "Pulse of the Nation Report: Analysis of Movable Voters" "This election is going to be unique in a lot of ways with a president running against a former president, both of which have large unfavorable ratings," said Stephen Clermont, who directed the poll, during an interview of the FrameLab podcast. That's why Biden and Democrats must articulate a clear message centered on freedom. Reaching 'movable' votersReaching movable voters will be key to victory. Who are the movable voters? For one thing, the group is young and mostly women. "It's over 60 percent or more under the age of 50," said Clermont. "It's less white and it's more Hispanic and Black than decided voters are. They are much more female. I think in every poll that we've done, about 60 percent are women." Ideologically, these movable voters would seem to lean toward the Democratic Party, but they're not totally convinced yet. "Ideologically, almost none of them identify as conservative," said Clermont. "Zero percent identify as MAGA. It's sort of a mix of progressives, liberals and moderates. And in terms of party ID, about 20 percent identify as Republican. The rest, about half, identify as Democratic. And then about 30 percent, purely independent, not leaning towards either party." In addition, the poll shows these movable voters are part of a generation that's more likely to get news from social media rather than traditional outlets. They get their news from Instagram, Tik Tok and YouTube, not the New York Times or cable news. Freedom and the futureWhile online political discourse and campaign ads tend to focus on attacking Trump, Clermont said those tactics don't really interest movable voters. They want to know how the election will affect their pocketbooks and their personal freedoms. And they want to vote for someone who has a compelling vision for the future, not just snarky attacks on the other candidate. "Debates centering on politicians do not work," says the poll. "Voters want solutions to the issues. Voters will need local validation. Democrats should utilize the Freedom Frame and propose ideas to create more opportunity." This matches what Dr. George Lakoff, the co-founder of FrameLab, has been saying and writing for decades. Freedom is the most important American value because our nation was founded on the idea. Yet Democrats have too often allowed Republicans to own the "freedom frame." "Perhaps no idea has mattered more in American history than the idea of freedom," he wrote in 2008's "Whose Freedom? The Battle Over America's Most Important Idea." Wrote Lakoff:
Yet Democrats have never consistently framed these issues in terms of freedom. That needs to change — and there's reason for optimism. The Change Research poll is just the latest to show that Democratic leaders need to talk to voters about freedom. And key Democratic leaders seem to be paying attention. Framing democratic freedomIn 2024, Democrats from Nancy Pelosi to Joe Biden have declared that "freedom is on the ballot." That's a good start, but framing takes more than just a pithy slogan with the word "freedom" in it. To actually frame the case requires Democratic leaders to constantly talk about their ideas and policies in terms of freedom. There are some obvious issues, such as Reproductive Freedom. Polls show abortion rights are a key issue for movable voters, and they understand the dangers posed by a Supreme Court stacked with Trump appointees. The FutureMajority poll shows that 66 percent of young movable voters believe Trump Republicans threaten democracy, and 61 percent believe Republicans threaten their personal rights and freedoms. "Reproductive Freedom is the cornerstone of this argument," says the FutureMajority.org poll. "Among under 40 voters, more than 80 percent oppose the Dobbs Supreme Court decision and more than half of Movable voters identify 'abortion and reproductive freedom; as a top issue for them in 2024. Among the same group, 79 percent say that MAGA Republicans threaten democracy. Center these issues around protecting freedom. This includes keeping MAGA Extremists from the Supreme Court, and making meaningful action on policing reform, climate change, gun safety, and so many other issues." The key phrase: Center these issues around protecting freedom. Below are some simple ways to frame different issues as a freedom issue:
