'Conservatives want to cast progressives as socialists. Don't take the bait.
Whatever one thinks of socialism, most Americans falsely identify it with communism, and will reject it out of hand (from 2011) https://georgelakoff.com/2011/12/11/words-that-dont-work/
Words That Dont Work by George Lakoff
Progressives had some fun last week with Frank Luntz, who told the Republican Governors Association that he was scared to death of the Occupy movement and recommended language to combat what the movement had achieved. But the progressive critics mostly just laughed, said his language wouldnt work, and assumed that if Luntz was scared, everything was hunky-dory. Just keep on saying the words Luntz doesnt like: capitalism, tax the rich, etc.
Its a trap.
When Luntz says he is scared to death, he means that the Republicans who hire him are scared to death and he can profit from that fear by offering them new language. Luntz is clever. Yes, Republicans are scared. But there needs to be a serious discussion of both Luntzs remarks and the progressive non-response.'
msongs
(67,420 posts)Horizens
(637 posts)The Democratic party needs to drop, among other terminology, socialist/socialism from their vocabulary.
Reality Check: Its fair to assume that come the 2020 election, both the Reps and Dems have a lock on 35% of the vote. It is beyond naïve to think that spouting socialism, a guaranteed income and eliminating ICE is going to capture a majority of the remaining 30% of the electorate. Theyre absolute, 100% losing talking points.
regnaD kciN
(26,044 posts)...on an editorial from 2011, since, obviously, nothing has changed in the political world since then.
elleng
(130,974 posts)3Hotdogs
(12,391 posts)After they sputter around a bit, ask if they like the police department, roads, fire department, health department --- you get the idea.
mopinko
(70,127 posts)disambiguation
(28 posts)No, it's just democracy but to fascists and anarchists it looks like socialism.