CHAPTER 8
Talking About Our Philosophy and Ourselves
Republican pollster Frank Luntz tells us that “words can sometimes be used to confuse, but it’s up to the practitioners of the study of language to apply them for good and not for evil. It is just like fire; fire can heat your house or burn it down.” Luntz and other right-wing consultants have given conservatives the words that work—to burn down the house. Let’s talk now about words that progressives can use to warm the hearts of voters.
How to Talk About Our Philosophy
When asked what you stand for, say—confidently—”freedom, opportunity, and security for all.”
I know this phrase might sound a bit clumsy to your ear right now. But it will gain popularity with repetition. Remember, the first few people who said death tax sounded like aliens from the planet Zorc. Repetition has made this bizarre and factually inaccurate term seem normal.
To review, when you’re talking about an issue where government has no proper role, say freedom or use a word or phrase with a similar meaning, such as liberty, privacy, basic rights, or fundamental rights. When you discuss an issue where government should act as a referee, say opportunity or use similar terms, including equal opportunity, equality, justice, equal justice, fairness, or level playing field. When you argue about an issue where government should act as a protector, say security or use such terms as safety, protection, quality of life, health security, employment security, or retirement security.
Of these, freedom is probably the hardest concept to implement. You should never say freedom when talking about economics—use opportunity or security. And you should avoid saying freedom in a discussion of international affairs—use the word security instead. Progressives cannot win any kind of enduring loyalty from persuadable voters—we cannot achieve the political realignment that we seek—until we reclaim freedom. To do that, we must reframe the concept. In fact, we don’t have a choice. We have to do this because every time we refer to the economy or international relations in terms of freedom, we reinforce the existing conservative frame and effectively shoot ourselves in the foot.
Nearly as important, and much easier to achieve, we must reclaim the concept of responsibility.
We cannot allow the right wing to linguistically shift responsibility for societal problems from the government to the individual. They are, quite literally, blaming the victim. Similarly, we must avoid the shift of responsibility implied by the use of private values.
Private values suggest conservative policies; public values suggest progressive solutions.
There’s that word again—progressive. Perhaps you’ve wondered why I’ve stuck to it throughout this book, and what it means.
How to Talk About Ourselves
Progressives are convinced that the right wing orchestrated a twenty-five- or thirty-year campaign to tarnish the word liberal and that the campaign succeeded. But that’s not quite true. With some ebb and flow, Americans have felt the same about the terms liberal and conservative for the past thirty years. Figure 8.1 displays some research on the issue from the American National Election Studies—polls conducted by Stanford University and the University of Michigan. If anything, self-identification as liberal has become slightly more popular. The only significant change since the 1970s is that there are more partisans and fewer “don’t knows.”
Liberal and Conservative Self-Identification, 1972–2004 (percentages)
Question; When it comes to politics do you usually think of yourself as… liberal… moderate… or conservative…?
American National Election Studies
Figure 8.2 reports the results for a feeling thermometer, a common polling mechanism. In this case, Americans were asked to report their feelings toward liberals and conservatives, as measured on a sliding scale from 0 to 100. Look at that! Maybe we shouldn’t be feeling so bad about the term liberal. And yet, the word progressive trounces liberal in the public’s mind—and it has for decades. Way back in 1978, I conducted a poll for a state senate candidate that found voters reacted much more favorably toward a candidate labeled progressive than one labeled liberal. But why?
One part of our Celinda Lake poll was designed to compare the terms liberal and progressive in three ways. First, it asked respondents to rate their favorable or unfavorable impressions for four generic types of candidates (Figure 8.3).
The scores for a generic progressive candidate are eye-opening. Not only persuadables, but also Democrats and even Republicans, like a progressive candidate better than a liberal one. In fact, in a race where both candidates are otherwise unknown, the progressive actually begins with a slight edge over the conservative. In today’s political environment, that is fantastic.
Average Feeling Thermometer Toward Liberals and Conservatives, 1964–2004
Question: [On a scale from 0 to 100, where 0 is entirely negative and 100 is entirely positive, How do you feel about liberals? How do you feel about conservatives?]
American National Election Studies *No data for 1978
Feeling Toward Liberal, Progressive, Moderate, and Conservative Candidates
Question: Please rate how favorable or unfavorable your impression of each [candidate] is by using a scale from 0 to 100.
