OpEdNews » Failed Conservative Values: They're Not Working

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Tag(s): Fear; George Lakoff; Linguistics; Progressive Values; Progressive Values Stories
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June 20, 2008 at 01:40:01

Headlined on 6/20/08:
Failed Conservative Values: They're Not Working - George Lakoff

by Edwin Rutsch Page 1 of 3 page(s)

www.opednews.com

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George Lakoff is a linguistics professor at UC Berkeley and author of numerous books on metaphors, framing and politics. Howard Dean has called him, "one of the most influential political thinkers of the progressive movement." George was at our local bookstore talking about his latest book, The Political Mind. During the question and answer period, I asked him if he personally feels that Conservative Values have Failed and if so, how have they failed?

George Lakoff

Failed Conservative Values: George Lakoff on It's Not Working

George: Yes Ed.

Edwin: I'm doing some work on the Failure of Conservative Values and I was wondering if you personally feel that conservative values have failed and if so, how have they failed?

George: There's not one answer, there are two, depending on how you frame it. So, if you frame it the way George Packard has in his New Yorker article, where he says conservative values have failed. What he really means is that conservative ideology has run up against reality. It's not working in the real world and that's true in lots of cases. Even though conservatives said "if we are in power we create reality". And in many cases they have, they've gotten the government breaking down they have created all kinds of reality, that we now have to face, huge debts and so on, right?

It's not the case that that was wrong, they in fact did create reality that way. But in the case of, Iraq, Afghanistan, as we've heard today and in the case of our financial problems, they ran up against reality and don't have a way to actually deal with that. That's the way in which, quote "conservative values have failed" in dealing with certain aspects of reality that are extremely important.

However, they haven't failed, in the sense that they're out there in our brains. That those values are there governing public discourse still. That McCain can run on all the same old slogans. You know, the tax and spend liberals, the defeatists, the we can't surrender, etc. All the same stuff is out there in our brains, available for elections. They have not failed in that way. So, yes and no.

Failed Conservative Values Metaphors

George Lakoff made a reputation as a linguist studying metaphors. I've always enjoyed using metaphors so I've asked people to create metaphors of Failed Conservative Values. Here are some more of the creative images they came up with.

Failed Conservative Values Metaphor: Kenneth Arnold - Angry God and Authoritarianism

Of course, the first one that comes to mind is Lakoff’s – the strict father, conservative, or the angry God, you know, conservative value versus the nurturing mother, or the kind Madonna, or the compassionate Buddha on the progressive side. That’s what I see on that.

Failed Conservative Values Metaphor: Arun Akkineni - Strict Teacher and Authoritarianism

I actually look at conservative values as an old school teacher with a big stick. And I guess that’s how conservative values have been, a strict father and his way of disciplining someone. That person will be more concerned with everything around them, and that concern will make them more efficient in the free market. That’s a conservative value for me.

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8 comments

my Bio here
http://humanityquest.com/Projects/Bios/EdwinRutsch/
Edwin Rutschmy Bio here
http://humanityquest.com/Projects/Bios/EdwinRutsch/

What is your metaphor for the failed conservative values?

What is your metaphor for the failed conservative values?

For example, if conservative values were a type of machine, or land, or animal, etc., what would they be like?

by Edwin Rutsch (61 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 151 comments) on Friday, June 20, 2008 at 1:44:57 AM

Deborah Emin is the author of the novel, Scags at 7, which is currently out of print. She also has had articles on the Huffington Post, Mediachannel.org as well as in Gay City News, and NYCPlus. During the Kucinich presidential campaign, she worked as his official campaign blogger and is currently writing a book about those experiences. After getting her feet soaked in that campaign, Deborah has returned to the political work while also spending a good deal of time teaching and writing.
D...

to see more of bio, click on member name
Deborah EminDeborah Emin is the author of the novel, Scags at 7, which is currently out of print. She also has had articles on the Huffington Post, Mediachannel.org as well as in Gay City News, and NYCPlus. During the Kucinich presidential campaign, she worked as his official campaign blogger and is currently writing a book about those experiences. After getting her feet soaked in that campaign, Deborah has returned to the political work while also spending a good deal of time teaching and writing.
D...

to see more of bio, click on member name

A vulture

There is not as far as we have lived through a good definition of what makes a good conservative. On the political scene he and she seems genuinely in favor of devouring all, controlling all, keeping all. My father and his father, both good Jews, were proud members of the Republican Party because they said it made a good business of theirs even more profitable. It gave them the clients and the clients liked them because of their political views. I thought these two were damn foolish. If the parts they sold had failed and not worked properly, their customers would have looked elsewhere, damn the political affiliation.

All of this to say, I think no one really wants to be a conservative and admit honestly that their reasons are they are greedy and want to own the world and have it all to themselves. That would not be a conservative's way to present his or her beliefs.

by Deborah Emin (17 articles, 1 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 68 comments) on Friday, June 20, 2008 at 10:17:00 AM

my Bio here
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Edwin Rutschmy Bio here
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shark eat shark

thanks for the vulture metaphor.. I thought of sharks as a metaphor of failed conservative values.

