IdeaLog
How to argue over the Thanksgiving table
Posted on November 20, 2018
Now that America is more politically polarized than ever, you may be dreading Thanksgiving. Your loud-mouthed right-wing Uncle Mort insists on debating politics and you expect he’ll be more confrontational than ever. There is...
Cities can and must lead progressive policy
Posted on November 6, 2018
This is written from the National League of Cities annual Summit, this year at the Los Angeles Convention Center. If you’re in L.A., please come visit us in the Exhibition Hall, booth number 530....
How to persuade with questions
Posted on October 24, 2018
Persuasion is hard. And yet, it’s the whole point of politics. If we argue, whine or rant but never persuade, we have accomplished nothing. People are tough to persuade because cognitive biases skew human...
Drowning the American Dream, Part 2
Posted on October 9, 2018
Our last blog argued that America’s rich and powerful have rigged the economic system over the past 40 years. As a result, average citizens have gotten nowhere while the top five-to-ten percent have taken...
Drowning the American Dream
Posted on September 26, 2018
Successful politics is a matter of persuading Americans that “we” are on their side. That can’t be done if “we” assert facts that contradict the realities of their daily lives. For most persuadable Americans,...
The Importance of Non-Verbal Persuasion
Posted on September 11, 2018
How do you spend most of your time when preparing to give a speech? If you are like most advocates and policymakers we’ve worked with, your answer is content or the words. You might even think the...
The Subminimum Wage for Tipped Workers is a Scam
Posted on August 29, 2018
Everyone is familiar with the minimum wage, and most policy advocates understand that there exists a much lower minimum wage for tipped employees. Normally, policymakers consider the issue from the viewpoint of the tipped...
Five logical fallacies often used in political and policy debate
Posted on August 15, 2018
Progressives have gotten so used to hearing bald-faced political lies that perhaps we have become a little less ready to recognize rhetorical tricks. Let us consider five of the most common informal logical fallacies—arguments...
Call yourself a progressive
Posted on July 27, 2018
From blue states, we often hear the question, “Is it better to call yourself a liberal or a progressive?” From red states we’re asked, “Is it bad politics to call yourself a progressive when...
The media is bungling the facts about immigration
Posted on July 18, 2018
The media is doing a particularly lousy job of covering the Trump Administration’s persecution of non-white immigrants. Although there are plenty of well-researched stories about the horrors of “zero tolerance,” family separation and imprisoning...