Lake Research Partners
Self-Identification as Liberal, Moderate, or Conservative (percentages)
Question: Thinking about your general approach to issues, do you consider yourself… liberal, moderate, [or]… conservative?
Lake Research Partners
Then our poll asked half of the respondents whether they thought of themselves as liberal, moderate, or conservative (Figure 8.4). The poll asked the other half whether they thought of themselves as progressive, moderate, or conservative. As Figure 8.5 illustrates, the same percentages of people are willing to call themselves either liberal or progressive—the label doesn’t pull people directly to the progressive side. But it has a fascinating effect on self-identified conservatives. When the more left-wing side is called progressive, a substantial number of conservatives turn into moderates! This means progressive is a much less polarizing label—it makes voters more likely to stop and listen to us.
Finally, this poll asked who would do a better job of handling the policy problem that the respondent had previously identified as most important. Half were given a choice between liberals or conservatives and the other half a choice between progressives and conservatives. In this context, the term progressive hardly moved partisans, but it nudged persuadable voters. Republicans and Democrats feel they don’t know what the progressive solution to their policy problem is, so they stick with more established labels. Persuadables don’t know what progressives stand for either, but they’re more willing to give them the benefit of the doubt.
Self-Identification as Progressive, Moderate, or Conservative (percentages)
Question: Thinking about your general approach to issues, do you consider yourself… progressive, moderate, [or] conservative?
Lake Research Partners
These data suggest a clear course of action. We should call ourselves progressives, and we should work hard to clearly define what progressives stand for.
Some others have reached a similar conclusion. The slogan of the Center for American Progress is “Progressive Ideas for a Strong, Just, and Free America.” The Democratic Leadership Council’s think tank is called the Progressive Policy Institute. There’s Progressive Majority for campaign training, Center for Progressive Leadership for activist training, and the Center for Policy Alternatives, naturally, calls its policy books for state legislators the Progressive Agenda and the Progressive Platform.
Even Frank Luntz agrees: “Don’t call yourself a ‘liberal.’ Call yourself a ‘progressive.’ It’s a smart move. In polling we did following the 2004 election, a generic Republican beat a generic liberal by fifteen points. But a generic progressive beat a generic Republican by two points. Same ideology. Different label. Different result.”
All of this makes sense. Progressive sounds positive because it comes from the word progress. It gives the impression that progressives want to move forward, promote innovation, and focus on the future—all popular ideas. Also, when progressive is compared side-by-side with conservative, we have an advantage because it sounds like pro versus con. On the other hand, the term liberal no longer benefits from the fact that it derives from the same Latin root as liberty and previously referred to laissez-faire policies. These days, nobody hears liberal and thinks of liberty—the word has lost its emotional center.
Is there any difference between a progressive and a liberal? Absolutely.
To borrow language from educational testing, liberalism is norm referenced, while progressivism is standards based. In other words, liberal is a floating concept—whatever is to the left of conservative. As the American political center has moved to the right over the past thirty years, pulled by America’s radicalized conservative wing, the definition of liberal has moved to the right as well. In contrast, progressivism cannot be defined by its relationship to liberalism or conservatism. It must be based on fixed political principles that will stand the test of time.
In sum, liberal is polarizing. Too many negative stereotypes are connected to the term. If we call ourselves progressive, persuadable voters are more likely to listen to what we say. Further, we should invite the question, “What is a progressive, anyway?” That gives us the chance to sing our whole freedom, opportunity, and security song.
How to Talk About Conservatives and Conservatism
In America, conservative is no insult. The word and the concept are both popular. We can, however, criticize with the term right wing. Overall, persuadable voters are somewhat unfavorable toward a right-wing candidate, according to our poll. Unfortunately, they are much more unfavorable toward a left-wing candidate. In fact, even Democrats oppose a candidate labeled as left wing. Too bad for all us lefties!
Finally, when you’re arguing against a conservative proposal, never call it a solution. It will never solve a societal problem.
We can call conservatives extreme. They certainly are outside of what was the American mainstream from 1933 to 1980, and many Bush administration proposals are to the right even of what passed for conservatism between 1980 and 2000. Risky is another good word to use, because it highlights what America stands to lose by adopting any particular conservative measure.