Caring Candidate Website
Aligning your message around empathy, our shared moral duty to care for freedom and human rights strengthens caring progressive bias.
Welcome back
Welcome back, subscribers to the Empathy Surplus Network USA Substack. Our mission is to support members in promoting our commitment to a mutual and moral duty to care for one another’s human rights and freedoms. Empathy Surplus is headquartered in Wilmington, Ohio.
Last week, I met a woman running for the US Congress in Southwest Ohio who was under 40 and had NEVER heard of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). That same day, my Google Alert for the words “human rights” alerted me to activity at the United Nations, where 80 countries were recommitting themselves to UN Human Rights Multilateralism. It inspired me to launch a Change.org petition that you can read about in today’s Substack.
Currently, we have 54 signatures with no shared plan of action or organizational endorsements. Consider breaking the mold.
Thanks for reading Empathy Surplus Network USA! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.
We are grateful to our organizational scholarship sponsors:
Antiracist Alliance, White Plains, New York
Books N More, Wilmington, Ohio
Circular Development, Sugarcreek Township, Ohio
Edward Jones Financial Advisor Jason Hillard, Wilmington, Ohio
Linndale Equipment, Wilmington, Ohio
Practice with Purpose LLC, Legal Counsel, Dayton, Ohio
Shalom Massage LLC, Oakwood, Ohio
TGE Solar, Cincinnati, Ohio
Preface
Empathy is the soul of a caring society, of every major religion in the world, of ethical business, and of effective democracies. The duty to care has been a legal concept in English law since 1760.
The latest insights of the brain confirm that [a] all thought is metaphorical and mostly unconscious, [2] the brain is always unconsciously simulating everything it perceives, and [3] all brains are biased toward care or cruelty.
The national political and moral debate, wherever it occurs, is between two competing, unconscious, metaphorical visions: a caring society or a cruel society, filled with nurturing-parent families or cruel-father families.
The job of caring citizens and their representatives is to strengthen the care bias by activating caring simulation. Repeated language changes the brain, whether a person wants it to or not.
To build trust in the brand of caring progressivism, the public and their representatives’ job is to frame and reframe constant public discourse honestly, openly, consciously, and repeatedly in the language of the caring progressive vision and values.
The caring, progressive vision is of strong, diverse, and broadly prosperous communities of nurturing families. They are committed to promoting their shared duty to care for humanity’s freedom and human rights through their ethical businesses and effective public government.
In contrast, the cruel conservative vision is of a few strict white male billionaires, whose women, children, employees, and public government accomplices obey them or face harsh punishment. They are committed to stealing public funds and the moral mission of public government, so that white male billionaires are the only ones protected, empowered, and enriched, while enslaving the rest of us.
Likewise, the corresponding values of progressivism and conservatism align with their vision. The progressive core values are empathy for and responsibility to humanity, with the strength or commitment to stand up and frame the debate around them. Conversely, conservative core values are obedience to the authority of white, male billionaires, or face harsh punishment.
Progressivism - our duty to care - doesn’t belong to any political party.
Caring citizens and their representatives have a historical duty to care for humanity’s human rights and freedom. The two goals of the Declaration of the United Nations, signed by 26 countries on January 2, 1942, one month after Pearl Harbor, were [1] to defeat fascism completely and [2] to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights.
Ministers of Education from these nations gathered in London, England, the following year at a conference hosted by the London Rotary Club and formed UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization. In 1945, Democrat POTUS Harry Truman appointed GOP Senator Warren Austin of Vermont to serve as the US envoy to the San Francisco Conference of the Allied Nations to help write the UN Charter. The word “progress” or “progressive” appears five times in the document.
Reframe: Politics is an “argument.” War is a “fight” and a political failure.
Because the brain must simulate everything it perceives to make sense of it, failing to align your language with your metaphorical vision and values creates physical brain dissonance. Misalignment causes mistrust.
Reframe “fight for you” with “stand up for you,” because the government argues for its moral mission; the military fights for the government’s moral mission.
The politics metaphor strengthens the idea that the people, i.e., legislative and judicial institutions, are in charge. The war metaphor strengthens the idea that the executive branch is in charge. Billionaires want war. The people want peace.
Expect questions when you change your language to promote empathy, the duty to care.
Empathy is poison to conservatives, which is why Elon Musk and his fake Christians are attacking it.
Always frame the debate with your vision and values. Always reframe the debate with your vision and values. Always reframe questions to align with your vision and values.
FRAMING YOUR WEBSITE
Your Home Page - Why I’m running. #(First Name)Cares
My name is (first last). Empathy is the soul of a caring society, ethical businesses, every major religion in the world, and effective public government. (As a person of faith,) I am committed to our shared moral duty to care for one another’s freedom and human rights, (whether or not you share my faith.)
My vision of America is of strong, diverse, and prosperous communities of nurturing families, also committed to our moral duty to care for one another. The richest man in the world and his cruel wing of billionaires are attacking empathy and America’s vision, promise, and affordability. I’m running because, like you, I believe the moral mission of effective public government is to protect and empower all of our people and our allies over and against cruel billionaires.
Join me and keep reading.
About Tab (Drop Down Menu)
First Name’s Bio - Where you can reference again why you’re running and how you care, and reminding voters of THEIR duty to care.
First Name’s Core Values: Empathy is the soul of a caring society, ethical businesses, every major religion in the world, and our republic and its democratic institutions.
Strength and Commitment to govern with empathy
Empathy for all in government
Responsibility to all in government
Caring Issues - Where you can reference again why you’re running and HOW they align with your moral why.
Caring Supporters - Where you can reference your endorsements and talk again about why you’re running and your gratitude for organizations that support your vision of the mission of our public government.
Media Tab (Drop Down Menu)
News Releases Advancing Duty to Care
Caring Photos
Caring Videos
Duty to Care In the News
Vote Tab (Drop Down Menu)
Voting expresses your duty to care for freedom and human rights.
The Caring Communities of (State’s) (Name of) District
Volunteer Form (Drop Down Menu)
Volunteer with (Last Name) for (Congress).
Join #Team(Last Name) Cares
Team (Last Name) Cares: Please let us know how you plan to care for your neighbor through this campaign. Mark all that apply: