Framing issues is what liberals and progressives must do.

[left of center]

It may sound corny, but this is in large part how the right has achieved so much success.

For framing the issues, we could for instance talk about how partiotic we are, about how our patriotism is more positive than that of our opposition. While their patriotism is measured by how much butt we kick abroad and by how much lipservice we pay to religious tradition, our patriotism is positive and goes much deeper.

It is about how well we treat other nations and our own citizenry. We find strength in how well we treat the weakest among us- the poor, elderly and disabled. We have pride in US jobs that produce something tangible and pay a living wage, thus we like to encourage the creation of such jobs. We are proud of our country's infrastructer and institutions and thus seek to maintain and strengthen them. We are also proud of the vast natural resources within our borders and wish to remain good stewards of them. While no one likes paying taxes, we feel they are the price for our civilization. Paying them is part of being a good citizen!

I'd go on, but that is the gist with framing.

For those of you who have read George Lakoff's "don't think of an elephant! Know Your Values and Frame the Debate", you'll see his inspiration in this posting.

[Vincardog]

1. The right has achieved so much success by being determined and unprincipled

not to mention well funded enough to Buy the Media. You can have the best frame in the world and they will edit it to make you look the fool.

Remember the Dean scream? It is not the message it is the spin. We will only win when we have open fair elections.