Talking to the Reptile, 2006
Thu Jun 15, 2006 at 01:12:04 PM PDT
In the past several days, I've noticed a discernable shift in the continuing online progressive conversation. Is a sense of dread starting to settle in? The November mid-term elections, which two weeks ago were being touted in Left Blogistan as a slam dunk, are suddenly looking a bit more competitive for the GOP. The most current polling doesn't necessarily reflect a broad shift in national sentiment back toward the GOP, but then again, the pulse of the netroots on the left seems to be quickening a bit.
It's impossible to ignore the fact that the GOP has managed to sieze the current news cycle. From Operation Mullethead 2006, to the hit on Zarqawi, to Patrick Fitzgerald's green-lighting of Karl Rove, there hasn't been much of an indication in the past few weeks that the Democratic Party has any idea of how to respond to these developments in a way that a) doesn't directly alienate people, and b) doesn't provide an opening for the GOP to cast the Democratic Party as a group of partisan ankle biters...
Howard Dean's response to the lack of indictment of Rove was weak in the extreme:
Mr Dean countered: "The prosecutor's decision not to indict Karl Rove does not diminish the fact that Karl Rove was involved in leaking the identity of an intelligence operative during a time of war. Karl Rove does not belong in the White House."
We can all appreciate Gov. Dean's disappointment, but the fact of the matter is that Rove has apparently been cleared, and took absolutely no time in launching himself head-first back into the political fray. Dean's hasty remarks were easily spun by the GOP as sour grapes.
The DNC continues to push the "GOP culture of corruption" button, at the expense of other ripe opportunities for exploiting GOP weaknesses. Perhaps there's just too much on the smorgasboard of Bush administration failures from which to choose. Still, it's hard to believe that the DNC is not focus-grouping many of these issues in order to prioritize their public relations conversation. It doesn't seem to me that the "corruption" message is catching any real wind in the sails, and for good reason. The general perception in the public is that all politicians are inherently corrupt, and it doesn't much matter whether they wear GOP or Democrat colors.
Talking to the Reptile - an Update
A year ago I wrote about this same damn issue, and it seems like the Democratic Party has made so little progress in terms of communicating the core message and values of the party. We continue to react; we continue to wait for BushCo to self-destruct. We all gnash our teeth and whine and wonder how the GOP and the evil spinmasters such as Karl Rove and Frank Luntz get away with snookering the American people on a daily basis. Much more importantly, we progressives bang our heads on brick walls and continue to be befuddled as to why policies that are clearly anti-family and anti-individual continue to be pushed and prodded through the halls of congress. There's actually a very easy answer. And in that answer lies the solution to effectively communicating a progressive message.
Mark Sumner at TwoTaboos wrote a great posting that didn't get a lot of play in Left Blogistan, but which really does an effective job of analyzing the root of the problem and offers a framework for countering the GOP surge. Here's how Sumner frames the situation:
There's been a lot of talk about getting our message across effectively. In short: we don't. We rail against the media (which deserves it) and against our own politicians (who also deserve it), for being such ineffectual purveyors of our ideas. Fencing, framing, or plain old propaganda, the right seems to have done a much better job at turning their message into terms that resonate with the public.
There's also been a lot of talk along the "what's the matter with Kansas" vein -- head scratching about why people vote against what seems to be their own self interest. Poor people continually vote to give their money to the rich. They turn on the system that's lifted them up for a century as if its the cause of their troubles.
At the same time, we think the right is ... well, stupid. It's painfully frustrating. How can Bush babble such idiocy, and still get the rabid support of the very people he's hurting most? Truth is, the right wing message is stupid. Literally. And that's exactly why it works...
Sumner then effectively diagnoses
why the babbling and pandering to the lowest common denominator works, using
Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. (
Note: the TwoTaboo's posting has a graphic of the hierarchy; I like
this one, updated in the 1990's, much better in terms of explaining Maslow's theories as they apply to today's political situation.) In short summary, the GOP and their spinmasters have been much more effective at communicating with the reptile in each of us, addressing our basic human needs, than have progressives, who tend to target the rational being in each of us.
Okay, so the problem has been identified. How do we take this knowledge and do something with it? Sumner suggests:
So how do we win? How can we win, when the Republicans are camped out on the brain stem?
We win by going lower. By that, I don't mean fighting dirtier -- though I'm more than willing to sling sewage with the worst of them, and we'll probably be required to swim through an ocean of manure before this is over. When I saw lower, I mean we win by convincing people that Republicans are not only not delivering on their promises of safety, they're actually a threat to those things at the bottom of the pyramid.
Ever wonder why Republicans spend even more time trying to make "environmentalist" a dirty word than they do "liberal?" Why "tree-hugger" is one of the first jabs at anyone who so much as dares to question their policies? Because they are scared, scared to death, that people might actually pay attention to these issues. It's the environment stupid. That's where we have to fight if we hope to win. Convince people that Republicans are a threat to having safe food to eat. They're a threat to having clean water to drink. Republicans are a threat to the very air you breath.
Back during the past election cycle, I opined that I didn't think Democrats were doing enough to make the Bush administration's
gutting of the clean air act an issue. One of the more critical components of this gutting was the increase (or "tradeoff" of credits) of mercury emissions in fossil fuel power generation. What a great campaign issue! Who in their right reptilian brains would support increased heavy metal contamination in their water, their food chain, their air, and their children's bloodstream? Apparently, at least 51% of Americans. And you know why? Because
neither the GOP or Democrats made an issue of it in a health framework - the lowest tier of the Maslow pyramid - the GOP by design, the Democrats by (apparently) omission. A self-preservation issue, and it was never discussed. Why?
Because Democrats were trying to appeal to the "rational being". Knowledge. Aesthetics. Well, we learned something -- most people don't want to learn. They want to be led and presented with the illusion of safety. That's why BushCo has been so exceptionally effective at using the emotion of fear to control the narrative, while at the same time implementing a decidedly anti-family, anti-individual, and anti-national security agenda. The only way to take back the message is to communicate, as Mark Sumner suggests, at the lower level of the Maslow pyramid.
I'm truly concerned about a repeat of 2004, where Democrats seemed to be gaining momentum in the early to mid part of the year, but then in August, got blindsided and swiftboated. By the time Labor Day rolled around, the Democrats were being forced to play defense rather than continue the offensive that was working in the spring and summer. There are several issues that "talk to the brain stem", and which would be a good base for showing how Dems plan to change things. How about starting with strongly advocating a liveable minimum wage? It's hard for a politician to argue with this concept, and not appear to be cravenly sold out to corporate interests. Or how engergy costs are quickly gutting any expendable income for working class people. Two issues on which to build a very winning message.
There's a lot of work to do between now and November...
Tags: maslow, communication, message, reptile, psychology (all tags)
