The Golden Lake Institute
Seeking to determine and promote the Common Good Frame
Who and what is the Golden Lake Institute?
The Golden Lake Institute comprises a group of individuals and organizations who see themselves on the political Left. They feel the Left needs to find new ways to think and talk, and encourage others to think and talk about its political project. We agree with George Lakoff and others who argue that the heart of political strategy is the ability to successfully "frame" issues in ways that appeal to people's deepest values and understandings.
In recent years, the Right, aided greatly by its own financial resources, has successfully promoted its frame, which, according to Lakoff, is based on a strict-father family model. It emphasizes discipline and rewards for individuals, private enterprise and a laissez-faire business environment. The Golden Lake Institute believes a modern Left needs a thoughtful, collaborative, coherent approach to promoting a Common Good Frame and the values, messages and policies that flow from it: cooperation, equality, opportunity, investment, reclaiming the commons, public services for everyone, and more.
The Institute exists to closely examine the framing and persuasion techniques of the political Right and attempts to develop and suggest frames and approaches that will help the political Left in three important ways.
- We hope this work will help build public support for our political project in service of the common good.
- By bringing together activists, researchers, writers and leaders for discussion and debate, we want to contribute to developing shared strategies and language to help us engage the voter.
- The project may enable the political Left, which has its roots in the '30s and '60s, to broaden its analysis and transform its own politics into a powerful, unifying force for the common good in this very new century.
What is framing?
Framing is the practice of influencing how people think and feel about issues by encouraging them to think about them in a particular way. This is done with language that conjures up and appeals to images and values that people know and understand deeply.
The political Right is masterful at framing issues in ways that glorify business and individual achievement and disparage public enterprise. Consider the words "tax relief" with "tax fairness", "bureaucrat" with "public servant", "troop surge" with "escalation", "conflict" with "occupation". Each pairing presents an issue seen from the right-wing frame and from the Common Good Frame.
Linguist and cognitive scientist George Lakoff has been credited with helping American Democrats successfully challenge the Bush Republicans. He believes that, in an environment where right-wing frames often go unchallenged, "reframing" is necessary.
He writes:
"Reframing is telling the truth as we see it: telling it forcefully, straightforwardly, articulately, with moral conviction and without hesitation. The language must fit the conceptual reframing: a reframing from the perspective of progressive morality. It is not just a matter of words, though the right words do help evoke a progressive frame: paying their fair share, those who have received more, the infrastructure of wealth, and so on.
"Reframing requires a rewiring of the brain. That may take an investment of time, effort, and money. The conservatives have realized that. They made the investment and it is paying off. Moral: The truth alone will not set you free. It has to be framed correctly."
Projects:
Public Values - Privatization and the fight to preserve public services, resources, spaces and enterprise.
Valeurs Publiques - Luttons contre la privatisation. Défendons les services publics, les ressources, les espaces et l'esprit d'entreprise.
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© Straight Goods News/Golden Lake Institute, 2007-11
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