Your Brain On Politics

  By Ralph Nader Common Dreams (11/15/18) The Republican Party lost ground in the Congressional and state elections earlier this month, but they continue to triumph in the all-important contests over words. Republicans have been winning the “war over words” for years. First, the hard core political right wingers symbolically claimed the Bible and the American flag, turning them upside down. To them the Bible meant anything but the Golden Rule and compassion for the “poor,” so frequently noted in the Scriptures. They brandished the flag as a patriotic symbol to gag dissent, as a bandanna for waging war crimes, and…

By George Lakoff George Lakoff’s Facebook Page (10/14/18) Some lifelong Republicans are having sudden realizations about what conservatives really believe. Max Boot, who is leaving the Republican Party and wishes “ill fortune” on its candidates, writes: “It would be nice to think that Donald Trump is an anomaly who came out of nowhere to take over an otherwise sane and sober movement. But it just isn’t so. Upon closer examination, it’s obvious that the history of modern conservative is permeated with racism, extremism, conspiracy-mongering, isolationism and know-nothingism.” But conservative bigotry goes beyond racism. It extends to every aspect of social life….

In just 20 seconds, Trump hit a trifecta of phrasing and logic he comes back to frequently. First, when an ally or someone he’s inclined to believe denies something, he defers to the denial. By Tamara Keith Morning Edition / NPR (10/16/18) Secretary of State Pompeo is in Riyadh to address the disappearance of a Saudi journalist. President Trump’s response to the disappearance illustrates how he responds to other difficult questions. Link to transcript and 3+-Minute Audio (Commoner Call cartoon by Mark L. Taylor, 2018. Open source and free for non-derivative use with link to www.thecommonercall.org )  

  By Briana Bierschbach MPR (7/16/18) After months of stumping on the campaign trail, the incumbent candidate made a substantial fundraising haul, filling their coffers in a critical battleground race. Get all that? Don’t worry, us either. Many of those words are some of the worst examples of political jargon, or terms that are rarely heard uttered outside of Capitols, campaign headquarters or newsrooms. Unfortunately, election season is here, meaning this kind of insider political code is spilling out into everyone else’s world via campaign ads, articles and the politicians themselves. To help you translate it all, here’s a guide to…

TED Talk (10/20/15) Harvard Professor Lawrence Lessig makes the case that our democracy has become corrupt with money, leading to inequality that means only 0.02% of the United States population actually determines who’s in power. Lessig says that this fundamental breakdown of the democratic system must be fixed before we will ever be able to address major challenges like climate change, social security, and student debt. This is not the most important problem, it’s just the first problem. Lawrence Lessig is the Roy L. Furman Professor of Law and Leadership at Harvard Law School, former director of the Edmond J….

  Connection-speech offers a ray of hope in the dark storm cloud that is internet vitriol, and vitriol in general. Because the fact is, we all say we don’t like this crap. By Sally Kohn TIME (4/10/18) It may seem surprising for a liberal commentator like myself, but from 2010 to 2013, I worked in the most prominent den of American conservatism: Fox News. During my time at the network I came to realize how condescending I’d been in my views about not only the people who worked at Fox News but the people watching at home. And condescension is just…

  (Editor’s Note: This story is on how voting decisions are made which is not on the basis of facts, talking points and wonky position papers, but on the basis of values and emotional identification and rejection. The right wing has known and honed this insight for 50 years. The left — especially the democrats — have only lately begun to grasp the reality, but, as we see with the state and national dem leadership, they are fighting that bit of psychological reality every inch of the way. -Mark L. Taylor)  By Eric Dolan PsyPost (3/18/18) People with similar values…

  (Editor’s Note: This article is from September, during the midst of the debate over the Republican tax giveaway to the wealthy 1%. The reason this article is still relevant is that the radical right has been devastatingly effective at twisting the language to its own ends. The left has been slow to the art. One of the words that has been distorted the most is “reform”, as in” Social Security reform” — which is all about just cutting hard-earned and deserved benefits. We on the left need to begin using the English language as the powerfully persuasive tool that…

  By George Lakoff georgelakoff.com (1/28/17) The American Majority got 2.8 million more votes in the 2016 election than the Loser President. That puts the majority in a position to change American political discourse and how Americans understand and think about politics. As a start, what is needed is a change of viewpoint. Here is a typical example. Minority President Trump has said that he intends to get rid of 75% of government regulations. What is a “regulation”? The term “regulation” is framed from the viewpoint of corporations and other businesses. From their viewpoint, “regulations” are limitations on their freedom…

  By George Lakoff GeorgeLakoff.com (1/13/18) America’s tweeter-in-chief plans to attack the free press next week. He desperately needs your help to succeed. You can help him by repeating his words and lies. You can help him by focusing outraged attention on his antics. Or we can work together to redirect the energy, counteract rather than react, and reframe the conversation. Here’s a way: rather than argue against him directly or waste time refuting his attacks, let’s ignore his antics and make a positive, proactive argument. While he assails the free press, let’s use our voices to honor the essential work…

  By John Harris The Guardian (1/1/18) One source of angst came close to being 2017’s signature subject: how the internet and the tiny handful of companies that dominate it are affecting both individual minds and the present and future of the planet. The old idea of the online world as a burgeoning utopia looks to have peaked around the time of the Arab spring, and is in retreat. If you want a sense of how much has changed, picture the president of the US tweeting his latest provocation in the small hours, and consider an array of words and…

  By Scott Wittkopf Frame For The Future (1/18/18) The “surprise” win for Patty Schachtner in Wisconsin’s 10th Senate District continues to be analyzed, as Democrats in Wisconsin see it as a harbinger of things to come in the fall. While there were so many volunteers and organizations that contributed boots on the ground and campaign outreach, the most important lesson for progressives is the candidate herself – and the values and message she herself embodies. It is true that the campaign had a great organizational effort, and that is not to be diminished. However, it is in Patty herself,…