Speak to the Heart and Repeat Your Message
Advice from cognitive scientist George Lakoff and progressive PR expert David Fenton.
Welcome back, Pro-Empathy Freedom Voters are the Solution subscribers. Our Empathy Surplus Network USA Zoom Forums are applying the framing recommendations from cognitive scientists, linguists, and progressive activists George Lakoff and Elisabeth Wehling’s bestselling book Your Brain’s Politics: How the Science of Mind Explains the Political Divide and retired progressive public relations guru David Fenton’s memoir The Activist’s Media Handbook. Here’s the schedule and enrollment link. Also, consider becoming a co-proposer of the Empathy Surplus Network USA’s first model legislation for state legislators at the CARE Education Bill link. We want to make the cultivation of empathy and learning about the Universal Declaration of Human Rights for all students in grades K through 12 mandatory in every state.
Governor DeWine Put “People First” and Vetoed HB68
Apparently, Minority Leader Allison Russo’s strong, diverse, and nurturing allies engaged occasionally seeming progressive Governor Mike DeWine enough for him to research gender-affirming care. Governor DeWine visited Children’s Hospitals in Akron, Cincinnati, and Dayton in late December and heard from doctors, children, and parents pleading with him to veto the bill based on medical science. Consequently, he put “people first” and vetoed HB68, saying that such hard private decisions must not be made by public government but “by the people who love these kids the most.”
“It sends a much-needed message of support to Ohio's LGBTQ+ youth that they and their families are seen and heard…” said Minority Leader Allison Russo.
“I appreciate that Governor DeWine took his time to listen to the individuals most impacted by this discriminatory legislation and to understand the fact-based science on this issue,” said Leader Russo. Although Russo did not use the phrase “people first” in her official website statement thanking the governor, she did say, “It sends a much-needed message of support to Ohio's LGBTQ+ youth that they and their families are seen and heard and deserve the fundamental freedom like everyone else to feel safe in their own communities and to maintain their rights as parents to make medical decisions that are best for their children.”
Democratic Minority Leader Allison Russo’s Ohio House Caucus’s repeated “people first” frame speaks to the hearts1 of Ohioans and sometimes the governor. Whenever she opens her mouth, Allison Russo, raised in Vicksburg, Mississippi, always talks about putting “people first” and encouraging others to use her caucus’s language. And she’s so kind about it, seemingly even when she’s mad, which is why she’s the progressive leader - caring poise under pressure.
Broken Records Are Good When It Comes to Science-Based Communication
Leader Russo and her progressive “people first” caucus are always under pressure but manage to consistently talk about how they want to protect and empower Ohio’s strong, diverse communities of nurturing families caring for each other to expand one another’s freedom from fear and want - which the opposing “weapons first caucus” ignores. I’m dating myself, but she sounds like a broken record.
Boomers remember broken records. Your vinyl music album would get some lint or dust on it and cause the needle attached to the player’s arm to skip and repeat right in the middle of your favorite song. Oh, it was so annoying. You’d have to stop what you were doing, clean the record, and start again.
But even though her message may sound like a broken record to Leader Russo and her caucus’s own ears, that is the point of good moral and political messaging, which are one and the same. Progressives should pick up on the “people first” versus “weapons first” dichotomy and use the frame.
Perhaps Leader Russo and her “people first” caucus have been reading cognitive scientist, linguist, and progressive activist George Lakoff2 or his friend and PR guru David Fenton. Or not. Nevertheless, speaking from the heart repeatedly, day in and day out, is not only good cognitive science and linguistics but also good science-based communication to build progressive trust because it hides conservatism’s “weapons first” language.
Ohio General Assembly Weapons First Caucus Overrode the Veto
Unfortunately for the people of Ohio, the weapons first caucus of both houses of the Ohio General Assembly ultimately won the day and overrode the Governor’s caring veto. I guess the weapons’ first thinking is if you can’t shoot what you hate, at least you can impoverish your adversaries, i.e., non-billionaire families of Ohio. Leader Russo was very clear in her disappointment with her weapons first colleagues:
“HB 68 and the governor's proposed bans will create a hate tax in Ohio,” Leader Russos continued, “where families and children who need healthcare are forced to empty their bank accounts and upend their lives to find care out of state. No matter our differences, most Ohioans value personal freedom and just want the government to get out of their doctor's office and stop putting politics before people’s lives.”
