IdeaLog
The banality of evil in Georgia
Posted on August 23, 2023
The Georgia prosecution of a broad conspiracy against democracy, involving dozens of people on the national and state levels, serves many important purposes. One of them is to warn us all about the banality...
How to talk about the very latest Trump indictment
Posted on August 8, 2023
Finally, Trump was indicted for his illegal conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election. He and his allies responded with a flurry of excuses and lies. We’ll all be talking about this for the next...
Reject the anti-teacher narratives
Posted on July 26, 2023
If you listen to the advocates for decreased rights for teachers and increased standardized testing, you will hear a series of narratives or stories that underlie all their arguments. Although these stories are a...
Five new words to frame the right wing
Posted on July 12, 2023
In politics, we’re always looking for new ways to express our opinions, preferably using words that both grab attention and frame the message. Here are five suggestions for your consideration and, sure, not everybody...
Five words that progressives should avoid
Posted on June 27, 2023
Too often, progressives argue a right-wing or both-siderism frame, repeating that language. Here are five examples that you should avoid using because they obscure the truth. (1) Don’t say “ethics” when talking about the...
How to talk about the latest Trump indictment
Posted on June 14, 2023
Trump’s been indicted and MAGA is struggling to defend him. But there’s no way to argue he’s innocent. So instead, the MAGA arguments are designed to change the subject. These arguments are logical fallacies....
Six-step program to enact legislation
Posted on May 31, 2023
Nearly always, it takes years to pass important legislation. So why don’t more progressive lawmakers and advocates prepare multi-year plans? Part of the reason is they only know the same-old methods of organizing and...
Progressives need to frame the political narrative
Posted on May 17, 2023
Liberals, lefties, Democrats, environmentalists, unionists, consumer advocates—all progressive types—suffer from negative stereotypes. Some of these stereotypes were invented by the right-wing messaging machine, and others are self-inflicted. We need to shape the political debate...
The battle cry of freedom
Posted on May 3, 2023
It is time for us all to follow some message framing advice from President Biden – we should explicitly defend American “freedom.” Don’t be afraid to use the word; it is the strongest argument...
Pundits are wrong, the economy is fine
Posted on April 19, 2023
By blocking a routine increase in the debt ceiling, the House GOP is trying to blow up the economy. What Americans don’t understand is how bad that would be, because the current economy is...