from The Rockridge Institute

So many (including those of us at Blue Herald) have criticized Congress for “softballing” a new spending bill and giving in to President Bush’s demands for “his way”. His critique of Democrats in the House and Senate before he vetoed the first Iraq Accountability Act is just another example of his bullying and arrogance that has been the norm of the Bush White House.
It’s time for action and time for all progressives to speak up. But to speak up intelligently means being informed correctly, knowing what you’re talking about and knowing that you are correct.

The following article appeared on the Rockridge Institutes website. Below, we’ll post the link where you can download (in pdf) George Lakoff’s critical pamphlet

Critics of Congress’s passage this week of the Iraq supplemental spending bill lament a lack of political courage. But Congress would find it easier to act courageously if the public understood the constitutional stakes. And that public understanding requires correct and persistent framing by Congress itself. What needs to have been framed - indeed what still needs to be framed - is Congress’s constitutional responsibility and power to set the course on military missions like Iraq.

Thinking Points: Communicating our American Values and Vision is George Lakoff and the Rockridge Institute’s handbook for the grassroots progressive community. You, the progressive community, have expressed a need for a short, easy-to-read systematic account of the progressive vision, for the morals and principles that apply across issue areas, and for all the essentials of framing. That, along with extensive argument analysis and an important new explanation of the so-called political center, is what we’ve written. We are confident that this book will empower progressives to express themselves in an authentic, values-driven fashion.

The book is now available to order online at Powells, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Cody’s Books and in bookstores across the country, and has a list price of $10.

Join a discussion of Thinking Points on the Rockridge Nation web community. Whether you are new to the idea of framing and the work of George Lakoff or simply wish to delve deeper, we hope that you will join us. This is a great time and place to ask questions and share your thoughts, if you are interested in learning more about framing and how to express progressive values more effectively. The discussion starts with a look at the first chapter of Thinking Points, and will be followed with discussion of a new chapter each week.

download “Thinking Points” in pdf