In addition to “hate tax” and “people first” frames, there are other progressive language frames in Leader Russo’s progressive Ohio State House caucus. They want their constituents to use these frames as well to build a progressive common sense in their centers of influence. It makes sense from a cognitive science and linguistics point of view, as well as a PR point of view. Repetition works.
Vision and Values Conference 2024 at Lorain Community College Promotes Progressive Philosophy
Recently, speaking to progressives at the Vision and Values Conference 2024 last year at Lorain County Community College, progressive Leader Russo laid out three other philosophical frames she hopes caring Ohioans will use. Lakoff and Fenton remind us that daily governance of casual conversation is always moral and political. No one says in any conversation I believe such-and-such because it’s wrong, and I’m the devil.
These progressive frames align very well with the cognitive science-backed progressive philosophical language of Dr. Lakoff. 3The four progressive philosophical frames and how they hide conservative frames are:
People First versus Weapons First (which protect billionaires)
More Opportunities versus Less Opportunities (which enrich billionaires)
Better Tomorrows versus Lower Taxes or Hate Taxes (which enrich billionaires)
Effective Government versus Less Government (which favors billionaires)
Dr. Lakoff and I would have chosen “broader prosperity” over “More Opportunities,” but hey, we’ll take more opportunities as a start.
Progressives must add “Mutual Responsibility” versus “Family Values” (of billionaires)
However, there is one other important progressive philosophical frame that Lakoff, Fenton, and I recommend to Leader Russo’s progressive people-first caucus in daily conversations - “mutual responsibility.” Think of “people first” and “mutual responsibility” as progressive frame bookends. They are identical to the progressive frame bookends of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), which calls for “progressive measures” to protect human rights with the rule of law.
Currently, no state in the union is protecting the cultivation of empathy and human rights education with the rule of law. When you read the 76-year-old UDHR Preamble, Articles 1, 2, 29, and 30, you see the people-first and mutual responsibility bookends.
But these progressive philosophical bookends require a commitment to govern one’s life with empathy for and responsibility to humanity in order for Articles 3-28 to make any sense. Unfortunately, empathy is NOT central to the current constant public discourse, and it needs to be.
Most importantly, the mutual responsibility frame is in direct opposition to conservatism’s weapons-first “family values” frame. Consider that conservatism’s unconscious understanding of RESPONSIBILITY only includes personal responsibility to protect and promote one’s own family and a moral hierarchy that defines conservatism:
God above man
Christian God above all other religions
Men above women
Old above young
The Disciplined (strong) above the Undisciplined (weak)
Rich above the poor
Employers above employees
Whites above non-whites
Straights over LGBTQ+
Western cultures above all others
America above all other countries
Sound familiar?
Conservatives must attack Taylor Swift because she BREAKS the family values frame, calling for MUTUAL RESPONSIBILITY for voting for progressives.
Science-based Communication Is About the Brain
Whenever one uses these progressive philosophy frames, the brain MUST hide the conservative frame because that’s just how the brain works. The brain can be thought of as a muscle. When you bend your arm at the elbow to touch your shoulder with your fingers, your bicep strengthens, and your tricep weakens.
But there is also a brain hierarchy of science-based communication, which goes like this, whether progressive or conservative. Here’s the progressive version:
Vision - America is best when strong, diverse communities of nurturing families care for each other, protecting and expanding freedom from fear and want.
Values - EMPATHY for and RESPONSIBILITY to humanity’s families are useless without a COMMITMENT to govern with care in all aspects of life.
Principles - Human rights, democracy, equality, equity, and security are examples.
Policy Directions - One person one vote, voting is easy, and women’s health is equal to men’s health are examples
Philosophy - People-first, more opportunities, better tomorrows, effective government, and mutual responsibility is THE progressive ten-word philosophy.
To build common sense around a progressive philosophy (fifth priority), progressives must use those vision and values frames (priorities one and two) repeatedly over generations in order for the progressive philosphy to make sense. Progressives must make vision and values a broken record in daily conversation - to strengthen philosophies in the brains of our listeners or readers.
People-first advocates must preach over generations to the progressive choir in our political parties, no matter the audience. All of us in any political party can move away from conservatism toward progressivism and move toward a more caring politics. Our lives and freedoms depend on it.
Fenton, David, An Activist’s Media Handbook, “Communication Rules for Activists,” p. 20, Earth Aware, San Raphael, CA
Lakoff, George, Don’t Think of an Elephant, “What Unites Progressives,” p. 140, “people first,” is similar to stronger Americans versus conservatism stronger military.
IBID., Lakoff