Twelve traps for Progressives to avoid...

[TreasonousBastard]

http://www.nupge.ca/news_2006/n25se06a.htm

(edited to get the number right)

[silverweb]

1. Bookmarked for later.

I scanned the article quickly and it looks really, really good. Will peruse it thoroughly when I can give it full attention.

Thanks for posting this!

[lvx35]

2. Great Stuff!

My favorites:

6. The Policies-Are-Values Trap
Progressives regularly mistake policies with values, which are ethical ideas like empathy, responsibility, fairness, freedom, justice, and so on. Policies are not themselves values, though they are, or should be, based on values. Thus, Social Security and universal health insurance are not values; they are policies meant to reflect and codify the values of human dignity, the common good, fairness, and equality.

8. The 'Misunderestimating' Trap
Too many progressives think that people who vote conservative are just stupid, especially those who vote against their economic self-interest. Progressives believe that we only have to tell them the real economic facts, and they will change the way they vote. The reality is that those who vote conservative have their reasons, and we had better understand them....

[madfloridian]

3. I do like this one very much.

7. "The Centrist Trap
There is a common belief that there is an ideological "center" - a large group of voters either with a consistent ideology of their own or lined up left to right on the issues or forming a "mainstream," all with the same positions on issues. In fact, the so-called center is actually made up of 'biconceptuals', people who are conservative in some aspects of life and progressive in others. Voters who self-identify as "conservative" often have significant progressive values in important areas of life. We should address these "partial progressive" biconceptuals through their progressive identities, which are often systematic and extensive.

A common mistaken ideology has convinced many progressives that they must "move to the right" to get more votes. In reality, this is counterproductive. By moving to the right, progressives actually help activate the right's values and give up on their own. In the process, they also alienate their base."

Amen, Brother George.

[Psephos]

4. Powerful and timely. n/t

[BlackVelvetElvis]

5. Excellent!

I hope everyone goes to the Rockridge Institute's link on that page.
Think tanks have played a major role in the Republican party's ability to frame the issues and influence public policy. Especially AEI and the PNAC.

The points made are worth reading and studying.
Especially number 1: "The truth is that progressives do agree at the level of values and that there is a real basis for progressive unity. Progressive values cut across issues."
This is where I feel we get our message lost alot of the time.
It gets diluted in the details of who, what, and how instead of focusing on what these details have in common.
I'm bookmarking this.