These are not perfected or poll-tested phrases. But they show how easy it is to emphasize the fact that nearly every issue is a freedom issue. Try it for yourself! Take an issue we didn't mention and think about how it's a freedom issue. Then put a freedom frame on it. Biden: More Freedom, pleaseIt's great news that President Biden and his team understand the need to speak directly to freedom and the future. Now they need to do a better job of making sure that's what voters are hearing every day, both in the press and on social media (where a lot of movable voters get their information). Biden opened his re-election campaign with an ad that emphasized freedom, but freedom frame messaging has been sporadic so far. Freedom can't just be a slogan or catchphrase peppered lightly into speeches and social media posts. Freedom must be the constant frame — the word used constantly when talking about the future the Democratic Party seeks to build. Only through intense and overt repetition will the message get through. Democrats generally struggle to impose such obvious framing on their agenda. They prefer to believe that their policies speak for themselves. But freedom is on the ballot in 2024 — literally, not figuratively. With polls showing that movable voters care about the "F" word, it's time for Democrats to own the freedom frame and also make it clear how the Democratic agenda stands For The People. "The freedom to be healthy, the freedom to be economically secure, the freedom to learn, the freedom from hunger, the freedom to be safe from harm … 56 percent would support a candidate who says that versus 21 percent who support making America great again by getting inflation under control, getting people back to work, cracking down on crime, banning critical race theory and securing the border," said Clermont. In 2024, it's a choice of freedom for the people — or not. Further reading:
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Friday, March 22, 2024
Fw: Biden 2024: Freedom – For The People
ANS group - I am forwarding this to you because I'm too lazy to copy and paste, but this is from Framelab/ George Lakoff, the linguist who tries to tell Dems what to say to people to get them to vote Dem. this is worth reading.
----- Forwarded Message -----
From: FrameLab <framelab@substack.com>
To: "kimc0240@yahoo.com" <kimc0240@yahoo.com>
Sent: Wednesday, March 20, 2024 at 04:07:51 AM PDT
Subject: Biden 2024: Freedom – For The People
ANS -- The Strongman Fantasy
Here's a really good article by Timothy Snyder (who wrote On Tyranny) on what it would be like with a "strongman" in charge. Read it. Share it.
Find it here: The Strongman Fantasy
--Kim
Quite a few Americans like the idea of strongman rule. Why not a dictator who will get things done?
I lived in eastern Europe when memories of communism were fresh. I have visited regions in Ukraine where Russia imposed its occupation regime. I have spent decades reading testimonies of people who lived under Nazi or Stalinist rule. I have seen death pits, some old, some freshly dug. And I have friends who have lived under authoritarian regimes, including political prisoners and survivors of torture. Some of the people I trusted most have been assassinated.
So I think that there is an answer to this question.
Strongman rule is a fantasy. Essential to it is the idea that a strongman will be your strongman. He won't. In a democracy, elected representatives listen to constituents. We take this for granted, and imagine that a dictator would owe us something. But the vote you cast for him affirms your irrelevance. The whole point is that the strongman owes us nothing. We get abused and we get used to it.
Another pleasant illusion is that the strongman will unite the nation. But an aspiring dictator will always claim that some belong and others don't. He will define one group after another as the enemy. This might feel good, so long as you feel that you are on the right side of the line. But now fear is the essence of life. The politics of us-and-them, once begun, never ends.
We dream that a strongman will let us focus on America. But dictatorship opens our country to the worst the world has to offer. An American strongman will measure himself by the wealth and power of other dictators. He will befriend them and compete with them. From them he will learn new ways to oppress and to exploit his own people.
At least, the fantasy goes, the strongman will get things done. But dictatorial power today is not about achieving anything positive. It is about preventing anyone else from achieving anything. The strongman is really the weak man: his secret is that he makes everyone else weaker.
Unaccountable to the law and to voters, the dictator has no reason to consider anything beyond his own personal interests. In the twenty-first century, those are simple: dying in bed as a billionaire. To enrich himself and to stay out of prison, the strongman dismantles the justice system and replaces civil servants with loyalists.