The conservative idea is that if everyone is a shark and looking out for themselves that the world will be a better place.. Everyone will be looking out for themselves, driven by self interest, selfishness, sharkmatism (ie dogmatism) and greed.

However, they don't realize that the ocean is an interrelated ecological system and environment and if every fish was a shark, after they ate all their young, they would all die of starvation.

by Edwin Rutsch (61 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 151 comments) on Friday, June 20, 2008 at 10:30:36 AM

Trainer12 is a long time activist DFA & PDA member working for progressive change in America. I am also the point of contact for PDA, the Progressive Democrats of America. I am a "Neighborhood Leader" "Victory Precinct Captain" or "VP" for the Democractic Party for this election cycle in Lower Makefield Township, in Bucks County. My job is to recruity three other Democrats and each of us contact 25 registered Democrats and get them to the polls. I am in the South Seventh Ward of Lower Makefield...

to see more of bio, click on member name
Trainer12Trainer12 is a long time activist DFA & PDA member working for progressive change in America. I am also the point of contact for PDA, the Progressive Democrats of America. I am a "Neighborhood Leader" "Victory Precinct Captain" or "VP" for the Democractic Party for this election cycle in Lower Makefield Township, in Bucks County. My job is to recruity three other Democrats and each of us contact 25 registered Democrats and get them to the polls. I am in the South Seventh Ward of Lower Makefield...

to see more of bio, click on member name

Limited Government and Low Taxes Have Failed Us

The mantra of conservatives of small government and small taxes has failed. Grover Norquest's goal of "shrinking government so small that he could drown it in a bathtub" is absurd. What we believe as progressives is smart and effective government. Government that works will be funded and supported by taxpayers if everyone pays there fair share and it works. Government and taxes are not the problem. Corporate control of government and tax breaks for the rich are the problem.

by Trainer12 (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 49 comments) on Friday, June 20, 2008 at 10:47:58 AM

my Bio here
http://humanityquest.com/Projects/Bios/EdwinRutsch/
Edwin Rutschmy Bio here
http://humanityquest.com/Projects/Bios/EdwinRutsch/

boil it down to the failed values?

taxes is not a value, it's an issue and high or low taxes are the policies.
what is the underlying values behind this?

by Edwin Rutsch (61 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 151 comments) on Friday, June 20, 2008 at 8:14:45 PM

Frank J. Ranelli is an opinion editorial writer, a research author and critic. He is a former senior editor and current feature writer for the popular online news website, OpEdNews.com. His erudite and chic style of writing has been lauded and extensively published in a variety of news outlets and across the Internet. These include the Naples Daily News, The Online Journal, Information Clearing House, Alternet, The Smirking Chimp, Diatribune, and the former progressive journal of thought, Wicked...

to see more of bio, click on member name
Frank J. RanelliFrank J. Ranelli is an opinion editorial writer, a research author and critic. He is a former senior editor and current feature writer for the popular online news website, OpEdNews.com. His erudite and chic style of writing has been lauded and extensively published in a variety of news outlets and across the Internet. These include the Naples Daily News, The Online Journal, Information Clearing House, Alternet, The Smirking Chimp, Diatribune, and the former progressive journal of thought, Wicked...

to see more of bio, click on member name

Why conservatives can't govern

The straightforward, yet wholly emblematic and exemplary truth about conservatives – how they view government and how they govern – can be discerned from the utter underpinnings of what conservative values (sic) denote. In essence, one cannot stand in opposition to a government of the people and then set about being good stewards of the government when placed in positions within the very government they oppose. If one possesses a grand antipathy for government then it is antithetical to believe that the same people who are hostile to its (government) very existence could – or will – be competent at governing in any way conceivable.

Put another way, a person or group of people who deem government as the problem therefore becomes (or creates) the problem and not the solution. When conservatives adjoin with the exact entity (government) that powers the will of the people – with which they have such anathema for and have pronounced it as the ills of what ails us – we as a citizenry and a nation are irreparably harmed.

To be curt or pithy, Republicans are the “party of me” and Democrats are the “party of we.” Henceforth, We the People, hereby demand our government be returned to its rightful owners, “the People of these United States”, and not a group of despotic plutocrats who are fueled by hatred and run on narcissistic greed.

by Frank J. Ranelli (66 articles, 143 quicklinks, 29 diaries, 378 comments) on Friday, June 20, 2008 at 5:22:38 PM

Great insight

Thanks for that one and I am going to borrow it whenever it comes up in conversation and give you due credit too.

by Deborah Emin (17 articles, 1 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 68 comments) on Friday, June 20, 2008 at 5:49:51 PM

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Frank HamiltonMusician, singer activist

Father figures and fear.

Fear means that people will give up their freedom to think by relying on an authority father figure to make their decisions for them. This has been the modus operandi for the Republican Party for decades. My metaphor is the tyrant stepping on the minds of the public. The tyrant can be a president or a god or a guru.

by Frank Hamilton (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 2 comments) on Saturday, June 21, 2008 at 11:42:28 AM