The new bureaucrats will have no sense of accountability. Basic government functions will break down. Citizens who want access will learn to pay bribes. Bureaucrats in office thanks to patronage will be corrupt, and citizens will be desperate. Quickly the corruption becomes normal, even unquestioned.
As the fantasy of strongman rule fades into everyday dictatorship, people realize that they need things like water or schools or Social Security checks. Insofar as such goods are available under a dictatorship, they come with a moral as well as a financial price. When you go to a government office, you will be expected to declare your personal loyalty to the strongman.
If you have a complaint about these practices, too bad. Americans are litigious people, and many of us assume that we can go to the police or sue. But when you vote a strong man in, you vote out the rule of law. In court, only loyalism and wealth will matter. Americans who do not fear the police will learn to do so. Those who wear the uniform must either resign or become the enforcers of the whims of one man.
Everybody (except the dictator and his family and friends) gets poorer. The market system depends upon competition. Under a strongman, there will be no such thing. The strongman's clan will be favored by government. Our wealth inequality, bad enough already, will get worse. Anyone hoping for prosperity will have to seek the patronage of the official oligarchs. Running a small business will become impossible. As soon as you achieve any sort of success, someone who wants your business denounces you.
In the fantasy of the strongman, politics vanishes and all is clear and bright. In fact, a dreary politics penetrates everything. You can't run a business without the threat of denunciation. You can't get basic services without humiliation. You feel bad about yourself. You think about what you say, since it can be used against you later. What you do on the internet is recorded forever, and can land you in prison.
Public space closes down around you. You cannot escape to the bar or the bowling alley, since everything you say is monitored. The person on the next stool or in the next lane might not turn you in, but you have to assume they will. If you have a t-shirt or a bumper sticker with a message, someone will report you. Even if you just repeat the dictator's words, someone can lie about you and denounce you. And then, if you voted for the strongman, you will be confused. But you should not be. This is what you voted for.
Denunciation becomes normal behavior. Without law and voting, denouncing others helps people to feel safe. Under strongman rule, you cannot trust your colleagues or your friends or even your family. Political fear not only takes away all public space; it also corrupts all private relationships. And soon it consumes your thoughts. If you cannot say what you think, you lose track of what you believe. You cease to be yourself.
If you have a heart attack and go to the hospital, you have to worry that your name is on a list. Care of elderly parents is suddenly in jeopardy. That hospital bed or place in a retirement home is no longer assured. If you draw attention to yourself, aged relatives will be dumped in the street. This is not how America works now, but it is how authoritarian regimes always work.
In the strongman fantasy, no one thinks about children. But fear around children is the essence of dictatorial power. Even courageous people restrain themselves to protect their children. Parents know that children can be singled out and beaten up. If parents step out of line, children lose any chance of going to university, or lose their jobs.
Schools collapse anyway, since a dictator only wants myths that justify his power. Children learn in school to denounce one another. Each coming generation must be more tame and ignorant than the prior one. Time with young children stresses parents. Either your children repeat propaganda and tell you things you know are wrong, or you worry that they will find out what is right and get in trouble.
In a dictatorship, parents no longer say what they think to their children, because they fear that their children will repeat it in public. And once parents no longer speak their minds at home, they can no longer create a trusting family. Even parents who give up on honesty have to fear that their children will one day learn the truth, take action, and get imprisoned.
Once this process begins, it is hard to stop. At the present stage of the strongman fantasy, people imagine an exciting experiment. If they don't like strongman rule, they think, they can just elect someone else the next time. This misses the point. If you help a strongman come to power, you are eliminating democracy. You burn that bridge behind you. The strongman fantasy dissolves, and real dictatorship remains.
Most likely you won't be killed or be required to kill. But amid the dreariness of life under dictatorship is dark responsibility for others' death. By the time the killing starts, you will know that it is not about unity, or the nation, or getting things done. The best Americans, betrayed by you when you cast your vote, will be murdered at the whim and for the wealth of a dictator. Your tragedy will be living long enough to understand this.
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